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Nascar and Racing

Stewart's Right About 'Disappointing Moment'

Posted Feb 18, 2008 9:56PM By Geoffrey Miller (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Tony Stewart, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Videos, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Sprint Cup

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Let me take you back to last fall when Joe Gibbs Racing announced a complete switch to Toyota starting in 2008 season.

That meant a lot things had to happen for the JGR bunch -- Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, & Kyle Busch -- to have any sort of chance of finishing well in Daytona 500.

New engines and new cars had to built for no less than three of last year's top-tier Sprint Cup teams. It's not an easy process in the offseason anyways for NASCAR teams, but throw in a manufacturer change and all hell has to break loose in a coherent way for teams to even get back even with their performance in the previous year.

But Joe Gibbs Racing did that, and by all accounts, their engine program out-classed everyone in Sunday's Daytona 500. For the first time a Toyota team not only had a chance to win, but it was a favorite.

Times the three teams JGR.

Kyle Busch led over 70 laps and Tony Stewart led with the white flag flying. But when he didn't come around the track for the checkered flag in first, you had to know he was disappointed.

I'll admit, I was truly impressed with the way he handled himself after the race (we finally got to see Tony Stewart with mature emotions, expressing them in way that almost made us feel sorry for him) and admitted that he was about as dejected as he could be.
"I don't know if I could have stopped them anyway and if I would have changed lanes I think I would have ended up like a bunch of other guys -- wrecked. [...]," said Stewart after the race. "It's hard to explain -- it's probably one of the most disappointing moments of my racing career tonight."
And you can't blame him. He should have been the victor of the 50th Daytona 500, and here's why. (video after jump)

Stewart, with the lead, paced the field through turns one and two and halfway down the backstretch on the final lap. One wrong move, though, and his race was suddenly over.

Instead of staying outside like I thought he would, Stewart ducked low presumably to both help his teammate Kyle Busch and to keep what he thought was the faster of the cars charging at his bumper behind him.

It's very easy for me to play armchair-driver in this situation, but I think I'd be hard-pressed to find someone who thought Stewart, of all people, was going to lose that race on the last lap. It truly is the last NASCAR event Stewart needs to define himself.

Imagine the possibilities if Stewart won that race. He'd be inclined to go race somewhere else -- maybe race for the Indianapolis 500 -- because he'd having nothing left to prove in the NASCAR world that he seems to dislike so much at times. Instead, he'll be chewing on this loss for at least another year.

That move to the inside on the backstretch was just simply the wrong one, and you could tell after the race that Tony was feeling it. Staying outside would have either ended with Stewart in victory lane after an enormous bump by Newman down the backstretch or would have seen him in the wall -- and in virtually the same position he is now as a driver who has never won the Daytona 500.

That's going to loom large for Tony for a long time.

Now watch the final two laps and play armchair-driver.



What say you? If you were Tony do you stay up high and hope your teammate doesn't beat you? Or do you make the move low? And did you think in your right mind that Tony Stewart couldn't seal the deal on the last lap at Daytona?

Tags: Daytona500, DaytonaSpeedweeks

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