In a race widely trumpeted as Danica Patrick’s NASCAR debut, Stewart took the checkered flag .309 seconds ahead of 2008 series champion Carl Edwards.
Kevin Harvick, who owns the No. 4 Chevrolet that Stewart was driving in his only scheduled Nationwide appearance of the year, finished third in his own No. 33 Chevy. Justin Allgaier came home fourth and Brian Vickers fifth.
“Tony and I talked right before the race, and I said I didn’t think they could beat both cars, as good as they were in practice,” Harvick said. “Best car I’ve ever had here, and I think we worked a long time, a lot of hours in our speedway program, and it all paid off [Saturday].”
Saturday was Patrick’s NASCAR debut. Her goal was to finish the race but all hope of that ended when she got caught up in a 12-car accident on the front stretch. The crash was triggered when Josh Wise lost control of his No. 61 Specialty Racing Ford. Patrick avoided a wreck earlier in the race but could not this time, slamming into Wise and then Colin Braun’s No. 16 Con-way Freight Ford and then the wall. Auto Racing Daily
RANK DRIVER POINTS BEHIND 1 Tony Stewart 195 Leader 2 Carl Edwards 175 -20 3 Kevin Harvick 170 -25 4 Justin Allgaier 160 -35 5 Brian Vickers 155 -40 6 Paul Menard 150 -45 7 Joey Logano 146 -49 8 James Buescher* 142 -53 9 Steve Wallace 139 -56 10 Kasey Kahne 138 -57 11 Brian Keselowski 130 -65 12 Tony Raines 129 -66 13 Michael Annett 127 -68 14 Brad Keselowski 126 -69 15 Scott Riggs 118 -77 16 Eric McClure 117 -78 17 Kenny Wallace 115 -80 18 Kyle Busch 114 -81 19 Brian Scott 106 -89 20 Bobby Gerhart 103 -92 21 Danny Efland 100 -95 22 Morgan Shepherd 97 -98 23 John Wes Townley 94 -101 24 Michael McDowell 91 -104 25 Greg Biffle 90 -105 26 Robert Richardson Jr. 88 -107 27 Mike Wallace 84 -111 28 Jeff Green 82 -113 29 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 81 -114 30 Joe Nemechek 75 -120 31 Brendan Gaughan 73 -122 32 Scott Lagasse Jr. 67 -128 33 Jason Leffler 64 -131 34 Colin Braun* 61 -134 35 Danica Patrick 58 -137 36 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.* 55 -140 37 Stanton Barrett 52 -143 38 Johnny Sauter 49 -146 39 Josh Wise 46 -149 40 Mike Bliss 43 -152 41 Trevor Bayne 40 -155 42 Brad Teague 37 -158 43 Chrissy Wallace 34 -161
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