Tony Stewart won the Nationwide Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway for the fourth consecutive year after beating Clint Bowyer by the slimmest of margins in Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300.
Stewart nipped Bowyer, the pole sitter, by only 0.007 seconds in a race that featured a track record-tying 35 lead changes.
Because NASCAR drivers have to declare which series championship they’re competing for, the Nationwide points leader is Landon Cassill, who finished third at Daytona behind Sprint Cup regulars Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer.
But because Cassill doesn’t have a full-time ride, fifth-place finisher Reed Sorensen, can be considered the top contender for the title for now.
“It’s going to be like that all year,” Sorensen said. “Even though the new points system is in play, we’ll be racing against Cup guys all year. That’s part of it. It’s fun. We’re going to get beat by them sometimes, and we’re going to beat them sometimes. We have to pay attention to points as we do that.” Kansas City Star
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NASCAR Nationwide Series: Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona - Race Results
Tony Stewart Wins NASCAR Nationwide Series Season-Opener at Daytona
RANK DRIVER POINTS BEHIND 1 Landon Cassill 41 Leader 2 Reed Sorenson 39 -2 3 Jason Leffler 38 -3 4 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 36 -5 5 Trevor Bayne 35 -6 6 Mike Bliss 31 -10 7 Danica Patrick 31 -10 8 Joe Nemechek 29 -12 9 Jeremy Clements 28 -13 10 Bobby Santos, Iii 27 -14 11 Aric Almirola 25 -16 12 Steve Wallace 24 -17 13 Shelby Howard 22 -19 14 Donnie Neuenberger 21 -20 15 Patrick Sheltra 20 -21 16 Derrike Cope(i) 19 -22 17 Morgan Shepherd 18 -23 18 Justin Allgaier 17 -24 19 Kenny Wallace 16 -25 20 Josh Wise 13 -28 21 Robert Richardson Jr. 12 -29 22 Eric McClure 11 -30 23 Brian Scott 10 -31 24 Scott Wimmer 9 -32 25 Sam Hornish Jr. 8 -33 26 Mike Wallace 8 -33 27 Elliott Sadler 6 -35 28 Michael Annett 5 -36 29 Jeff Green 4 -37 30 Kevin Lepage 3 -38 31 J R Fitzpatrick 2 -39 32 Kelly Bires 1 -40 33 Tony Stewart 0 -41 34 Clint Bowyer 0 -41 35 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 0 -41 36 Kyle Busch 0 -41 37 Michael Waltrip 0 -41 38 Kasey Kahne 0 -41 39 Joey Logano 0 -41 40 Todd Bodine 0 -41 41 David Starr 0 -41 42 Carl Edwards 0 -41 43 Brad Keselowski 0 -41
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