TONY STEWART SURVIVES LAST LAP MELEE TO WIN AT DAYTONA

Tony Stewart was in no mood to celebrate his victory at Saturday’s NASCAR Coke Zero 400 in Daytona.  As so often happens in ‘restrictor plate’ racing, Stewart’s last lap bump of Kyle Busch set off a nasty multicar pileup as he slid through to victory.  The usually outspoken Stewart was downright reserved in his post race victory celebration, despite the fact that no significant injuries occurred as a result of the last lap melee.
Stewart had been one of the wagering favorites to win the race, and had gone off as a +700 choice.  Kyle Busch had been the top favorite at most books, priced anywhere from +350 to +600.  The victory also allowed Stewart to maintain his championship points standing lead over second place Jeff Gordon and third place Jimmie Johnson.  Stewart holds a 69 point margin over Gordon and a 169 point advantage over Johnson.
After the race, Stewart’s comments were almost apologetic in tone:
"That's not the way I wanted to do it. I just don't like it to end that way. You know, you work hard to get to this level and you don't want to see races decided by guys wrecking coming to the finish line. That's not what it's about. Maybe I am being hard on myself, I don't know. But I just don't like the way that ended up. I am not shaken by it, it doesn't matter who it is, you don't want a race to be decided like that. It's just a bad situation. I don't feel as much gratification for winning the race as I should."
He continued to explain his tactical approach to the last lap:
"I went where I had to go, and he went where he had to go. You hate seeing a guy that's been up front all day, especially a guy that's helped me the whole race, wreck like that. You're kind of forced in that position. But I made my move to the outside and he went to block us and we were already there. It still doesn't mean you like it. That's not the way to win these things. If I did something wrong, I'm sorry."
Busch didn’t comment after the race, and spent the night in the hospital for precautionary observation.  His team owner, Joe Gibbs, briefly commented on the race:
"It's a tough place to race. I felt like he gave it everything he could. I'm proud of him."
Jimmie Johnson took advantage of the pileup to finish second, and defended Stewart in his postrace comments:
"The guys are racing. Tony didn't mean to dump him. It's just the product of restrictor-plate racing. Every time we leave these restrictor-plate tracks, there's questions about how we can keep from having the big wreck and things like that. You just can't."
Denny Hamlin finished third behind Stewart and Johnson, while Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.  NASCAR will head to Chicago for a race next Sunday and take a week off before the big race at ‘The Brickyard’ in Indianapolis on July 26.