Coke Zero 400 Recap

Tony Stewart salutes the fans after his big victory.
(Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR) 

Tony Stewart collected his third win of the season after some late race heroics, a comeback for the ages, and a thrilling last lap, in the Coke Zero 400.

What It Means: Is there anything the 2011 Sprint Cup Series Champion can't do? He was able to win after being dealt a penalty in qualifying that disallowed his second place run and forced him to start the race in 42nd place. Just proves the toughness of this team and ties Tony with Brad Keselowski for three wins on the season.

Not What He Was Looking For: Kurt Busch led his underfunded, Phoenix Racing team to victory in Friday nights Nationwide Series race and I thought momentum would be on their side come Saturday night. Kurt had issues though and had a tire go down and wounded up in the night first big accident. He finished 28 laps down in 35th place.

Sam Hornish, Come On Down: Saturday was a crazy day for Penske Racing driver, Sam Hornish Jr. He was in North Carolina, working on the Speed Center television set when he got the call. At first he didn't answer but the full time NASCAR Nationwide Series driver soon found out his Sprint Cup teammate, AJ Allmendinger had failed a drug test and he needed to board a plane. He got to the Daytona International Speedway with 8 minutes to spare, before he had to get behind the wheel of the number 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge. He had a flat tire that brought out the nights first caution but still a eventful day.

The Race to The Chase
  1. Matt Kenseth                     676 Pts.
  2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.               -25
  3. Greg Biffle                          -44
  4. Jimmie Johnson                   -58
  5. Tony Stewart                       -84
  6. Kevin Harvick                     -90
  7. Denny Hamlin                     -92
  8. Marting Truex Jr.                 -92
  9. Brad Keselowski                -103
  10. Clint Bowyer                      -104
Wild Card Standings                   Wins          Pts. Pos.
  1. Kyle Busch                              1                   12
  2. Joey Lagano                            1                    14
  3. Ryan Newman                         1                   15
  4. Kasey Kahne                           1                    16
  5. Carl Edwards                           0                    11
TheNASCARTER's Take
With Saturday nights win, Tony Stewart now has 18 all time victories at Daytona across the top two NASCAR series. He is second on that list to NASCAR Hall of Famer, Dale Earnhardt. Only problem is he hasn't won the big one, the Daytona 500. Next year will be his 15th attempt at NASCAR's greatest race, it took Earnhardt 20 years.

Up Next: The stars head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301.



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