Daytona Beach, FL – Chase Elliott led the field to the drop of the green flag from the pole position to start the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Things would remain that way until Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was able to overtake Elliott with only 26 laps left in the first stage.
Stenhouse Jr. would lead a line of cars that would leave the original top five out of the top 10 with only ten laps to go in the stage. He would hold on through the end of stage 1, holding off a hard-charging Kyle Busch, who finished the 1st stage in 2nd. Kyle Larson came in 3rd, with rookie William Byron coming on strong with a 4th place finish and pole-sitter Chase Elliott following in 5th. Kevin Harvick finished the first stage back in 22nd.
