Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR - Tony Stewart celebrates winning his fifth NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 in six seasons Saturday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. -- Tony Stewart held off a snarling pack of cars on his bumper to win the DRIVE4COPD NASCAR Nationwide Series 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.
Stewart, who had won four of these races prior to this sunny Saturday, dodged a multitude of sensational wrecks to win his fifth of the last six Nationwide races here.
Carl Edwards roared back to a second-place finish after triggering Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s upside-down exit from the 120-lap race at the 92nd-lap mark.
Stewart teammate Kevin Harvick was third and Justin Allgaier fourth as the cars zigged and zagged their way to a wild finish.
Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images - Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, Colin Braun, driver of the No. 16 Con-way Freight Ford and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 6 CitiFinancial Ford, crash during the NASCAR Nationwide SeriRounding out the top 10 were Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, who started the race in last place, Joey Logano, James Buescher, Kasey Kahne and Steve Wallace.
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, who raced up front most of the afternoon, wrecked back in the pack on the last lap.
A 10-car wreck shortly past the halfway point ended Danica Patrick's day, much to her dismay. It was one of those "I didn't have any place to go to miss the wreck" deals.
It all unfolded ahead of her out of turn four when Josh Wise was tapped from behind by Colin Braun, which created a domino effect that eliminated a total of 10 cars, including Patrick, who had been the center of a media blitz for the past 10 days.
Others eliminated in the crash included Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Scott Lagasse, Braun, Brian Scott, Johnny Sauter, Menard, Robert Richardson, Jr., and Jason Leffler.
Danica Patrick - NASCAR® Media PhotoAnother spectacular accident stopped the race with just 28 laps remaining. This time, it involved most popular driver Earnhardt, who was racing hard in third place when he was clipped from behind by Edwards, after Keselowski nudged him. The contact flipped Earnhardt upside down, and he rolled a couple of times before coming to rest rightside-up.
Harvick received some minor damage in the accident, as did Edwards and Keselowski. Earnhardt, Nemechek and Brendan Gaughan's cars were damaged beyond repair.
Chrissy Wallace spun before the field completed a lap and hit the inside retaining wall, ending her day almost before it began. A little tap in the rear bumper from Menard started her spin which prompted the first caution of the day. It was not to be the last caution.
Just a few after a restart, the caution waved again. Mike Bliss accidentally bumped Trevor Bayne, triggering a multi-car spin. Patrick was almost involved but entered the smoke and came out the other side unscathed. Tony Raines and Braun were not so fortunate. They sustained some damage in the accident.
On the restart at lap 11, it was Harvick, Earnhardt, Jr., Edwards and Logano up front.
At lap 25, Harvick was leading with Earnhardt second. Edwards was third, followed by Logano, Busch, Townley, Stewart, Biffle, Leffler and Kahne. Stewart and Biffle had raced their way into the top 10 after starting the race in the back of the field.
After a round of green flag pit stops at lap 44, Nemechek and Raines led a few laps when everyone but them pitted. Another caution on lap 50 bunched the cars up again. Mike Wallace spun between turns three and four to bring out the yellow flags.
When the race resumed at lap 56, Biffle was the leader with Busch second and Keselowski third.
Trailing the leaders were Edwards, Earnhardt, Nemechek, Stewart, Logano and Kahne.
Patrick had made her way back to 24th spot after handling problems forced her to the rear of the field.
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Daytona International Speedway
DRIVE4COPD 300
Fin Str Car Driver Team Lap Pts BPts Status TLd LLd
1 32 4 Tony Stewart Ritz Crackers Chevrolet 120 195 10 Running 3 38
2 2 60 Carl Edwards Fastenal Ford 120 175 5 Running 2 5
3 4 33 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's Chevrolet 120 170 5 Running 1 37
4 12 12 Justin Allgaier Verizon Wireless Dodge 120 160 Running
5 7 32 Brian Vickers Dollar General Toyota 120 155 Running
6 43 98 Paul Menard Menards Ford 120 150 Running
7 6 20 Joey Logano GameStop Toyota 120 146 Running
8 11 1 James Buescher # Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 120 142 Running
9 8 38 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Toyota 120 138 Running
10 13 66 Steve Wallace 5 Hour Energy Toyota 120 139 5 Running 1 3
11 28 26 Brian Keselowski K Automotive Dodge 120 130 Running
12 18 15 Michael Annett Pilot Travel Centers Toyota 120 127 Running
13 24 22 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Dodge 120 129 5 Running 1 3
14 20 34 Tony Raines Long John Silver's Chevrolet 120 126 5 Running 1 3
15 39 09 Scott Riggs RAB Racing Ford 120 118 Running
16 19 28 Kenny Wallace Blue Ox Hitches & Trailers Chevrolet 120 115 Running
17 26 24 Eric McClure Hefty Ford 120 117 5 Running 1 1
18 1 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 120 114 5 Running 3 10
19 37 11 Brian Scott # StopRepairBills.com Toyota 120 106 Running
20 42 5 Bobby Gerhart Lucas Oil Chevrolet 120 103 Running
21 36 02 Danny Efland CorrisStottRacing.com Chevrolet 120 100 Running
22 40 89 Morgan Shepherd Fans For Faith Chevrolet 118 97 Running
23 5 21 John Wes Townley Zaxby's Chevrolet 118 94 Running
24 25 81 Michael McDowell D.H. Griffin Companies Dodge 113 91 Running
25 27 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Mahindra Tractors Chevrolet 106 88 Running
26 31 27 Greg Biffle Redman Moist Snuff Ford 97 90 5 Accident 1 9
27 33 05 Jeff Green Tobacco Free Florida Chevrolet 92 82 Accident
28 23 01 Mike Wallace Kendrick Meek for Florida Chevrolet 92 84 5 Accident 1 1
29 3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hellmann's Chevrolet 91 81 5 Accident 1 7
30 16 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Casino & Hotel Toyota 91 73 Accident
31 30 87 Joe Nemechek DAB Constructors Inc. Chevrolet 91 75 5 Accident 1 3
32 14 43 Scott Lagasse Jr. DRGmall.com Ford 90 67 Running
33 22 10 Jason Leffler ABF U-Pack Moving Toyota 76 64 Accident
34 9 16 Colin Braun # Con-way Freight Ford 71 61 Accident
35 15 7 Danica Patrick Go Daddy Chevrolet 69 58 Accident
36 10 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # CitiFinancial Ford 68 55 Accident
37 41 31 Stanton Barrett Fuel-doctor.com Chevrolet 67 52 Accident
38 38 48 Johnny Sauter GetMoreVacations.com Chevrolet 67 49 Accident
39 29 61 Josh Wise Specialty Racing Ford 65 46 Accident
40 21 40 Mike Bliss Key Motorsports Chevrolet 7 43 Accident
41 17 99 Trevor Bayne Diamond Waltrip Racing Toyota 6 40 Accident
42 34 04 Brad Teague SponsorDavis.com Chevrolet 2 37 Accident
43 35 41 Chrissy Wallace Fuel-Doctor.com Chevrolet 0 34 Accident
# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led
Average Speed: 123.683 MPH Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 25 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.309 Seconds
Lead Changes: 16 among 12 drivers Cautions: 7 for 32 laps Attendance: 80,000
This article was posted to the website on February 13th, 2010 • Click to view all related content in the following categories
