With Kyle Busch slamming the frontstretch wall after an unsuccessful attempt to block, Tony Stewart won the Coke Zero 400 Cup Series race Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway with a massive wreck exploding behind him.
The victory was Stewart’s second of the season, his second as an owner/driver for Stewart-Haas Racing and the 35th of his career. NASCAR.com
“I just don’t like it to end that way,” Stewart said. “You know, you work hard to get to this level and you don’t want to see races decided by guys wrecking coming to the finish line. That’s not what it’s about. Maybe I am being hard on myself, I don’t know. But I just don’t like the way that ended up.”
Just another wild restrictor-plate finish for NASCAR, which is still smarting from a frightening crash in April at Talladega Superspeedway, where Carl Edwards went airborne into the fence in a similar last-lap crash.
“I went where I had to go, and he went where he had to go,” Stewart said. “You hate seeing a guy that’s been up front all day, especially a guy that’s helped me the whole race, wreck like that. You’re kind of forced in that position. But I made my move to the outside and he went to block us and we were already there.
“It still doesn’t mean you like it. That’s not the way to win these things. If I did something wrong, I’m sorry.”
Jimmie Johnson was second, and Denny Hamlin, Busch’s teammate, finished third. Edwards was fourth, and Kurt Busch fifth.
Marcos Ambrose was sixth, followed by Brian Vickers, who came back from an accident, and Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth. Juan Pablo Montoya rallied from a lap down to finish ninth, and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top 10. The Associated Press
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 4 99 Carl Edwards Ford 5 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 6 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 7 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 8 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 9 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 10 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 11 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 12 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 13 6 David Ragan Ford 14 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 15 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 16 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 17 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 18 16 Greg Biffle Ford 19 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 20 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 21 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 22 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 23 98 Paul Menard Ford 24 9 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 25 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 26 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 27 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 28 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 29 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 30 37 Tony Raines Dodge 31 187 Scott Speed * Toyota 32 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 33 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 34 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 35 12 David Stremme Dodge 36 0 David Reutimann Toyota 37 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 38 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 39 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 40 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet 41 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 42 36 Patrick Carpentier Toyota 43 66 Dave Blaney Toyota
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