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.
“Landon pushed and pushed, and he did a really good job,” Stewart said. “We got that momentum built. We never had to check up, and we were never in a scenario at the end where we had to break that momentum. The other guys were up front, and we had the benefit of having the pocket of air we were in to get the momentum. We just ran them down and got there in just enough time.” MiamiHerald.com
Stewart, who earned his 10th victory in 91 Nationwide starts, had to overcome a cut tire, which forced him to restart 11th—the last driver on the lead lap—when the field came to the green flag on Lap 115. Fortunately for Stewart, he hooked up with Cassill, who pushed him to the front.
Cassill ran third, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had pushed Bowyer for six laps after a restart on Lap 115 of the 120-lap race.
Turner Motorsports teammates Reed Sorenson and Jason Leffler were fifth and sixth, respectively. NASCAR.com
Bowyer, of Emporia, Kan., , led the most laps with 40. He drafted with his teammate Stewart for most of the day until Stewart had a flat tire just before a red flag stopped the race for 5 1/2 minutes because of an accident with 11 laps to go.
At that point, Bowyer hooked up with Earnhardt and was leading when the race resumed with six laps to go.
“I looked in the mirror, I saw Junior, the only Chevrolet up there,” Bowyer said. “I knew he was going to work with me. He shoved me all the way to the last lap. I tried to block (Stewart’s) momentum. About that time, Junior ducked under me, I had to block him. All hell broke loose.” Kansas City Star
Reed Sorenson finishes fifth followed by Jason Leffler, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael Waltrip and Trevor Bayne.
Danica Patrick finished a lap down in 14th, negating the promise of a strong start. After qualifying fourth, Patrick dropped to 25th in the first five laps. But she settled into her No. 7 Chevrolet and hooked up with Bowyer, zooming to the lead on Lap 30.
It was still a career-best finish and a sign of improvement for Patrick, who is running part time in NASCAR for the second consecutive season while also racing full time in the Izod IndyCar Series. Last year, she finished 35th in the season opener after a crash.
Patrick had led four laps in last year’s season finale at Homestead, but she inherited first by staying out under caution.
“It was fun,” Patrick told her team on the radio. “I just needed to stay in touch with that lead pack. I needed to learn how to push better is what it comes down to.” USA Today
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NASCAR Nationwide Series: Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona - Race Results
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