(Site Manager Note: Due to all of the excitement and amount of content we had about the Daytona 500 I held off posting Troy’s Nationwide Review for fear it would get lost in the numerous posts we’ve had these last few days. Thanks - Bob)
Tony Stewart: Nationwide King at Daytona - The DRIVE4COPD 300 review
With ten laps to go in Saturday’s amazing race, we had twelve drivers set to race for the win in four different two car drafts.
Landon Cassill and Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr, Reed Sorenson and Jason Leffler, and Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.
Sorenson and Leffler didn’t seem to be a match for the others. On the last lap, Kyle Busch pushed just a little to hard and sent Joey Logano into the wall and broke Busch’s draft. Logano would finish 12th, Busch 7th. Kyle took responsibility for the incident, but it was reminescent of many other wrecks that have happened the past two weeks.
NASCAR didn’t throw the caution, a good move considering that such a move would have ended the race right there, with Clint Bowyer winning. Instead we got one of the best Daytona finishes as former Rookie of the Year and part time driver Landon Cassill pushed three in a row Daytona winner Tony Stewart along the side of Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. went for it, trying to make it three wide and probably hurt Clint’s chances to hang on for the win. As they crossed the line, the baby blue #4 Chevy inched ahead of the black and red #33 Chevy.
I thought this was a great race. Tony Stewart winning four in a row may turn some people off, but Stewart worked for this win. Last year he dominated and seemed to win an easy one. This time, he has Landon Cassill to thank. It was odd to see so few cars on the lead lap even without a “Big One”. Two races at Daytona so far, one with two big crashes, the other with four small ones.
Results and more after the Jump!
| Finish | Start | Driver | Team | Laps | Points | Status | |
| 1 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 4 Oreo / Ritz Chevrolet | 120 | 0 | Running | |
| 2 | 1 | Clint Bowyer | 33 Rheem Chevrolet | 120 | 0 | Running | |
| 3 | 2 | Landon Cassill | 1 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet | 120 | 41 | Running | |
| 4 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 5 Hellmann's Chevrolet | 120 | 0 | Running | |
| 5 | 16 | Reed Sorenson | 32 Dollar General / Totino's Toyota | 120 | 39 | Running | |
| 6 | 22 | Jason Leffler | 30 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet | 120 | 38 | Running | |
| 7 | 8 | Kyle Busch | 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota | 120 | 0 | Running | |
| 8 | 10 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 6 Blackwell Angus Ford | 120 | 36 | Running | |
| 9 | 26 | Michael Waltrip | 99 Pastrana Waltrip Racing Toyota | 120 | 0 | Running | |
| 10 | 7 | Trevor Bayne | 16 Ford Dealers / Valvoline Ford | 120 | 35 | Running | |
| 11 | 20 | Kasey Kahne | 38 Great Clips Chevrolet | 120 | 0 | Running | |
| 12 | 6 | Joey Logano | 20 NASCAR 2011: The Game Toyota | 120 | 0 | Running | |
| 13 | 30 | Mike Bliss | 19 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet | 119 | 31 | Running | |
| 14 | 4 | Danica Patrick | 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet | 119 | 31 | Running | |
| 15 | 18 | Joe Nemechek | 87 D.A.B. Constructors Toyota | 119 | 29 | Running | |
| 16 | 29 | Jeremy Clements | 51 Daytona Beach Kennel Club Chevrolet | 119 | 28 | Running | |
| 17 | 23 | Bobby Santos III | 52 TaxSlayer Chevrolet | 119 | 27 | Running | |
| 18 | 36 | Todd Bodine | 15 Tire Kingdom / Valvoline Toyota | 119 | 0 | Running | |
| 19 | 15 | Aric Almirola | 88 Grand Touring / Hard Rock Chevrolet | 119 | 25 | Running | |
| 20 | 21 | Steve Wallace | 66 5-Hour Energy / Winn-Dixie Toyota | 118 | 24 | Running | |
| 21 | 43 | David Starr | 05 Owens Corning / 31-W Chevrolet | 118 | 0 | Running | |
| 22 | 24 | Shelby Howard | 70 Foretravel / Biomet Chevrolet | 118 | 22 | Running | |
| 23 | 33 | Donnie Neuenberger | 81 Eagle Convenience Stores Dodge | 118 | 21 | Running | |
| 24 | 35 | Patrick Sheltra | 41 Fuel Doctor Platinum Ford | 118 | 20 | Running | |
| 25 | 41 | Derrike Cope | 28 Prevention Plan Chevrolet | 118 | 19 | Running | |
| 26 | 39 | Morgan Shepherd | 89 Salvation Army Chevrolet | 117 | 18 | Running | |
| 27 | 5 | Justin Allgaier | 31 Brandt Chevrolet | 116 | 17 | Running | |
| 28 | 25 | Kenny Wallace | 09 UNOH Toyota | 115 | 16 | Running | |
| 29 | 9 | Carl Edwards | 60 Fastenal / Lenox Ford | 107 | 0 | Running | |
| 30 | 12 | Brad Keselowski | 22 Discount Tire / Dodge Dealers Dodge | 105 | 0 | Out of race | |
| 31 | 31 | Josh Wise | 39 Cajun Ford | 103 | 13 | Out of race | |
| 32 | 38 | Robert Richardson | 23 Wildlife Conservation Society Dodge | 103 | 12 | Out of race | |
| 33 | 34 | Eric McClure | 14 Hefty BlackOut / Reynolds Chevrolet | 95 | 11 | Running | |
| 34 | 11 | Brian Scott | 11 Shore Lodge Toyota | 70 | 10 | Out of race | |
| 35 | 42 | Scott Wimmer | 40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet | 57 | 9 | Out of race | |
| 36 | 17 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 12 Dodge Dealers Dodge | 53 | 8 | Out of race | |
| 37 | 27 | Mike Wallace | 01 G&K Services Chevrolet | 51 | 8 | Running | |
| 38 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet | 45 | 6 | Running | |
| 39 | 13 | Michael Annett | 62 Pilot Travel Centers / Oakley Toyota | 26 | 5 | Out of race | |
| 40 | 28 | Jeff Green | 44 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet | 18 | 4 | Out of race | |
| 41 | 37 | Kevin Lepage | 24 RaceDaySponsor.com Ford | 12 | 3 | Out of race | |
| 42 | 40 | J.R. Fitzpatrick | 27 Schick Hydro / Energizer Ford | 10 | 2 | Out of race | |
| 43 | 32 | Kelly Bires | 25 RaceDaySponsor.com Ford | 5 | 1 | Out of race |
Danica Patrick had her best finish ever, 14th. Yeah, she was one lap down, but so was most of the field.
Here is the top 5 in driver points (note that Landon Cassill is not scheduled to run next week, but we here hope he finds a full time ride before next week):
| Rank | # | Driver | Sponsor | Make | Owner | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Landon Cassill | Chevy | Phoenix Racing | 41 | |
| 2 | 32 | Reed Sorenson | Dollar General | Chevy | Turner Motorsports | 39 |
| 3 | 30 | Jason Leffler | AccuDoc | Chevy | Turner Motorsports | 38 |
| 4 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Black Angus | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | 36 |
| 5 | 16 | Trevor Bayne | Ford Drive One | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | 35 |
So that puts the two Turner Motorsports and two Roush Fenway regulars as early favorites. As for the Owner Points, here’s the top 5:
| Rank | # | Driver | Sponsor | Make | Owner | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Tony Stewart | Oreo Cookies | Chevy | Kevin Harvick Inc. | 47 |
| 2 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Rheem/Menards | Chevy | Kevin Harvick Inc. | 44 |
| 3 | 1 | Landon Cassill | Dodge | Phoenix Racing | 41 | |
| 4 | 5 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Hellman's | Chevy | JR Motorsports | 41 |
| 5 | 32 | Reed Sorenson | Dollar General | Chevy | Turner Motorsports | 39 |
As for the race for the top 30 in owner points:
| 28 | 09 | Kenny Wallace | UNOH | Toyota | RAB Racing | 16 |
| 29 | 22 | Brad Keselowski | Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday | Dodge | Penske Racing South | 15 |
| 30 | 60 | Carl Edwards | Fastenal | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | 15 |
| 31 | 39 | Josh Wise | Blow Bros./Cajun Industries | Ford | Go Green Racing | 13 |
| 32 | 23 | Robert Richardson | Wildlife Conservation | Chevy | R3 Motorsports | 12 |
| 33 | 14 | Eric McClure | Hefty Black Out | Chevy | TriStar Motorsports | 11 |
Other drivers currently outside looking in: #11- Brian Scott, #2- Elliott Sadler, #62- Michael Annett and #40- Scott Wimmer. They have four more races to lock themselves in.
Next week we head to Phoenix and we may see something that hasn’t happened since 2008; A short field in Nationwide. We had 45 cars attempt Daytona and of those, only 38 are a lock to attempt Phoenix. Landon Cassill and the Phoenix Racing Chevy will probably not be at Phoenix, which is a true shame. We all would love to see James Finch run the full season, as well as Landon Cassill.
Check back here during the week to see our Phoenix Preview. Enjoy.
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