I just love fireworks displays. Saturday, we got two shows for the price of one at Daytona International Speedway.
While the main fireworks display came after the race, the preliminary show wasn’t half bad itself, when Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch tangled on the final turn of the final lap of the Coke Zero 400.
Like a pinball and Roman Candle both in one, Busch first bounced off Stewart, spun and bounced off the wall, bounced off Kasey Kahne and then off Joey Logano, with fireworks-like sparks flying everywhere from each point of contact.
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It was great theatrics, causing the 100,000-plus fans at DIS, as well as several million watching on their TVs, to go “oooh” and “aaah” before they really ooohed and aaahed a few moments later during the racetrack’s real and planned post-race fireworks extravaganza.
To his credit, Busch took the end of the race in stride. He and Stewart were both battling for the same piece of real estate, just like Busch has done so with numerous other drivers over the course of his career. http://jerrybonkowski.com/2009/07/cooler-heads-prevail-in-both-daytona.html Tony Stewart ignited the day’s biggest Fourth of July fireworks display when he pushed Kyle Busch out of the way on the last lap, created a huge chain-reaction accident and captured the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night. “I don’t know if I was pretty proud of that,” Stewart said sheepishly from Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway. “I don’t like winning them like that. I was kind of forced in that position.” After Stewart made contact, Busch’s No. 18 Toyota whipped around and went head first into the tri-oval wall after the lead pack roared to the checkered flag to complete Lap 160. The crowd, estimated at 110,000, roared its approval when Busch crashed attempting to protect his lead. Busch declined comment. Daytona Beach News-Journal
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‘‘I don’t know if I was real proud of that, but I don’t know what else I could do,’’ said Stewart, who won the race from the pole. ‘‘I went where I had to go, he went where he had to go. He helped me the whole race, so you hate to see him get wrecked like that. ‘‘He went to block us and we were already there. That doesn’t mean you like it. You don’t want to see him wreck, want him to finish good. But we weren’t going to give it to him. If I did something wrong, I’m sorry. That’s not the way you want to win these things.’’ Stewart’s car was strong all night, as he led throughout the latter portions of the race. Stewart, who now has three Cup wins at Daytona—all coming in the July race—didn’t have a bad pit stop as his crew helped him win all seven of his stops. Jimmie Johnson ended up finishing second, with Denny Hamlin taking third. ‘‘These guys [on the crew] did an awesome job,’’ Stewart said. ‘‘They had awesome stops all night long.’’ MiamiHerald.com
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