Tony Stewart finally gets Daytona 500 win

Whether it was being passed on the last lap or crashing a dominant car, the ways Tony Stewart lost the Daytona 500 has run the gamut. It’s an extensive list and it’s why despite a Hall of Fame-worthy career, the three-time Cup Series champion retired having gone 0-for-17 in NASCAR’s biggest race.

On Sunday night, though, Stewart stood in Daytona International Speedway’s victory lane celebrating triumph in the race that had always eluded him. But he wasn’t rejoicing winning as a driver, but as the car owner for Kurt Busch, who survived an attrition-filled race featuring multiple multi-car wrecks to win both he and Stewart’s first Daytona 500. Busch had been winless in his previous 15 starts in the Great American Race.

“If I knew I would retire and win the next race, I would have retired 17 years ago and got it that way,” Stewart joked. “It’s a pretty cool deal. This is one that we’ve waited for, for a long, long time.”

Stewart retired from NASCAR driving after last season, choosing to focus on his role as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing and his passion, racing dirt sprint cars. In addition to Busch, SHR also fields cars for Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick and Clint Bowyer, Stewart’s replacement.

Under Stewart’s leadership, SHR has grown into one of the sport’s best organizations since Gene Haas enticed Stewart away from his former longtime team, Joe Gibbs Racing, in 2009 by offering him a 50 percent ownership stake. Stewart delivered SHR its first race win that same season, its first championship in 2011, and led the recruitment of Harvick, who joined SHR after 13 years with Richard Childress Racing and brought SHR its second title in 2014.

“It’s great to have this powerful team, a great owner, a champion driver that turned into a full‑time owner,” Busch said. “We’ve made our stable that much stronger with Tony Stewart in this role.”

But just like Stewart could never win the Daytona 500, the team that bears his name had also yet to breakthrough until Busch did so on Sunday. Busch led just one lap, passing a sputtering Kyle Larson, whose fuel tank had run dry, in the middle of Daytona’s backstretch on the white flag lap.

That Busch would even be in that position to capitalize on others misfortune had been in doubt.

Although there were a rash of cautions through the middles stages, the final 41 laps went caution-free. This turned the Daytona 500 into a fuel-mileage race and crew chief Tony Gibson wasn’t sure if Busch could save enough gas to make it to the end without stopping. So Gibson turned to Stewart and leaned on his expertise as a driver, and what he heard wasn’t comforting.

“I look to (Stewart) and I said, ‘How much fuel is he actually burning right here running third? Is he running half throttle, quarter throttle?’” Gibson said. “He said, ‘No, all out, he’s matted. That’s the only way you can run there.’

“I said, ‘Oh, perfect. Not what we wanted to hear.’ He wasn’t helping me any.”

Busch had saved enough. And as he sped underneath across the finish line, Stewart and Gibson erupted into a joyous celebration atop Busch’s pit box that signified what the moment meant to all involved.

“It’s an awe‑inspiring win,” Haas said. “Makes you feel like all the frustration, the years and years of not winning it, it just makes it all suddenly, ‘Okay, that was okay.’

“It’s a great feeling to say we finally accomplished that, both Tony and myself. It’s been a long time.”