Stewart Takes Wild Win at Daytona
Written by Racin with Russ, Wednesday July 08 2009
Racin’ with Russ
By RUSSELL SCHMIDT
This year’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona was plodding along as a so-so event with Tony Stewart leading most of the laps, seemingly at will. But, you knew something was brewing as the point’s leader dragged around ex-teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin over the final few laps.
Busch pulled out, passed Stewart clean, but Stewart held on to the back bumper of Busch until the final turn. He went low, Busch moved down and Stewart went high and on for the lead, only to have Busch make what is becoming the dreaded second move (just ask Carl Edwards after Dega) where he went to move in front of Stewart only to be hooked and sent spinning hard into the fence, whereupon Stewart glided across the finish line for his second win of the year.
After Busch ricocheted off the outside wall, he was struck hard by Kasey Kahne, sending Busch’s Toyota skyward. Once on the ground, the Toyota was again struck hard, this time by a hapless Joey Logano….among others.
The crowd went nuts, more to approve of Busch’s not winning, while the teams collected what was left of their crashed racers. Stewart was almost apologetic ‘for winning like that’ but to me and most everyone else, he did nothing wrong….this time.
Busch climbed out of his car or what was left of it, ok, yet refused to report to the infield care center, something NASCAR insists on. Four officials practically forced him into a NASCAR vehicle to make the ride. Were there any post-race interviews with Kyle? No, something practically a ‘given’ if he doesn’t win or do well.
The last lap mess was one of two large multi-car wrecks, the other occurring around lap 77. Can there ever be a race at Daytona or Dega without a ‘big one’? Nah….not likely. This one gathered up nine in all, including Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Kevin Harvick among others. Some patched things up and yet others called it a day, such as Dale Jr.
Coming across the line at the checkers behind Stewart were the cars of Jimmie Johnson, Hamlin, Edwards and Kurt Busch.
The Cupsters now move on to Chicagoland Speedway with Stewart 180 points ahead of Gordon.
_*Notable:*_ Lap 13 proved to be unlucky for 3-time winner Mark Martin on Saturday night. Martin lost 81 laps in the pits for repairs, coming back to finish 38th, yet slipping out of the Chase…for now, some 65 points back. Extra kudos and mention have to go to Marcos Ambrose in finishing seventh along with part-timer Regan Smith to finish a very impressive 12th on the day. When will this Rookie-of-the-Year be given a full-time ride?
_*Nationwide -*_ Clint Bowyer took game, set and match in the latest round of Nationwide action from Daytona. The Childress driver has had a mediocre season in both top divisions with numerous wrecks along the way. Saturday’s action changed all that as the Childress driver finally landed a win after leading the most laps.
Not far behind and with the usually nasty attitude after the race was point’s leader Kyle Busch followed by Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne.
The pack moves onto Gateway in St. Louis with Busch leading Edwards by 172 markers.
_*Open Wheel News -*_ The Indy Racing League ran in upstate New York at the beautiful Watkins Glen Roadcourse with Justin Wilson winning this one easily in front of Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti.
Paul Tracy, Hideki Mutoh and Ryan-Hunter Reay all crashed out on their own, as did recent points leader Dario Franchitti, yet was able to recover to a dismal 15th place finish.
The top dogs in this series are now Dixon and Franchitti with Dixon ahead by 19.
_*From Rumorville -*_ Jeremy Mayfield’s day in court came last week where the judge lifted the injunction placed against him by NASCAR for failing their drug test. Mayfield’s high-priced lawyers argued the testing procedures were flawed leaving a reasonable doubt as to their validity. Bottom line? Mayfield is free to race…for now, although with expensive legal fees, sponsors walking, crews being let go, they will not have an easy time of getting back in, although the latest information has Mayfield looking to put together an effort for this weekend's run in Chicago.
--- Look for Red Bull Racing to announce sometime soon the possibility of the two-car team to abandon Toyota for a Hendrick Chevy engine and chassis package. That would be the first team to leave the Japanese backing since arriving on the NASCAR scene. That could work with Petty Racing to enter Toyota as Dodge has stopped writing checks to the King’s court among others.
That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Sprint Cup action from Chicagoland Speedway, Nationwide battles from Gateway, truckin’ in Kentucky along with more racing news from around the globe.
Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net
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