Stewart outduels Earnhardt Jr. for first Busch Series win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tony Stewart drove through the grass, passed his buddy Dale Earnhardt Jr. and wound up in Victory Lane.

Stewart, the 2002 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion, claimed his first win Saturday on his 42nd career start in the stepladder Busch series.

He also ended Earnhardt's three-race Busch winning streak at Daytona International Speedway.

"I had the drama, had the recovery, had the comeback," said Stewart, who charged to the lead with three laps remaining and won under a yellow flag after a last-lap crash. "I could not have scripted it any more exciting if I was making a movie."

Stewart, driving a Chevrolet owned by fellow Nextel Cup bad boy Kevin Harvick, led a race-high 46 laps on the 2½-mile oval.

But Stewart's hopes nearly ended with 25 laps to go when a bump from Carl Edwards sent Stewart skidding through the infield grass at 190 mph. Somehow, he kept the car going in the right direction, steering it back onto the high-banked oval.

"I couldn't pay the fines for what I was thinking," Stewart quipped. "There were a lot of things going through my mind. The first was, 'What am I going to tell my mom from the emergency room?' more>>>

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posted by ADMIN @ Sunday, February 20, 2005