Stewart wrecks, wins

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tony Stewart’s day went from from bad to good in a matter of two hours Saturday at the Daytona International Speedway.

The driver/owner of Stewart-Haas Motorsports spent the earlier part of the day scrambling to get his two Sprint Cup teams ready for today’s Daytona 500 after he and Ryan Newman wrecked in final practice. He spent Saturday afternoon in victory lane after enduring a wild last lap to win the Nationwide Series Camping World 300 in a car owned by Rick Hendrick.

Stewart fell back with 30 laps to go when he had to pit in the 120-lap event, but he surged to the front, passing 23 cars in just 11 laps. Once he got the lead he had to hold off a determined Kyle Busch, who made the last lap a hair-raising experience for Stewart after pushing him for at least half of the lap.

Stewart managed to keep the car in line, and when Busch had to check up entering turn three, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer went streaming past him on the low side. Now free of Busch, Stewart had little trouble holding off the two drivers expected to battle again for the Nationwide championship.

“It was not a fun last lap, for sure,” Stewart said, “but we managed to get the win, and after looking at the replay I think Kyle actually gave me a break. He could have put me into the wall and on Highway 92 if he had wanted to.”

It was Stewart’s fourth career Daytona win and his second in a row in this race, both times holding off Busch late. The top eight finishers were all Sprint Cup regulars: Stewart, Edwards, Bowyer, Busch, Biffle, Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Ragan. Jason Keller, in ninth, was the first Nationwide regular.

Stewart rips Goodyear

It didn’t take long for Stewart to show his angry side during Speedweeks, and again his target was Goodyear. The Stewart-Haas team got a double dose of bad luck in final practice when Newman blew a tire and the trailing Stewart hit him in the side.

Both cars were too damaged to run in today’s Daytona 500, so Stewart had to lose his top-five starting spot in going to his backup car. Newman, the defending race champion, had to go to his third backup car of the week.

After the incident, Stewart let it fly toward the tire manufacturer, with whom he sparred often during a tumultous 2008 season.

“It’s just a Goodyear right rear tire,” he said. “So same thing everybody has been talking about all week. Same stuff that we always talk about every year is the failures that Goodyear has. I think that’s part of their marketing campaign. The more we talk about it, the more press they get. I think they forget that it’s supposed to be in a good way, not a bad way.

“I’m just so tired of talking about Goodyear it’s ridiculous. And us talking about them right now isn’t going to change anything because it falls on deaf ears and that won’t change.”

Stewart had one final bit of advice for Goodyear officials, who Friday replaced eight sets of tires from eight teams for unusual wear problems.

“Don’t get them anywhere near me,” he said. “Don’t bring them anywhere close; don’t let them come close. I don’t want anything to do with them.”

Get scorecards ready

With so many teams sporting new sponsors and new paint schemes this weekend, the fans won’t be the only ones having trouble keeping up with who’s in what car.

Bowyer, who has gone from the black Jack Daniels 07 to the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper car, said the early races may get a little confusing in the cockpit. Bowyer likened the situation to driving in a dirt-track race, which he and recently hired driver Dale McDowell of Rossville did earlier this week.

“It’s is no different than being over there at the dirt track last night,” Bowyer said. “You just don’t know. That is what I was telling Dale: ‘I don’t know who I am racing against’ — who you can race with, who you can’t. It is no different than over here; we’ll figure it out pretty quick.

“It is kind of funny to say this, but more than the colors on the cars — because we all have different paint schemes from time to time throughout the season — it’s the driving styles. That is how you can pick out who’s who most of the time. I know that sounds weird, but it isn’t going to take you very long to figure out which car Tony Stewart’s in, if you know what I mean.”