Tony Stewart celebrates winning the season-opener Camping World 300 in the Nationwide Series event at Daytona International Speedway. Photo by Jerry Jordan
DAYTONA BEACH, FL. — Tony Stewart’s day has been full of ups and downs — this morning the team lost two cars when he and Ryan Newman collided after a blown tire in Sprint Cup practice — and now, he finds himself in Gatorade Victory Lane as the winner of the Camping World 300 at Daytona International Speedway.
“Yeah, I was ecstatic about it,” Stewart said. “The first time I've got to drive for Mr. Hendrick, Lance (McGrew, crew chief), all the guys at Hendrickcars.com. Just an unbelievable run today. We never really got to run with a huge pack yesterday, or the last two days in practice. I wasn't quite sure exactly what we were going to have today. We had a great start to the race, got ourselves in the top pack there, were able to stay in the lead draft. We were a little bit free, but we were really good about third back. We got up and led some laps before that first caution, and came out and Lance did a great job all day of making changes to the car to where toward the end we finally got it snugged up enough to where I could do what I needed to do.”
Stewart was running well early in the race, proving that his No. 80 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was strong but then he found himself on pit road taking tires after caution on Lap 91. The move put him well back in the pack but nine laps later, he had already moved up to 9th position on the track. With 10 laps to go, Stewart was in 3rd and by Lap 114 he had taken over the lead from Carl Edwards, who ended up in second place.
“I thought I made the worst call/move of the year, and was going to get that award for coming into the pits with 28 to go,” Stewart said. “It actually ended up saving us at the end. We got good track position, got ourselves back up to third, got track position, and restarted second.
“Fortunately, we were able to get through the pack like that because we had a good car, we could run through the middle in times that guys couldn't go through the middle three-wide. (The car) just drove good and I could roll through there by myself and not have to have the push when we were three-wide and make ground. Thanks to those guys (in the engine department) for giving us a great engine package to let us run up there like that.”
Edwards said after the race that he was happy with his finish and it gives him a leg up on his run for a second Nationwide Series Championship. “This is a good start for us. I think he's going to be really tough. I think that's all there is to it. I think those guys are extremely good. I think the owner's championship can be any of the teams running for it. We've seen how tough that can be, too. We just have to do what we did today over and over and gain as many points as we can.”
Following Edwards across the start/finish line was Clint Bowyer, the defending champion in the Nationwide Series. Bowyer said he had a fast racecar and was frustrated that he didn’t win.
“That's the frustration,” Bowyer said. “I mean, it was surprisingly fast. We were really, really loose. You drive the hell out of 'em. You really have to. Got to get up on the wheel, keep it underneath of you. When you don't win, you're bummed.”
But neither Edwards nor Bowyer were in the catbird’s seat going into the final lap of the race. That spot belonged to Kyle Busch.
For the second day in a row, Busch was in second place for half of the final lap of the race. Last night Busch took a shot at Todd Bodine heading into Turn 3 of the final lap of the Camping World Truck Series race and ended up in second place after almost spinning. Today, he took a shot at Stewart and ended up finishing the race in 4th place.
Bowyer said he saw the battle shaping up but thought that Busch would have done something different than the move he tried on Friday night. But then again, it is Daytona.
“Yeah, I mean, I knew Kyle was going to try to do something. I really thought he'd try to change it up from what he did last night that didn't work,” Bowyer said inside the Daytona Media Center. “But he did the same thing. Didn't work again (laughter from the media). But, you know, that's the thing. I don't know that I agree with just going in there and making the decision to try to hit 'em hard enough that, you know, it knocks them up the racetrack. I think even if you did make it, you know, spun him out or whatever, it would be a pretty bad pass.
“You know, I was anticipating something. I mean, we were fourth in line there. I needed him to break loose and try to get doubled up somehow so I could try to make a move, but it is what it is.”
Busch was unavailable for comment after the race. After taking the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota to the garage, he jumped out of the car and sprinted to his hauler.
A short time later, his crew chief, Joel Weidman, gave a statement to the Toyota Motorsports PR team.
“It was just typical Daytona,” Weidman said. “We had a good car all day, we just didn’t get the breaks at the end. Kyle (Busch) did an awesome job to put the car in position to win. It just didn’t shake out the way we wanted it to. He did everything he could but wreck Tony (Stewart) in the final corner and it just didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to. A good effort by all of the boys and Interstate Batteries. It’s an honor to have them down here in Daytona, just wish we could’ve been a couple of spots better.”
Starting at 5th place and filling out the rest of the Top 10 were: Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Jason Keller and Matt Kenseth.
11th Kevin Harvick
12th David Reutimann
13th Joe Nemechek
14th Michael McDowell
15th Brendan Gaughan
16th Kenny Wallace
17th D.J. Kennington
18th Mark Green
19th Mike Wallace
20th Joey Logano
21st John Wes Townsley
22nd Brad Keselowski
23rd Danny O’Quinn Jr.
24th Michael Waltrip
25th Brian Keselowski
26th Eric McClure
27th Jeff green
28th Mike Bliss
29th Mike Harmon
30th David Green
31st Tony Raines
32nd Scott Wimmer
33rd Jason Lefler
34th Robert Richardson Jr.
35th Michael Annett
36th Donnie Neuenberger
37th Brandon Witt
38th Kertus Davis
39th Mogran Shepherd
40th Justin Allgaier
41st Kenny Hendrick
42nd Steve Wallace
43rd Scott Lagasse Jr.
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