Roush puts all three cars in top 10 for first time in 65 races

While it wasn’t a win, Trevor Bayne got the closest he’s been to victory lane in five years Saturday when he finished third in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

But Bayne’s second top five of 2016 also got Roush Fenway Racing the closest it’s been to a win in more than a year.

The team that hasn’t won since Sonoma Raceway in June 2014 put all three of its entries – Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (fifth) and Greg Biffle (eighth) – in the top 10 for the first time in 65 races. That stretch started with the August night race at Bristol in 2014.

Daytona began with Biffle on the pole – Roush’s first since Carl Edwards had it at Texas in November 2013 – and ended with Bayne getting Roush its best result since Biffle finished second in the 2015 Coca-Cola-600.

“For our organization to be on the pole this weekend, to have three cars in the top eight, two in the top five, I think that’s kind of a landmark for us as an organization with the struggles we’ve had to get all three teams running strong on a weekend like this,” Bayne said. “It’s not a win that we need to get in the Chase, but it’s a great step in the right direction for making it in on points.”

Leaving Daytona, Bayne currently is the highest Roush driver in the points in 17th. He’s six points behind the cutoff of the 16 cars that will make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Biffle, who had a pole for the first time since October 2012 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, earned his first top 10 since the September race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year. That was after his No. 16 Ford received damage in the Lap 90 crash that involved 22 cars that required multiple pit stops to repair

“It was a rough night after we got in that wreck,” Biffle said in a news release. “We got pretty severe damage and were able to come back and finish eighth. We had a pretty fast car, and (Brad Keselowski) was unbelievably fast. We have some work to do still, but I am so proud of my guys.”

Stenhouse came home with his second top five of the year and the fifth of his career. His finished fifth at Auto Club Speedway in March.

Stenhouse had started fourth and was riding in the back when the “Big One” occurred, and he was able to brake his No. 17 Ford in time to avoid it. Stenhouse lined up eighth during the overtime restart before getting a push into the top five.

“Clint (Bowyer) was pushing me the whole last lap. I wasn’t sure that we would be able to be pushed all the way through the corners, but we were able to hold it in a straight line as best as we could,” Stenhouse said in a news release. “The Roush Fenway Racing guys worked really hard, and Jack (Roush) has put a lot of confidence in everyone to get our cars better each week.”

Next week, the series will head to the recently repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway. A Roush car has not finished in the top 10 at the 1.5-mile track since Matt Kenseth finished seventh in 2012.

Video: Trevor Bayne earns best finish since 2011 Daytona 500 win

Trevor Bayne led Roush Fenway Racing’s effort in the Coke Zero 400 with a third-place finish. All three Roush cars finished in the top 10 after Greg Biffle started the night on the pole. Bayne earned his best result since he won the 2011 Daytona 500.

NASCAR TV SCHEDULE: JULY 4-10

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All times ET
Monday, July 4
3:30 p.m., NASCAR 120 (re-air), NBCSN
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Tuesday, July 5
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5 p.m., NASCAR The List (re-air), NBCSN
5:30 p.m., NASCAR The List (re-air), NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Wednesday, July 6
5 p.m., NASCAR RaceHub, FS1
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Thursday, July 7
1 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Practice, NBCSN
2 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, NBCSN
4 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS2
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Friday, July 8
1:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 (re-air), FS2
3 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice (re-air), NBCSN
5:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 (re-air), FS1
Noon, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice (taped), NBCSN
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN
3 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Columbus Motor Speedway (taped), NBCSN
4 p.m., NASCAR The List (re-air), NBCSN
4:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN
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Saturday, July 9
2 a.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Columbus Motor Speedway (re-air), NBCSN
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4:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS2
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6 p.m., NASCAR America Saturday, NBCSN
7 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Countdown, NBCSN
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts, NBCSN
11 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN
11:30 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
Midnight, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

Sunday, July 10
4 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 (re-air), FS2
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane (re-air), FS1
11 a.m., WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Canadian Tire, FS1
5 p.m., Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge: Watkins Glen (taped), FS1
11 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap (re-air), NBCSN

TONY STEWART CHASE WATCH

Tony Stewart returned from a back injury in April, and the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion is in pursuit of one of the 16 spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in his final season. Here's a look at where the driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet stands in his hunt after Saturday's 26th-place-finish in the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, the season's 17th of 26 regular-season races.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED
The Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner/wheelman had an above-average night at Daytona run afoul after wrecking out with 12 laps remaining.

Running in the top five as the race wound down, Stewart got loose before getting into the wall and taking major damage. A promising points run ended in a disappointing way for the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion, but he will leave Daytona higher in the standings than when he arrived.

"I just got loose ... definitely my fault," Stewart told NBC. "I don't know why I got loose."

He now sits three points inside of the top 30 -- which is where he needs to be in order to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and compete for his fourth championship. As it stands now, he's in.

RELATED: Stewart wrecks out of final Daytona race

WHAT HE NEEDS
Stewart received a waiver from NASCAR for Chase eligibility. The surest way into the Chase is by winning before the end of regular season (at Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 10) -- which Stewart did at Sonoma -- and remain in the top 30 in the points standings. En route to his 2015 championship, Kyle Busch faced a similar path after missing the first 11 races with a leg injury. With the win now in the bank, Stewart can focus on reaching the top 30. He sits 30th in the standings with 212 points, three points ahead of Brian Scott's 209 points. 

WHAT'S NEXT
"Smoke" heads to Kentucky Speedway (July 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he's never won. In his five starts there, Stewart has led just one lap and has never finished in the top 10. 

RELATED: See all of Stewart's wins | "Smoke" granted Chase waiver

BRAD KESELOWSKI CAPTURES FIRST DAYTONA VICTORY

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. --Brad Keselowski had an excellent solution for the massive wrecks that scrambled the finishing order of Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

He stayed ahead of all of them.

Leading 115 of 161 laps in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, Keselowski sped away from his pursuers after a restart in overtime and posted his third victory of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in thoroughly convincing fashion.

The victory was Keselowski's first at Daytona and the 20th of his career, and it reinforced his mastery of restrictor-plate racing -- Keselowski already had four wins at sister track Talladega.

When the race restarted in overtime, after a caution for a four-car wreck on Lap 155, eventual runner-up Kyle Busch simply couldn't keep up with Keselowski, once he lost his push from third-place finisher Trevor Bayne. Keselowski's teammate, fourth-place finisher Joey Logano, shoved the No. 2 car to the front on the Lap 160 restart, and then it was over.

"Joey Logano was a huge part of this today," Keselowski said. "We had two great cars here with Team Penske and worked together really well. Joey has won here and he's really a pro, especially on that restart. 

"He gave me that push I needed to get to the front, and here we are at Daytona in Victory Lane. I don't care if it's not the 500. It's Daytona. This is huge. I love this place, and here we are in Victory Lane with the Detroit Ford."

That there were 27 lead changes between 13 drivers belied Keselowski's dominance. While in the lead, the 2012 series champion was able to block both the inside and outside lanes, moving back and forth at will to impede the progress of whichever line developed momentum.

With a daring move to the inside of race runner-up Kyle Busch on Lap 145, Keselowski took the lead for good and held it through two subsequent cautions for multi-car wrecks. The first wiped out Sonoma winner Tony Stewart, who was running in the top 10 at the time. The second was the coup de grace for Carl Edwards, who had qualified second but finished 25th.

Busch, who tried in vain to regain the top spot, could only admire the handling of Keselowski's Ford.

"He definitely just had way more maneuverability it seemed like than anybody, but especially than I did," Busch said. "I don't know how he got the kind of run that he got (to make the decisive pass), but when he got that run down the front stretch getting into Turn 1 and was able to turn to the bottom, my car would be kind of loose doing that.

"It would just over rotate on me a little bit, and I just never really had that opportunity from behind me besides Trevor, and I never was in the right position when I had that big of a run in order to get the lead back.

"Really, it took a lot of guys ganging up and getting together in order to make a move on him. He was pretty smart about where he positioned his car on the race track, and I could see that, and I tried to do some of those same things, but, man, it just never really worked for me as good as he could handle it."

The race ran without major incident for the first 89 laps, with a competition caution on Lap 21 and a black flag to Danica Patrick for driving through too many pit boxes on a Lap 67 green-flag pit stop first providing the bulk of the excitement.

But that was the calm before a violent storm.

As the field roared into Turn 1 on Lap 90, Jamie McMurray's Chevrolet got loose, made side-to-side contact with Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson, got out of shape and veered sharply into the outside wall after contact from Jimmie Johnson's Chevrolet.

That was the spark that ignited a wreck that collected 22 of the 40 cars in the field and eliminated McMurray, Johnson, Paul Menard and series leader Kevin Harvick, while heavily damaging the cars of Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and Patrick, among others.

Harvick said he was expecting the powder keg that is restrictor-plate racing to explode at any minute -- and on Lap 90 it did.

"You really think it's going to happen from Lap 1," said Harvick, who now leads the Cup series by 14 points over Keselowski. "It's hard to make ground, so you have to be pretty aggressive when you start making ground.

"Just kind of riding there, just maintaining until that next pit stop so we could get my car off the ground and then really start being aggressive. I really couldn't be aggressive, and unfortunately, I was in the back of that front pack and ended up getting in the wreck."

But Keselowski was ahead of the wreck, as he was throughout the night, and in staying at the front he earned owner Roger Penske his 100th victory in the series.

Results from Friday’s Xfinity Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona

Aric Almirola won by less than a nose on the front end of his Ford Mustang, capturing Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Justin Allgaier finished second. Here’s the finishing order:

Suarez remains in Xfinity Series points lead after Daytona

Even though he was involved in a late wreck and finished 32nd in Friday’s Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway, Daniel Suarez remains atop the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings.

But things remain tight between Suarez, second-ranked Elliott Sadler (just six points behind) and third-ranked Ty Dillon (16 points behind Suarez).

Here’s how the standings stack up as the series leaves Daytona: