Stewart crashes Busch to win Coke Zero 400

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Burger King Chevrolet, celebrates. It was Stewart's second points victory of the season, extending his points lead at the halfway mark of the season to 180.
Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

With Kyle Busch slamming the frontstretch wall after an unsuccessful attempt to block, Tony Stewart won Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

The victory was Stewart’s second of the season, his second as an owner/driver for Stewart-Haas Racing and the 35th of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career.

Tony Stewart heads for the flag as Busch crashes
CIA Stock Photo

With a push from teammate Denny Hamlin, Busch had taken the lead approaching the white flag and held it through Turn 4 of the final lap. But Stewart drove his No. 14 Chevrolet to the left rear of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota off the corner, forcing Busch to go to the bottom of the track to maintain control of his car.

Stewart then moved high, and as Busch slid back up to block, contact with Stewart’s car turned Busch into the wall and ignited a dramatic multicar wreck near the finish line.

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, gets boosted by Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge.
Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Jimmie Johnson followed Stewart to the stripe, with Hamlin in third, Carl Edwards in fourth and Kurt Busch in fifth.

Were it not for trouble to most of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup “bubble" drivers, Mark Martin’s postseason aspirations might have suffered a significant setback, thanks to a wreck on Lap 13 that relegated him to a 38th-place finish.

As Martin exited Turn 2, Matt Kenseth gained momentum to the outside, and Martin’s Chevy wasn’t clear of Kenseth’s Ford when Martin moved up the track. Martin’s car spun into the infield and sustained serious damage.

“Matt ran the top side there and got a run up off the corner, and I was just trying to keep it down and leave us room, and I just pinched him," Martin said. “Front wheels were cut, and it just didn’t turn quite enough. My fault."

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, crosses the finish line sideways followed by Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge.
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR

Martin’s wreck was nothing, however, compared with the 13-car pileup on Lap 77 that eliminated Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Contact between the Dodges of Kasey Kahne and David Stremme triggered the wreck, but the cars of Earnhardt and David Reutimann perhaps were the most severely damaged, as Reutimann slid up the track into Earnhardt’s path.

Reutimann entered the race 14th in points, 12 points out of 12th, the final position eligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He finished 33rd and lost ground.

“A couple of guys got together, and I just tried to stay high, and the No. 00 (Reutimann) was crossed up, and we got together with him pretty hard and tore the upper A-frame off the chassis," said Earnhardt, who finished 39th.

Jeff Gordon was another victim of the Lap 77 wreck but was able to continue. Though his car was damaged too severely to contend for the win, Gordon stayed on the lead lap and finished 28th.

Results

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 1 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Burger King 195/10 160 Running
2 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 170/0 160 Running
3 6 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 170/5 160 Running
4 5 99 Carl Edwards Ford Subway 160/0 160 Running
5 4 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 160/5 160 Running
6 18 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Kingsford / Clorox / Bush's Beans 150/0 160 Running
7 17 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 146/0 160 Running
8 10 17 Matt Kenseth Ford R+L Global Services 147/5 160 Running
9 12 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 138/0 160 Running
10 23 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Stanley Tools 134/0 160 Running
11 22 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Irwin Marathon Saw Blades 130/0 160 Running
12 43 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 127/0 160 Running
13 31 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 124/0 160 Running
14 8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Interstate Batteries 126/5 160 Running
15 13 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 118/0 160 Running
16 16 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 120/5 160 Running
17 30 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 112/0 160 Running
18 9 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M Scotch-Brite 109/0 160 Running
19 21 20 Joey Logano * Toyota The Home Depot 106/0 160 Running
20 7 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army 108/5 160 Running
21 28 96 Bobby Labonte Ford Academy Sports + Outdoors 100/0 160 Running
22 34 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Mapei / Menards 102/5 160 Running
23 33 98 Paul Menard Ford Johns Manville / Menards 94/0 160 Running
24 36 09 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 91/0 160 Running
25 24 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 88/0 160 Running
26 27 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Pennzoil Platinum 85/0 160 Running
27 35 34 John Andretti Chevrolet Taco Bell 87/5 160 Running
28 2 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 84/5 160 Running
29 15 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Cheerios / Hamburger Helper 76/0 159 Running
30 42 37 Tony Raines Dodge Gander Mountain / Remington 73/0 158 Running
31 37 187 Scott Speed * Toyota NEMCO Motorsports 70/0 152 Accident
32 25 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 67/0 152 Running
33 26 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge U.S. Air Force 64/0 146 Running
34 20 07 Casey Mears Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 61/0 144 Running
35 32 12 David Stremme Dodge Penske Racing 58/0 129 Running
36 14 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 55/0 127 Running
37 29 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 52/0 124 Running
38 11 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet Carquest / Kellogg's 49/0 79 Running
39 19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard "Serving America" / Amp Energy 46/0 76 Accident
40 38 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet TRG Motorsports 43/0 76 Accident
41 39 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota NEMCO Motorsports 40/0 25 Transmission
42 41 36 Patrick Carpentier Toyota Tommy Baldwin Racing 37/0 18 Engine
43 40 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 34/0 2 Overheating

* Denotes Rookie

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