Stewart's night shift pays huge dividends
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Since he's an avowed night crawler, the lateness of Tony Stewart's victory in Saturday night's rain-delayed Pepsi 400 did not seem to bother him one bit.
''Man, I'm nocturnal," Stewart said, after he pulled his No. 20
''I wish we did it every week."
In winning the first restrictor-plate race of his career, and first ever NASCAR Nextel Cup points race at Daytona, Stewart ran everyone ragged on a hot and steamy night by leading a race-record 151 of a possible 160 laps. It was the second victory in as many NASCAR Nextel Cup events for Stewart, who won last week's road-course race at Sonoma, Calif.
Stewart, who had won other types of races at Daytona (the Bud Shootout, the IROC series opener, and Busch Series events) but never a NASCAR points race, commemorated his milestone victory by borrowing a page from Helio Castroneves's book. Stewart, though, went the extra mile in his celebration when he pulled his car to a stop at the start/finish line, scrambled out of the cockpit, and began to scale the fence.
But Stewart also climbed to the top of the flag stand, where he exulted in front of a grandstand crowd that roared its approval.
''I'm way too old and too fat to be doing that," Stewart said, shaking his head. ''But once I started, I was committed and I wasn't going to let the fans down. But I think I'm unofficially the first that's gone all the way to the top and over onto the flag stand.
''So Helio has some work to do now."
So, too, do Stewart's NASCAR counterparts, who proved no match for the dominating car fielded by Gibbs Racing. In February's Daytona 500, Stewart led the most laps (seven times for 107 laps) but had little to show for it after finishing a distant seventh to winner Jeff Gordon.
''A lot of times when you're leading, you're put in a position when you've got to pay more attention to what's going on behind you than [what's] in front of you," said Stewart, who pocketed $368,261 for the 21st victory of his NASCAR career. ''Tonight I did something different than what I did in February."
Everyone knew Stewart would have the car to beat when he won the pole Friday, after having a limited practice session before qualifying because of storms that washed out Thursday's schedule.
''I didn't know going into the race that we were going to be this good," said Stewart, who finished ahead of runner-up Jamie McMurray and third-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr., who seemed to jump-start the second half of a challenging season by duplicating his effort in the Daytona 500. ''Everybody was pointing at us [Friday] night, saying we were the team to beat. I didn't see it in practice."
But Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief from Berlin, Conn., certainly did.
He knew their car was good because of the lack of griping Stewart did about it after Friday's practice.
''Normally in July we're all fighting grip and being loose or being tight or drifting up the track," said Stewart. ''We never really had a complaint with the race car. We just kept working on trying to make it faster. Normally, I'm screaming and yelling telling him it's the biggest piece of junk that I've ever driven when we come here. But I never complained about it once."
Once a band of thunderstorms moved through the area, delaying the start of the race by 2 hours 15 minutes, Stewart had even less to complain about when the race went full throttle after 11 laps of caution and his car easily drove away from the field.
''Tony told me that the motor and the car and everything was great," said owner Joe Gibbs, who moonlights as coach of the Washington Redskins. ''It's rare that you get a car like that."
It's so rare, in fact, Stewart offered his team a suggestion.
''That car doesn't have a scratch on it," Stewart said, after he avoided getting caught up in one of several wrecks that produced a total of nine caution periods. ''If it was up to me, that car won't even get to Talladega [for the season's final restrictor-plate race] in the fall. It's going to go back to the shop, put a cover on it, give it a bath and give it a little freshening up, and bring it back in February."
Where a victory in the Daytona 500 truly can last from dusk till dawn.
