On a night where the skies are filled with fireworks, there were also fireworks aplenty at Daytona International Speedway. After hard-charging Kyle Busch took the lead in the closing laps of the the 2009 running of the Coke Zero 400, he got turned by an otherwise dominant Tony Stewart, who won his third summer race at Daytona, and his first as part-owner of Stewart- Haas Racing.
There were a lot of fireworks all throughout this race. There was a collision between Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin that ultimately put Martin some 81 laps down, knocking the 50-year-old Martin out of the top 12.
Several other bubble riders also found themselves victims of Murphy’s Law. Contact between David Stremme and Kasey Kahne triggered a 13 car pileup that involved among others David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Reed Sorenson.
While the wrecks were one of the major story lines coming out of this race, one cannot look past this really being about four cars: the “14″ of Stewart, the “18″ of Kyle Busch, the “11′ of Denny Hamlin and the “48″ of Jimmie Johnson. These drivers really dominated the evening out font- keeping them safely ahead of the war of attrition.
Smoke was especially stout, winning every race off of pit road. He and his team figured
out the formula for the “14″ ride and they executed the playbook to the hilt. On the double file re-starts, Stewart would hug the the inside line and it was a battle for the competition to stay with him. To the credit of the other top drivers of the night, Hamlin, Johnson and the younger Busch hung with him.
Much has been made of Stewart’s past comments that racing at Daytona was a chess match and he was only smart enough for checkers. The double file re-starts added another element of strategy and it made the “Rushville Rocket” consider what poison he’ pick.
On that final re-start, Kyle Busch seized the lead from Smoke. He then did what anyone else would try to do- make his car as wide as possible. For Stewart, the question then became one of whether or not he’d do what many would not blame him for doing: turning Busch. Some fans find this dirty, others call it “old school racing.”
From this perspective, this observer would call this an aggressive, yet not necessarily dirty racing incident. It really all comes down to your perspective on blocking, as well as your perspective on the use of the old “chrome horn.”
It will be interesting to watch the ensuing conversations among the fans. In my experience, most fans of Stewart are also fans of Busch and vice versa. If this had happened with Busch and Earnhardt, the same old battle lines would draw up. This is a situation unlike any other we’ve seen this season- save for (oddly enough) the battle between these same two drivers in the season opening Nationwide Series race at the same track. Stewart won that race, but he had Busch on his rear bumper all the way to the checkered flag. As I recall, Smoke wasn’t real jazzed about it either.
I reserve judgment, but it is interesting in a very curious way.
A lot of drivers had to battle all kinds of issues in the Independence Day donnybrook. Juan Pablo Montoya parlayed use of the “Lucky Dog” for a top 10 finish. Kurt Busch fought a wicked car to finish 5th. How about Marcos Ambrose? The Tasmanian Devil would be the first to admit the superspeedways crawl way past his speed, but he came away with 6th place. All of them get my “Rocky Balboa Award” for fighting on in the face of adversity.
Brian Vickers also gets props for a top 10 finish and somehow quietly getting through the race.
I know I’ve been critical of Kyle Busch for not speaking with the media after a bad finish. Not on this occasion. When you look that that evil hit he took, and when you think about how some collisions like that have turned out in terms of injury to the driver….I do not blame Busch for saying “screw it” after this night.
Restrictor plates and double file re-starts make dramatic racing and the night did not disappoint. In case you weren’t convinced before, make no mistake that Tony Stewart is in it to win it all in 2009.
And he won’t mess around in the course of doing it.
PHOTO CREDITS- Photos by Walter G. Arce, To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the hyperlink.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
kyle has a bad habit of jumping in front of anyone with a run, he did it so many times at Dega, i couldn’t understand why noone taught him a lesson in driving. maybe he learned something last nite, but i doubt it.
Its kind of hard to pull up and block someone when they already have their front wheel even with your back wheel.
Kyle should know that, thats not blocken thats just plan running into someone.
I do not think “Superspeedways crawl past Marcos Ambrose’s ” speed as he finished 4th at Talledega.
Say what you want about Kyle’s driving, but you can’t deny that was an exciting finish last night, the kind of racin NASCAR needs. Kyle did what he had too, and Stewart did what he had too. I just regret that Kyle didn’t get out of the car and bow to the crowd, and congratulate Tony on his win. That will come with maturity. Kyle Busch is a racer who wants to lead every lap and win every race, don’t fault him for that. He said himself, he’s not there to be popular.
Kyle Busch is a very talented driver, too bad he doesn’t know how to use it. Kyle is all or nothing and nothing doesn’t win championships!