DAYTONA
BEACH, Florida – Tony Stewart added another win at Daytona International
Speedway to his resume, driving his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
Chevrolet from the 42nd starting position to the first, to
win his fourth Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola in eight years in a
gripping green-white-checkered finish.
With
the win, Stewart now has 18 career victories at the “World Center of
Racing” – second all-time behind Dale Earnhardt (34). The win
was also Stewart’s third of the year and ties him with Brad Keselowski
for the most victories this season.
“This
is 18 wins at Daytona,” said Stewart. “All of them are special and it’s
the second time this year we’ve been in Victory Lane at Daytona,
so I’m really proud of (my crew). I wish I could trade a couple of
these races in for just one Sunday race in February. It’s just being at
the right place at the right time. We’re still trying to win the Daytona
500.”
Jeff
Burton had a season-best second-place finish and defending Daytona 500
champion and current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader
Matt Kenseth was third.
Kenseth
put the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford on the pole and dominated most
of the race with teammate Greg Biffle; the two combined
to lead 124 of the 160 laps with Kenseth leading a race-high 89 – the
most laps he’s led in a race on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. On the final
restart, the tandem of Kenseth and Biffle valiantly battled that of
Stewart and Kasey Kahne until the No. 14 car shot
to the front on the Superstrech.
“I’m
really disappointed,” said Kenseth. “My team deserved to be down there
holding the hardware and I let them down. Daytona has been
wonderful to us this year, starting last July when we were able to push
David (Ragan) to his win and finish second. Obviously, I had a really
good Speedweeks and then came down here and sat on the pole and led the
most laps. We had one of the fastest cars
and had a good finish. It’s hard to be disappointed with that, but the
racer in you, when you have a car like that, you certainly want to
figure out how to try to win with it.”
Stewart,
who started 42nd after his Office Depot Chevrolet failed
post-qualifying inspection and his second-place qualifying time was
disallowed,
made the longest trek through the field for a win in the Coke Zero 400 –
the record was previously held by Bill Elliott who won from 38th-place
in 1988. Stewart stayed at the back for most of the race before picking
off competitors to take the lead on lap
131.
“I
was a little too cautious at the beginning…and we lost touch with the
lead pack,” said Stewart, who gained four positions in the point
standings and now sits in fifth. “We got a caution and regrouped and
made sure that when the green came out I didn’t wait this time.”
Multi-platinum,
Grammy-winning band Train kicked off the pre-race show with a 60-minute
concert and HLN morning personality and country
singer Robin Meade performed the national anthem. DIS honored four
Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from the Vietnam War as a flag
that flew on the USS Eisenhower waved in the background.
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