And once again, Tony Stewart riveted the massive crowd in the grandstands with his triumphant fence climbing routine. But this time he added a little twist, he actually celebrated with the fans on the grandstands side of the fence. Definitely not something we see on a weekly basis.
Stewart led 86 of the 160 laps paced around the 2.5-mile super speedway.
"There was no way I was going to let those race fans down," he said. "It started here ... I was either going to get all the way up or I was going to fall off and fall on my butt. But I wasn't going to stop."
Since 2004, no other driver has dominated Daytona like Stewart. In fact, since 2004, there have been 1,086 laps recorded at Daytona, and Stewart has led 473 of them. That is over 43.5 %. Now that is Daytona dominance we haven't seen in awhile.
Road racing ace Boris Said had a splendid weekend as well. After winning the pole for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, Said would finish a career-high of fourth on an oval track. Driving for the recently created No Fear Racing team, Said and his crew chief Frank Stoddard have recorded two top ten finishes in only two starts. Not bad!
"For the first time in my life, I am speechless," quoted Said. "I was really good in the draft. On old tires I was really fast, so Frankie [Stoddard] made a great call at the end."
That could be considered Boris Said's most superlative moment in NASCAR competition.
The Busch brothers, Kurt and Kyle, didn't get a chance to gang up on Tony Stewart before the debris caution waved on the final lap, but they both earned the second and third positions in the Pepsi 400.
Jeff Gordon's wave of momentum abruptly evaporated after wrecking out of the Pepsi 400 with 12 laps remaining. After J.J. Yeley and Greg Biffle made contact, Gordon was pinned into the outside wall, demolishing his Pepsi/Superman Chevrolet.
We'll save Gordon's view on the incident for the quote of the week.
Jeff Gordon falls to 12th in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings.
The race to the Chase for the Championship is about to become even more electrifying. Only 135 points separate sixth place Mark Martin to eleventh place Greg Biffle, and behind Biffle there is only 182 points back to Ryan Newman in 17th. With nine races remaining, there is plenty of time for guys such as Newman, Kurt Busch, and Carl Edwards to squeeze into the Chase for the Championship.
Now on to the quote of the week- Jeff Gordon on Greg Biffle and other competitors.
"The No. 18 (J.J. Yeley) was backing up in the middle and I got to the outside. And the No. 16 (Greg Biffle) was going around him and just turned down on him. There were so many guys that were complete idiots out there, and I want to bad-mouth every one of them."
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