The Nextel Cup boys made their second visit to Daytona with Saturday's Pepsi 400. The weather is hotter this time of year and racing at night makes the track much slicker. So the cars need to handle properly to win. Boris Said surprisingly won the pole and Tony Stewart was also in the front row.
Tony Stewart-#20 Home Depot Chevy & Jeff Gordon-#24 Dupont/Pepsi/Superman Returns Chevy led for most of the race. There were a lot of green flag pit stops but things usually cycled back to those two. The turning point of the race was when Jimmie Johnson-#48 Shamu Chevy got loose and crashed with Bobby Labonte-#48 Cinnabon Dodge crashed into the wall on lap 148, 12 laps left. Points leader Johnson finished 32nd.
Most guys pitted with varying strategies but Boris Said-#60 SoBe No Fear Energy Drink Ford & Casey Mears-#42 Texaco Havoline Dodge stayed out to get up front. So with guys with fresh tires looming, could Said hold the lead? Tony Stewart is coming but Greg Biffle-#16 Subway Ford crashes and takes out JJ Yeley-#18 Interstate Batteries Chevy, Mark Martin-#6 AAA Ford & Jeff Gordon out on lap 154. With the help of Kyle Busch-#5 Cheez-It Chevy, Stewart passed Said for the lead with one lap left. A caution for a blown tire on the final lap ended the race. Tony climbed the fence to the flag stand and did a mosh pit dive into the crowd. That boy is crazy.
Congratulations to Tony Stewart, crew chief Greg Zipadelli & car owner Joe Gibbs. How about that Boris Said? Frank Stoddard's pit strategy got him a fourth place finish. Similar pit strategy by Donnie Wingo got Casey Mears a top ten. And a top ten for rookie Clint Bowyer. Jimmie Johnson still leads the points but Matt Kenseth closed the gap significantly. Here's the top ten.
#/Driver/Sponsor/Make/Owner
1.20/Tony Stewart/Home Depot/Chevy/Joe Gibbs
2.5/Kyle Busch/Cheez-It/Chevy/Rick Hendrick
3.2/Kurt Busch/Miller Lite/Dodge/Roger Penske
4.60/Boris Said/SoBe No Fear Energy Drink/Ford/No Fear Racing
5.17/Matt Kenseth/R & L Carriers/Ford/Jack Roush
6.38/Elliott Sadler/M&M's/Ford/Robert Yates
7.42/Casey Mears/Texaco Havoline/Dodge/Chip Ganassi
8.26/Jamie McMurray/Smirnoff Ice/Ford/Jack Roush
9.29/Kevin Harvick/Hershey's/Chevy/Richard Childress
10.07/Clint Bowyer/Jack Daniels/Chevy/Richard Childress
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