Well, Daytona did not disappoint! NASCAR's Coca-Cola 400 on July 4th had fireworks that nobody can actually plan for. You just have to understand that this is what happens with restrictor plate racing. Tony Stewart, Jimmy Johnson and Denny Hamlin were pretty dominant throughout most of the race. The first "big one" happened smack dab in the middle of the race at Lap 77. It appears that Kasey Kahne may have bumped into the back of David Stremme, making his car wiggle right into Jamie MacMurray (#26) and causing a huge pileup and a couple more wrecks. It managed to take out several of the guys in the top 12 in points. All-in-all, 13 drivers were involved in the wreck: Brad Kaselowski (#09), Jeff Gordon (#24), Kevin Harvick (#29), Brian Vickers (#83), Ryan Newman (#39), David Reutimann (#00), Clint Bowyer (#33), Kasey Kahne (#9), Michael Waltrip (#55), David Stremme (#12), David Gilliland (#71), Dale Earnhardt Jr (#88) and Reed Sorenson (#43).
But, that was NOTHING compared to the finish. Tony Stewart's pit crew were the ones to beat. They took the lead off pit row 8 out of the 8 times Tony was on pit row. The last few laps had Kyle Busch leading the race after "Smoke" had lead for much of the latter part of the race. As they rounded the final turn of the final lap, Tony and Kyle raced hard to take the checkered flag. Tony tried to move around Kyle and Kyle blocked him at every turn. When Tony went down to try to pass Kyle, Kyle dove in front of him. Tony swerved to the right and Kyle tried to block him again. But, this time, Kyle didn't quite make it and ended up getting himself turned into the outside wall. And, if that wasn't enough, Kasey Kahne ended up digging right under Kyle's battered #18 to lift him up all the way on top of Kasey's hood. Once Kasey's car shook Kyle's car off of it, Kyle hit the wall again on the only side of his car that had yet to get hit. Tony took the checkered flag and Kyle ended up finishing 14th. Craziness!
View the last electrifying laps of the Coca-Cola 400 here
To Kyle's credit, you could see how angry he was getting out his car. But, he refused to give a comment about the race. In the past, you could pretty much expect good ol' "Shrub" to run his mouth off. That is one rumored reason he was let go from the Hendrick stable a couple of years ago. Instead of saying something he might later regret, he went to his trailor to cool off. Poor Tony felt bad about the way the race ended. It wasn't the way he wanted it to go and apologized publicly to Kyle Busch in Victory Lane if anything Tony did may have caused the wreck. I, personally, think it was racing. They both raced hard. Tony did what he had to do to get around Kyle and Kyle did what he had to do to block him. Unfortunately, it ended up the way it did. The most important thing I think everyone should remember is that Kyle walked away from this accident. Eight years ago, Dale Sr wasn't so lucky and he had a wreck that looked so much less harsh. So, NASCAR has come a long way, baby.
The next race is on Saturday as well, July 11th at 8pm EST in the windy city of Chicago on TNT. Don't miss it!
Top 5 at the NASCAR Sprint Cup's 2009 Daytona's Coca-Cola 400:
1. Tony Stewart (#14)
2. Jimmie Johnson (#48)
3. Denny Hamlin (#11)
4. Carl Edwards (#99)
5. Kurt Busch (#2)
Heather Chavez - Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn't Enough of You to Go Around!
Hi Heather:
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