DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The payback was perfect. Tony Stewart turned the tables on Hendrick Motorsports to win the Nationwide Series opener.
Now, if only he can do it again today.
Stewart and teammate Kyle Busch finished 1-2 yesterday, combining to hold off Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished third.
The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates showed they've learned some important lessons about cooperation from the drivers at Hendrick, the team that fired Busch to make room for Earnhardt Jr.
“We worked with each other the whole race. That's something that, you know, we've learned that from (those) guys,” Stewart said. “And it just shows if you get two of these guys to work with each other, Kyle and I can. I think Kyle and I could have stayed up front all day no matter how many guys challenged.”
That will be tested in the 500 and the expected showdown between Hendrick and Gibbs.
It will be Stewart, Busch and Denny Hamlin, who won his Daytona qualifying race Thursday, against Hendrick's all-star cast of Earnhardt, two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears.
The field got strung out early in the race, but the last 20 laps were a wild, two-and three-wide melee that included a nine-car crash on Lap 111 that took out Cup stars Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick.
Brian Vickers took the lead from the two Gibbs cars with five laps to go, but Stewart shuffled back into the top spot on the next lap.
“Those guys, you know, got knowledge to get cars around the track, know how to get to Victory Lane,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “They're going to be tough, I think, all year.”
Ashley's wardrobe
NASCAR has a sizzlin' new topic racing through the garage: What will actress Ashley Judd wear today?
Judd, the wife of reigning IndyCar Series champion and rookie NASCAR driver Dario Franchitti, was hard to miss last week at Daytona International Speedway in a low-cut, black dress adorned with colorful tulips, high heels, black sunglasses and a large, floppy black hat.
Happy hour
The final practice for today's race was a little dicey, maybe too much so for some of the 43 drivers.
Clint Bowyer blew a right front tire and scraped the wall, and rookie Regan Smith tagged it a few minutes later.
Two-time series champion Tony Stewart got wildly loose, made a nice save and then headed to the garage. Earnhardt Jr. also gave his team a small scare when he got a little sideways coming out of a turn.
“It got pretty hairy out there,” Gordon said. “This car is too good . . . for us to go out and put us in those positions. Not yet anyway.”
Six drivers, including Gordon, Earnhardt and Harvick, ran fewer than 15 laps in the 80-minute session.
Tire worries
Since Busch has turned as many laps as anyone at Speedweeks – he's the only driver racing all three NASCAR series at Daytona – he might be the best person to evaluate the Goodyear tires.
“I've gotten one hell of a feel for the tires so far,” Busch said. “They're junk. Last night was terrible, today was terrible. So expect (today) to be a lot of fun and exciting.”
The tire has drawn more complaints than the Car of Tomorrow and those smaller fuel tanks combined.
Teams have struggled to get the tires to last even close to the 40 laps cars can run without filling up with gas. It could be even worse today because temperatures are expected to reach the mid-80s.
