Tony Stewart won the DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. It was his ninth series victory in his 90th career start. It was his sixth career restrictor-plate victory, tying Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for most all time. It also was his fifth Nationwide win at Daytona, all in February, tying Dale Earnhardt Jr. Only Dale Earnhardt has more February Nationwide wins at Daytona with seven. Stewart has won seven of his past 12 series starts.
Stewart led four times for 38 of the 120 laps raced, most by any driver.
Chevy posted its 25th series victory in 37 Daytona races.
This marked Stewart’s 15th overall Daytona win.
Kevin Harvick Inc. posted its third series win at Daytona.
Carl Edwards (second) has finished third or better in the past three races at Daytona.
Harvick (third) posted his 11th top-5 finish in 16 Daytona races.
Justin Allgaier (fourth) posted his career-best finish.
Brian Vickers (fifth) has scored top-10 finishes in his past three races at Daytona.
James Buescher (eighth) was the highest-finishing rookie among the four rookies in the race. He started 11th.
Danica Patrick (35th) and Chrissy Wallace (43rd) became the 13th and 14th female drivers to compete in the Nationwide since the series was formed in 1982.
Patty Moise leads all women with 133 series starts.
The top 10 consisted of four Toyotas, three Chevrolets, two Fords and one Dodge.
Edwards was the the highest-finishing Ford.
Allgaier (fourth) was the highest-finishing Dodge.
Vickers (fifth) was the highest-finishing Toyota.
The first Nationwide race was run 28 years ago this date (1982) and won by Dale Earnhardt.
(ESPN.com)(2-15-2010)
