Tony Stewart took the Pepsi 400 for the second year in a row tonight at Daytona International Speedway in a race that finished under caution. When the yellow flew somewhere on the backstretch of lap 160, Tony was in the midst of trying to hold off the Busch boyz (Kyle & Kurt)….and we’ll never know what could have happened. Tony’s second win of the season (he took Martinsville in April) was the 26th of his NEXTEL Cup career tying him with the “Golden Boy” Fred Lorenzen for 21st on the all-time win list. Victory #50 for Joe Gibbs Racing was worth $369,586 from the over $6.1M in posted awards.
Kyle Busch (2nd) had his best finish since he won at Phoenix last November.
Boris Said (4th, and now he _is_ that noted oval-tracker) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Watkins Glen last August. His previous best finish on an oval was 27th twice…..at Daytona in February of 2005 and at Texas in April of 2005. Said’s Top-5 now gives us 24 drivers at that level this season…..last year we had 30.
Elliott Sadler (6th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Martinsville in April.
Ken Schrader (12th) had his best finish since he was 9th when we were here in February.
David Stremme (16th) tied his career-best finish tonight. He was 16th at Chicagoland last July.
Mike Wallace (23rd) had his best finish since he was 19th at Talladega last October (only seven races).
STREAKIN….Kurt Busch has 4 Top-10’s in a row.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the week is Casey Mears (+33), followed by Jeff Burton (+24), Kevin Harvick (+23), Dale Earnhardt Jr (+22), and Clint Bowyer (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jeff Gordon (-36), followed by J. J. Yeley (-26), Jimmie Johnson (-23), and Martin Truex Jr (-21). This was the third Op for Mears as well as the third BD for Gordon this season.
The points got a lot tighter tonight (at least at the top) as Jimmie Johnson’s lead over Matt Kenseth is down to 8 points. Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon fell out of the Top-10 as Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin took their place. Kyle Busch (12th to 8th) made the best move forward tonight while teammate Jeff Gordon (8th to 12th) went in the opposite direction.(Stock Car Fans)(7-1-2006)
