RacingNation.com
Home / NASCAR / Stewart Soars To 4th Straight Nationwide Victory At Daytona

Stewart Soars To 4th Straight Nationwide Victory At Daytona

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Tony Stewart burst through the field in the closing laps of the DRIVE4COPD 300 at the Daytona International Speedway to win the Nationwide Series opener for the fourth time in a row. He beat out Clint Bowyer by a mere .007 seconds for the third closest series finish.

    Tony Stewart celebrates his with the crew in victory circle at Daytona. It was Stewart’s fourth straight Speedweeks Nationwide Series victory. [Russ Lake Photo]


Bouncing back from a flat tire with a dozen laps to go, Stewart hooked up with Landon Cassill and the pair rocketed through the field, overhauling Bowyer and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stewart’s winning pass came just as he reached the finish line.

For Stewart, he scored his 10th Nationwide Series victory in 91 tries, and it came in the only Nationwide race planned for 2011.

“We got a great run at the end and had a good pusher (Cassill), which is what got us up there,” Stewart said. “I felt if I got to the front with Landon (Cassill), I could win it.”

Regarding the flat tire, he stated, “The biggest thing was I had to go all the way around the track with it and hoped I wouldn’t damage the car. We restarted 11th but knew we had the car to do it if the (right) scenario would play out. We got lucky when we hooked up with Landon.”
The winner drove the Oreo/Ritz Chevrolet fielded by Kevin Harvick’s KHI team.

Bowyer held on for second in another KHI car, the Rheem Heating, Cooling and Water Heating Chevrolet.

The Kansas native had teamed up with Earnhardt in the late going and the two looked like the favorites until Stewart motored by. He led eight times for 40 laps, the most of anyone.

Cassill drove superbly in the James Finch Chevrolet to gain his first top-10 finish at Daytona. And he did so after getting caught up in a wreck in the early going and spinning around on the front-stretch. Also, he did it without drafting know-how at Daytona.

“I started this race with no drafting experience here in a Nationwide car and had to learn from the other guys,” he said. “Brad (Keselowski) showed me how to do it and kept me on the lead lap. At the end, Tony Stewart used me the way he needed to, as he knows how to take a car to the front.”

Earnhardt earned fourth place after an early race botched pit stop when he drove past his pit box, having to make another lap to arrive at the appropriate box. “I am happy with the finish but would have liked to win it,” he said. “I was helping Clint Bowyer and I lost my opportunity to win, as I should have stayed with him instead of pulling out.”

Reed Sorenson raced his Chevrolet to fifth place.

Jason Leffler, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael Waltrip and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Busch and teammate Joey Logano were running with the leaders until the final lap when the latter crashed, leaving Busch without a drafting partner.

Danica Patrick, who qualified fourth alongside team owner Earnhardt, drove smartly and ran in top-10 much of the race, ending up 14th when the race ended. At times, she had difficulty finding a draft partner, which caused her to drop back near the end.

Five caution periods slowed the race for 23 laps and the race was stopped on the 106th laps to clean up debris on the track.

A four-car accident kicked off the slowdown periods on lap 17 and eight laps later six cars including Elliott Sadler were eliminated from contention. The final incident occurred 14 laps from the finish when six cars crashed on the 116th circuit. Series champion Keselowski was one of those caught up in the wreck.

Share Button