It was thirty years to the day of Richard Petty taking home his 200th and final victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That all coming in the year 1984. In the year 2014, Aric Almirola drove his Richard Petty Motorsports car to vicotry lane. The 43 car would have a very welcoming but very wet return to victory lane in the Sprint Cup Series.
Because of the draft and restrictor plate racing, the Daytona International Speedway is a track that is full of guessing. Winners can range from legendary champions such as Petty, Earnhardt, Pearson, Yarborough, Gordon, Johnson, to guys who don't get the big chances often such as Newman, McMurray, and Bayne. The only thing that was promised for this years Coke Zero 400 was sadly the rain.
The unpredictability began right at the get go with David Gilliland starting on the pole position and Reed Sorenson starting on the front row next to him. Gilliland would lead the opening five laps before Matt Kenseth finally managed to get past Gilliland who was attempting to block three lines of traffic behind him. Kenseth would lead twelve laps before Tony Stewart would get around Kenseth much the same way Kenseth took the lead.
Come lap 20, the cars were coming to take the competition caution due to the inclement weather throughout the weekend. Instead, the wreck known as "The Big One" would begin when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would get loose coming off of turn four and Jeff Gordon would turn him right into Tony Stewart who had lost the lead to David Ragan. The wreck would include other big names such as Jimmie Johnson (42nd), Matt Kenseth (20th), and Marcos Ambrose (10th) who would patch his car up to get back into the action. In all, fifteen different cars would be caught as a victim of this wreck.
Pit strategy would become wild for some drivers who took fuel only to gain track position. Landon Cassil found his way to the front at one point dispite using tires that had been on his car for over 80 laps of racing and 12 laps of qualifying.
The race would be stopped at one point before the halfway mark due to rain. It was only a 15 minute delay for a shower that only had an impact on turn two.
Come 68 laps remaining, Aric Almirola had found his way to the front on a restart, and then absolute chaos opened up behind him with a monsterous 26 car crash that would include Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, and Kyle Busch to name a few. The race would be put back under the red flag to clean up the mess that was left in turn three from the carnage.
The racing would begin again but not for long as the sky opened up one more time, this time for good as NASCAR made the decision to make the race official and end the Coke Zero 400 48 laps short of its intended distance. As a result, Aric Almirola would claim his first career win in the Sprint Cup Series. On the 30th anniversary of when his car owner celebrated his 200th career win in the 1984 Firecracker 400. It was the first time in voer 15 years the 43 car had won a race. The last driver in the 43 to win was John Andretti who won in Martinsville back in 1999.
The top ten behind Almirola would be Brian Vickers, Kurt Busch, Casey Mears, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell, Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer, and Marcos Ambrose.
The win almost guarantee's Aric Almirola a spot into the Chase For The Sprint Cup that begins in September. Almirola may be the biggest underdog to every make a run for the Sprint Cup Championship since the Chase format came to life in 2004.