Leader wrecking not what Stewart wanted to see

Sunday, Jul. 05, 2009

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Tony Stewart will take the win.

The way it happened, however, is something he could do without.

After losing his lead on the next-to-last lap, Stewart worked feverishly to get it back. Kyle Busch successfully blocked Stewart's first attempt at a pass, but Stewart's second got him a victory in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

It also landed Busch in the wall just short of the finish line.

Stewart stuck the nose of his No. 14 Chevrolet next to the right-rear of Busch's No. 18 Toyota and when Busch tried another blocking move, he instead hit Stewart's car and was turned toward the wall.

"I guess I don't feel as much gratification from winning this race as I probably should, I guess, because I don't like the way the outcome happened," said Stewart. It was his second Sprint Cup Series win of the season and cemented his position as the points leader.

"If we didn't win the race, we didn't earn it. But I don't want any part of earning a race because the guy that was leading the race got wrecked," he said.

Busch was unhurt in the violent crash, which was eerily similar to the finish of the April race at Talladega, Ala., when Carl Edwards' car was sent airborne after he tried to block the advance of eventual winner Brad Keselowski.

Busch exited his car and started walking through the infield, as if headed toward Victory Lane. A safety vehicle caught up with him and four NASCAR officials escorted him inside and took him to the infield care center for evaluation.

He declined to comment after being released.

Busch's crew chief, Steve Addington, called the finish "part of racing."

"Everybody's done it before," he said. "I feel like this is what happens on the last lap coming to win this race. It's just unfortunate for us. We just killed our car."

While Stewart may bemoan the way he won, there was no doubt he had a strong car - and team - throughout the race.

He led a race-high 86 laps for his third victory in the July race at Daytona. Seven times he pitted for tires and fuel and all seven times his crew got him off pit road first.

"We came in with the lead, came out with the lead every time, so I was really proud of our guys for that," Stewart said.

"That's something I can promise you they're going to take a lot of pride in, and I'm taking a lot of pride in as how good of stops they had."

As striking as Stewart's pit stops was his candor about the finish. Asked if he had "mellowed out," Stewart offered an introspective answer.

"I don’t know, the last couple years it just seems like we seem to get it a little more and we pick our battles a little differently," he said.

"I still enjoy the same things, I just don't get as riled up and I don't know what that is, either. Now with that, hopefully, you guys (the media) will let me put the past behind me.

"I mean, there is nothing I can do about what I've done before, and I think I've paid enough.

"Hopefully, we can move on from it."

But will Busch?

"It is important to talk to him about it," Stewart said of the finish. "His opinion matters to me. I mean, I'll have that conversation, I just don't know when it'll be."

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