Tony Stewart's dramatic victory at Daytona didn't leave the driver too excited Saturday night.
Kyle Busch took the lead on the next-to-last lap when Stewart admitted he made a mistake and slowed too much in trying to keep Busch from getting to make a big run. Stewart said he timed his braking wrong and Busch shot past. That created the dramatic last lap.
As they came off turn 4, Stewart tied to get by. He eventually moved high and Busch went to block but Stewart was already there. They tapped. Busch spun in front of Stewart and slammed the wall on the driver's side. Then Kasey Kahen plowed into the rear of Busch's car, jacking the rear about 5 or so feet off the ground. And then, Busch's teammate, Joey Logano, T-boned Busch behind the left front wheel.
Amazingly, Busch climbed out of his car and walked away. It took 3 NASCAR officials to get him to go into a vehicle to go to the infield care center. He did not talk to the media after the race.
Stewart had plenty to say about the incident. Here's some of what he said in a very calm voice that left some wondering how much he was beating himself up about the finish. Also, one thing Stewart said was that he planned to reach out to Busch sometime this week to discuss the finish.
Q: You seemed shaken a little bit in Victory Lane about the finish. Is that the case?
TONY: "I'm not shaken by it. It doesn't matter who it is, you just don't want a race to be decided like that. It's hard work that gets these cars to the race track and ... it's just a bad situation. It's not bad because we're put in a bad position. It jus tis what it is. I just don't feel as much gratification from winning this race as I probably should. I guess just because I don't like the way the outcome happened. I don't want any part of earning a race because the guy that was leading the race got wrecked.
"I don't know that we did anything wrong. I've seen replays of it and he's protecting his position, which he's got to do. I mean, that's what he has to do as a driver. He can't just sit ther eand let us make a move like that and not try to defend it. But it puts him, it puts us, it put Kasey Kahne behind him in a bad position.
Q: You seem to being kind of hard on yourself. Do you have any doubt that anyone in that circumstance wouldn't have handled that the way that was done?
TONY: "No, not necessarily. I just don't like it to end that way. 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. I mean, that's not what it's about. Maybe I am being hard on myself, I don't know. I just don't like the way that ended up.
"It's nobody's fault, it's just racing. It's a product of the environment. It doesn't mean the environmentis bad, it just means that's the way it is. Like I said, he did what he had to do, andhe defended his spot and we held our. It wasn't even that we tried to hold our ground, we just got on his quarter panel and that's just how you suck up. As soon as he moved, I didn't anticipate him moving, and went across the nose. But no matter, like I said, even if it's 100 percent his fault, I still won't feel good about it.
"I think racers hold the integrity of the sport in mind and it was a good race, it was a good race all night as far as guys moving around.''
Q: After the contact in an incident like yours are you aware where the finish line is or even thinking that or are you just concerned with keeping your car pointed in the right direction?
TONY: "I was kind of surprised at where we came out of that ordeal, not necessarily with the lead but the direction we were pointed. It really easily could have taken us out of a chance to win the race. It happened so quick and he went across the nose so fast and the next thing we now we're pointed at the (finish) line. I'm assuming Jimmie (Johnson) ran second to us. I have no idea where he was at, if he was even close to passing us.
"The one thing I learned from Ryan (Newman) when Ryan had his wreck at Talladega at the last lap, he said the one thinghe knew is even when he made contact with Carl (Edwards) is that he had to hold (the throttle) wide open because he knew he could slide to the finish line and that's someting that gave him _ I think he finished third out of that _ and that's the one thing that I remembered was that he said he just never lifted and ... that's why he was able to salvage the finish he had. So, it was kind of my mindset once it happened was just don't get out of the gas.''
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NOTES:
# Mark Martin and Kyle Busch are tied for the most wins this season with three. Yet, with eight races left until the Chase field is set, Martin is in danger of missing the Chase. Martin crashed early, finished 38th and fell out of the top 12. He's 13th in the standings and is 65 points behind 12th-place Kasey Kahne. Busch is 8th in the standings and 133 points ahead of Martin, so Busch's position, while not great, is getting better. Martin, though, can't afford too many bad races.
# Dale Earnhardt Jr. was collected in the 13-car crash and finished 39th. He fell to 21st in the points and is 356 points out of 12th. Time to focus on next year.
# With Tony Stewart winning and Jeff Gordon finishing 28th, Stewart leads second-place Gordon by 180 points in the season standings.
For those who missed it, here's the top 10 from Saturday night:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Carl Edwards
5. Kurt Busch
6. Marcos Ambrose
7. Brian Vickers
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Juan Pablo Montoya
10. Elliott Sadler
POINTS
1. Tony Stewart .......2,719 points
2. Jeff Gordon ......... -180 points
3. Jimmie Johnson ..-194 points
4. Kurt Busch ...........-305
5. Carl Edwards ......-402
6. Denny Hamlin .....-417
7. Ryan Newman .....-484
8. Kyle Busch ............-485
9. Greg Biffle .............-504
10. Matt Kenseth .......-518
11. JP Montoya .........-532
12. Kasey Kahne .......-553
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Wreckfest at the finish
Carl Edwards words will come true some day if nothings done. Why don't you hear car owners complaining about this? How many millions of dollars were wadded up at the end of that race because someone was trying to block to get a race win? And Nascar says they are trying to save owners money. Didn't see Mark Martin block Kevin Harvick did you. NASCAR once again didn't follow their own rules and took away Marks Daytona 500 victory. Yellow should have come out the second they started wrecking in Turn 4, Mark was ahead and won that race. Kyle might figure out how to race clean when he ends up missing some races in the hospital or worse. Stewart should feel bad, how do you think he would have felt if Smith had held his line at Talladega. It's always a different story when the shoe is on the other foot. He could have lifted or moved high to avoid contact. He can't say he didn't expect Kyle to block him, that's what they all do, then they say Nascar has forced them to do this. What's wrong with racing for points instead of killing someone.
Good Race
I did not see anything that Stewart did was wrong. He does not owe a apology to anyone. As the late Dale Earnhardt used to say, "That's Just Racing." I hated to see all cars wrecked but it was a good race.
Saw it comming...
Just as the green was given with 7 to go I told my wife that there would be a wreck at the finish involving the leaders. With the field so close together it's obvious what is going to happen. What else can the drivers do without the power?
Finish Line Crash
Similar to what Carl Edwards did, same results, different idiot! When you cut other drivers off, with NO CLEARANCE, you and others suffer the consequences. Just the same as traveling the highways. Will he learn by this event? I doubt it!
Coke 400
After seeing the replay, there's no reason Stewart should feel bad about the finish. I'm sure he feels better after seeing it.
With the double yellow line and the rules supporting it, we'll continue to see this.