Tony Stewart NASCAR Nationwide Series Daytona Race Report

Tony Stewart scored his fourth straight win in the season-opening NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway by nosing his No. 4 Oreo/Ritz Chevrolet Impala just ahead of his Kevin Harvick Inc., (KHI) teammate Clint Bowyer in the DRIVE4COPD 300.

The .007 of a second margin of victory was the third closest finish in Nationwide Series history and the closest in series history at Daytona since the introduction of electronic scoring in 1993. It was also Stewart’s sixth win in the February Nationwide Series race at Daytona in the last seven years.

“Wow is the first thing,” said Stewart, who now has 16 total victories at Daytona, which ties him for second on the track’s all-time win list with Bobby Allison, 18 wins behind the legendary Dale Earnhardt (34). “It’s going to take a while to get to 34. It’s a pretty cool feeling to know we’ve closed in on something he’s done here. This was his playground. You just watched him play with guys here. He was the best at this place. To even be remotely close to him in the record books, in anything here, is very humbling.”

Beyond the statistics, Stewart’s win was equally impressive in the fashion for which it was done. The driver of the No. 4 Oreo/Ritz Chevy overcame a flat right-rear tire late in the race, and he restarted in 11th on lap 114 of the 120-lap contest.

“I knew we had a good car in practice,” Stewart said. “We didn’t qualify as good as we were hoping for (14th), but we were pretty sure we knew that we were going to race a lot better than we practiced.”

Stewart and Bowyer spent most of the race as drafting partners. With new asphalt at Daytona for the first time since 1979, the fastest way around the 2.5-mile oval meant being a part of a two-car tandem.

The duo drafted together for the majority of the race, which each driver swapping spots every so often so that neither of their car’s engines would overheat. Stewart wound up leading five times for 13 laps, and Bowyer eight times for a race-high 40 laps.

Their plan was to stay together and battle it out at the end – which they did, but not without a hiccup.

With the race under caution on lap 106, Stewart’s spotter, Bob Jeffrey, noticed from high atop the frontstretch grandstands that the right-rear tire on Stewart’s Oreo/Ritz machine was flat. But with the caution out, Stewart was able to nurse his way back to pit road without the flat tire coming apart and harming the wind-tunnel sculpted fenders of his Chevy Impala.

With four fresh Goodyears, Stewart returned to action in 11th-place with only six laps remaining. He wasn’t worried, for just before the green flag dropped for the final sprint to the finish, Stewart told his team that as long as he had help from a “good pusher,” he had “a lot of time to get done what I need to get done.”

And “get it done” is just what Stewart did.

With the Chevrolet of Landon Cassill pushing him, Stewart shot through the field, narrowly missing a spinning Joey Logano off turn one on the final lap. Cassill stayed on Stewart’s bumper off turn two and onto the backstretch, whereupon they set their sights on the leaders, which consisted of Bowyer in first and Dale Earnhardt Jr., in second.

Knowing that Stewart was coming quickly, Bowyer attempted to move up and block Stewart as he came out of turn four, but it wasn’t enough. Stewart’s momentum was too strong, and he edged Bowyer in a dramatic finish.

“What a long weekend. I’ve been sick for three days, but this is making me feel better,” said Stewart from victory lane. “I’ve got to thank Oreo and Ritz, and I cannot thank Kevin and DeLana Harvick and everyone at KHI and ECR Engines enough.

“Landon pushed and pushed and pushed and did a really good job. We got that momentum built. We never had to check up. We never were in a scenario at the end where we had to break that momentum. We just ran ‘em down, and got there in just enough time.”

It was a 1-2 finish for KHI, but the third team driver, Elliott Sadler, was unable to make it a podium finish as he was taken out in a multi-car crash on lap 25. He finished 38th.

Cassill came home third to notch his career-best Nationwide Series result, while Earnhardt and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top-five. Jason Leffler, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Michael Waltrip and Trevor Bayne comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 23 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish.

The next event on the Nationwide Series schedule is the Feb. 26 Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. The race starts at 5:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ESPN2 beginning with its pre-race show at 5 p.m.