Dale Earnhardt Jr's final race at Daytona International Speedway becomes footnote to Ricky Stenhouse's win in Coke Zero 400

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins second straight plate race in wild Coke Zero 400. 

Earnhardt's final race at Daytona International Speedway in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ended up a footnote to Stenhouse’s big win.

The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, who got his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in his 158th career start two months ago at Talladega, established himself as a restrictor-plate star with his second straight superspeedway win, this one after three laps of overtime.

Stenhouse lined up behind race leader David Ragan for a restart on Lap 162, after a caution for a backstretch collision involving Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones slowed the action for the 14th time and sent the race to overtime.

Stenhouse surged past Ragan near the end of the backstretch and leed to the finish. Clint Bowyer was second and Paul Menard finished in third.

After the Talladega victory, Stenhouse talked team owner Jack Roush into letting him keep the winning car. So the No. 17 team built another superspeedway car that was just as fast.

Stenhouse, who locked himself into the postseason playoff with his second victory of the season.

"This is awesome! I’ve been coming here since 2008," Stenhouse said. "I actually came in 2006, one time with Bobby Hamilton Jr., and it’s cool to put it in Victory Lane and get our second win this year. I love it! Thank you to the fans for coming out here. Everyone at NASCAR. What a great weekend. America! 1776! We are the champs!... This validates what we did at Talladega."

A succession of multicar wrecks crippled or eliminated more than a handful of contenders, the most notable of which was Earnhardt, the polesitter. On Lap 52, Earnhardt felt his right front tire losing air but was trapped in the outside lane. Inadvertent contact from Menard nudged the No. 88 into the outside wall near the entrance to Turn 1, obliterating the top third of the car number on the right side.

Earnhardt lost two laps on pit road but returned to the lead lap as the highest-scored lapped car after eventual seventh-place finisher Brendan Gaughan scraped the wall on Lap 90 to cause the seventh caution. Earnhardt restarted 31st but drove up to sixth before Kevin Harvick blew a tire and spun in front of Earnhardt in Turn 2 on Lap 106.

In a wreck that involved five cars and also eliminated the Ford of Stage 1 winner Brad Keselowski, Earnhardt hit Harvick’s Ford broadside, effectively ending the evening for both drivers.

A second-place finisher at Sonoma last Sunday, Bowyer was already growing weary of the runner-up role.

"This bridesmaid deal sucks," Bowyer said. "I want to win. We’re in this business to win. That’s what (owners) Tony (Stewart) and Gene (Haas) pay me to do. I’m proud of everyone on the Mobil 1 Ford team."