Tony Stewart Wins the Coke Zero 400

Tony Stewart must have felt like the last fighter standing after crossing the finish line first in the Coke Zero 400 Cup Series competition Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. His ability to manage his car through a long race and stay out of the any race ending altercations with the other racers ultimately helped him make it first to the finish line. He became the beneficiary of Kyle Busch slamming into the front-stretch wall after an unsuccessful attempt at a high block that saw his car clip Tony Stewart’s as he came high to block, which resulted in his car swinging around and into the wall. Busch’s crash did ignite a multiple-car crash that took resulted in a few disappointed teams and drivers, but crashes are a normal occurrence at the speeds achieved in NASCAR. There just isn’t time to react at the speeds and distances theses cars are maneuvering in and it’s a testament to the job that NASCAR does ensure the safety of the drivers.

Kyle Busch clips Tony Stewart on an attempted high-block in Turn 4 and ends up fifth

The day was a pretty good one for Stewart, his car was pretty fast, and he did an excellent job of driving his way to victory. This win was the second of the 2009 Cup season for Stewart, the 35^th of his illustrious career, and his second as both an owner and driver for Stewart-Haas racing.

Jimmie Johnson was able to slide in behind Tony Stewart as he slipped in behind Busch’s left rear tire as he came out of Turn 4 and then steer clear of the trouble to finish in second place.  Denny Hamlin was able to drive clear of the cars in front of him as they bumped and jostled into one another due to Busch’s crash and took third place. Carl Edwards battled his way through the race and took fourth, while Kurt Busch was able to recover from his meeting with the wall, and crossed the line in fifth place, after looking like he was going to win, again.

Marcos Ambrose had a good day and finished in sixth, Brian Vickers took seventh, while eighth place was captured by Matt Kenseth. Juan Montoya didn’t have the fastest car but was able to take ninth, while Elliott Sadler rounded out the top ten positions.