Tony Stewart wins again at Daytona!!! The 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series got under way with the DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway today, with four Wallaces, two women, and fourteen full-time Cup drivers in the field…and only 42 cars as the #89 of Morgan Shepherd took the car behind the wall before the start with throttle issues. Polesitter #18 Kyle Busch led the field as the green flag dropped. Racing was short lived; however, as #41 Chrissy Wallace hit the wall on lap 2. #04 Brad Teague also suffered damage in a separate incident; meanwhile, Shepherd made it back out on track.
Racing resumed on lap 6 with Busch once again taking the front spot on the restart. #33 Kevin Harvick soon challenged for the lead, as caution number two came out on lap 7 for a wreck when #40 Mike Bliss tagged the rear of #99 Trevor Bayne (R). #26 Brian Keselowski was also involved, as well as #16 Colin Braun(R), #01 Mike Wallace, #81 Michael McDowell, and #98 Paul Menard. Green flag racing resumed on lap 11 with Harvick in the top spot. A handful of cars, such as #87 Joe Nemechek, #98 Paul Menard, and #09 Scott Riggs chose to pit, while the leaders stayed out.
By lap 25 of the 120 lap event, the top-ten running order was Harvick, #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr., #60 Carl Edwards, #20 Logano,#18 Busch, #21 John Wes Townley, #4 Tony Stewart, #27 Greg Biffle, #38 Kasey Kahne, and #32 Brian Vickers. At this point, #7 Danica Patrick was running in 33rd.
Green flag pit stops commenced on lap 44, and as the field cycled through, the third caution came out for a spin by the #01. on lap 52. When racing resumed, the top-ten ran as Biffle, Busch, #22 Brad Keselowski, Menard, Riggs, Earnhardt Jr., Stewart, Edwards, Kahne, and Nemechek. Keselowski would grab the lead on lap 63.
Tony Stewart in Victory Lane
Lap 68 brought out a big wreck off turn 4 that took out a lot of cars, including #7 Danica Patrick. The incident started with #61 Josh Wise getting turned by #16 Colin Braun; the other cars involved were #6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr (R), #10 Jason Leffler, #11 Brian Scott (R), #21 John Wes Townley, #23 Robert Richardson Jr., #31 Stanton Barrett, #43 Johnny Sauter, and #87 Joe Nemechek. With the leaders pitting under yellow, the exodus off pit road had the all double-duty top-ten as Edwards, Busch, Logano, Harvick, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski, Stewart, Biffle, Vickers and Menard. Busch would take the lead with 42 laps to go; Edwards took it back 2 laps later. The next lead change came with 38 to go, as #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the field with 25 cars still on the lead lap. One lap later the yellow came out for debris, and racing resumed with 32 to go, as Earnhardt Jr maintained the lead until Tony Stewart took it on lap 89.
One lap later, a second multiple car wreck occurred, this time taking out some of the leaders and bringing out the red flag. #60 Carl Edwards, and #22 Brad Keselowski touched, causing a chain reaction which sent the #88 of Earnhardt flipping in air, and involved #27 Biffle,#33 Harvick, #20 Logano, #18 Busch, #62 Brendan Gaughan, #09 Riggs, #01 Mike Wallace, and #34 Tony Raines. When the field returned to green-flag racing, the top-ten were #66 Steven Wallace (who did not pit), #38 Kasey Kahne, #4 Tony Stewart, #98 Paul Menard, #32 Brian Vickers, #12 Justin Allgaier, #11 Brian Scott, #26 Brian Keselowski, and #24 Eric McClure. Stewart shot by for the lead before half a lap was complete, but a sixth yellow came out for debris within 2 laps.
With twenty to go, Stewart led the field to the green, and continued to lead with ten left, the rest of the top-ten-Allgaier, Logano, Vickers, Kahne, Menard, Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Edwards, and #15 Michael Annett. After a lot of shuffling within the lead pack, and the final lap finding #18 Busch getting loose, and catching the #22 in his spin, #4 Stewart went on to claim his fifth victory here in the past six races, #60 Carl Edwards finished second, for the second year in a row. The remainder of the top-ten were #33 Harvick, #12 Allgaier, #32 Vickers, #96 Menard, #20 Logano, #1 James Buescher (top rookie), #38 Kasey Kahne, and #66 Steven Wallace. (THL-J.Bready)
