Stewart wins 2nd Nationwide race in row

Tony Stewart was dominant Monday in winning his second straight NASCAR Nationwide Series race, holding off hard-charging Kyle Busch again.

Stewart beat Busch, his teammate in the Sprint Cup series, in a 1-2 Toyota sweep in the Nationwide season-opener at Daytona. He made it look a lot easier in the rain-postponed race at Auto Club Speedway as he led 136 of the 150 laps on the 2-mile track formerly known as California Speedway.

It is the fourth victory for two-time Cup champion Stewart in what was previously known as the Busch Series, but his first win at any track besides Daytona International Speedway.

"The car was awesome. I've got to hand it to my crew chief, Dave Rogers, and his guys," Stewart said. "They made this car real, real good and there were a lot of cars out there that weren't real good.

"We could stay out front and those other guys would wear their tires out and wear themselves out and we could just take care of our tires and do what we needed to do," Stewart added.

Both the leaders were close to running out of gas at the end, but they made it as Stewart crossed the finish line 2.408 seconds — about half the final straightaway — ahead of Busch.

"Tony was pretty much in a league of his own for some reason," Busch said. "Overall, having to come back from the back a couple of times, it was a good race."

By holding off Busch again, Stewart kept the 23-year-old from ending the California week leading all three of NASCAR's top professional series. Busch finished fourth earlier in the day in the Sprint Cup race, taking the points lead from Daytona winner Ryan Newman, and beat Todd Bodine in Saturday's Craftsman Truck race to grab the top spot in that series.

"Again, we passed the most cars this weekend, but they don't pay points for passing," Busch said.

"We just didn't have enough for that (No.) 20," he added, referring to Stewart. "It's kind of disappointing not to have a win, yet, but to have six top-five finishes so far this season is pretty good."

Stewart, who finished seventh in the Cup race, had to be good to beat Busch in Nationwide, where the youngster has piled up eight straight finishes of first or second and no finish worse than eighth in his last 13 starts in the developmental series.

Former series champion Kevin Harvick finished third, followed by David Reutimann and Carl Edwards, the defending series champion and the winner of Monday's Cup race.

Wet weather causes big delays at Fontana

A wet few days in Southern California left NASCAR's Sprint Cup drivers with a little time on their hands Sunday.

The Auto Club 500 finally began about 2 1/2 hours after its scheduled 1 p.m. start time, but it was slowed by two early crashes and then halted as NASCAR and track officials looked for a way to stop water seeping through the seams of the 2-mile oval.

Both Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr., involved in separate crashes in the early going, were critical of the track, blaming the wet conditions for their problems.

Hamlin slid up the track and hit the wall hard on lap 14 of the 250-lap event.

"I think we can get back out there, but I think there are 42 other drivers that would agree that we should not be racing on that racetrack right now," Hamlin said. "I hit a slick spot and my car took off. You can see it on television — right at the seams, it's seeping a lot of water. I hit a wet spot and I'm not going to be the last one."

After the race was restarted, Casey Mears apparently slid through water on lap 21 and clipped new Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. Behind them, former open-wheel star and Cup rookie Sam Hornish Jr., slammed into the rear of Reed Sorenson and then, with his hood blocking his vision, plowed into Mears, turning his car over.

Hornish's car burst into flame as safety workers arrived and quickly put out the fire. None of the drives were injured.

Earnhardt, still looking for his first Cup victory since May 2006, was irate over the conditions in which the race was started.

"It's just a dirty old racetrack out there," Earnhardt said. "It's just frustrating, man. The track isn't ready today. We just rushed into this. It was a bad move."

Other drivers weren't as upset about the track conditions.

After NASCAR stopped the field on pit lane while workers cut into the track with concrete saws in an attempt to stop the so-called "weepers," two-time series defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson said, "It seemed like the track was the best it's been when they were bringing us onto pit road. We just need some time running out there to get some rubber down and get the dirt off the track."

Rain on Friday washed out all on-track action, including qualifying for Cup, the Nationwide Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. Saturday, the truck race was run and the Cup drivers were able to get in half their scheduled practice before rain began again.

The Nationwide race was postponed from Saturday night until after the Cup race.

The red flag lasted 1 hour, 7 minutes.

During the long delay, crewmen played catch with a football and drivers stood or sat in groups, chatting with each other.

"It's just a shame for the fans," said two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart. "They've had a long day already."

Meanwhile, there was still the threat of more rain.

Ryan Newman earns Daytona win for Penske

Ryan Newman snapped an 81-race winless streak Sunday, using a huge push from teammate Kurt Busch to give car owner Roger Penske his first Daytona 500 victory. Penske, the most successful owner in open-wheel history with 14 wins in the prestigious Indianapolis 500, now has a victory in NASCAR's showcase event.

It only took him 23 years to get it. It came in the historic 50th running of The Great American Race, and it came in thrilling fashion.

"We did something very special for the Captain tonight," runner-up Kurt Busch said.

The Penske cars were quiet for 199 of the 200 laps, letting Joe Gibbs Racing stars Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch race each other in a battle of Toyotas. With one lap to go, it appeared Stewart finally would get a Daytona 500 win in his 10th try.

Running out front in the high line, he held off the two Penske cars as they circled the famed speedway. With a pair of teammates closing in on him, Stewart didn't feel safe running out alone with no allies.

So at the last second, he dropped low on the track to line up in front of Kyle Busch. The JGR teams had talked about using teamwork all week, and Stewart thought he'd need Busch to make it to the checkered flag.

But the decision backfired when the two Penske cars flew past him on the top, and Newman pulled away for his first win since New Hampshire in September 2005.

"I just made the wrong decision on the backstretch," a dejected Stewart said. "My intention was to get in front of Kyle and pull Kyle along with us. It's hard to explain. It's probably one of the most disappointing moments in my racing career."

And for Joe Gibbs Racing and the entire Toyota camp.

Toyota seemed destined to win its first points race in NASCAR's top series behind the strength of JGR, which joined the manufacturer this season and gave it instant credibility. After a strong month of testing and a Denny Hamlin win in one of Thursday's qualifying races, the JGR cars seemed poised to battle mighty Hendrick Motorsports for the win.

Instead, Stewart had to settle for third, Kyle Busch — who led a race-high 86 laps — finished fourth and Hamlin was 17th in a disappointing day for JGR.

It was a stark contrast to the euphoria in the Penske camp, which finished 1-2 in NASCAR's Super Bowl.

Daytona 500 could come down to teamwork

He won 10 races last season and his second consecutive NASCAR championship, yet Jimmie Johnson isn't the marquee driver on his own team.

He's not even No. 2.

But that's not important to Johnson, who isn't after attention or fame. No, the two-time defending champion is chasing history, trying to become only the second driver to win three straight titles. His pursuit begins in Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500.

From the pole.

Take that, everybody.

Not since Cale Yarborough did it from 1976 to 1978 has a driver won three consecutive championships, but Johnson has people believing.

"There are certain sports teams, whether it's football or baseball, they get on a run and they get momentum," said Ray Evernham, who failed in his bid to win three straight titles as Jeff Gordon's crew chief during the 1990s.

"You've got to have a good plan, good talent, and you've also got to have the right breaks. But I believe if anybody can do it right now it's that 48 car. It certainly seems like they are starting off right where they left off."

When Johnson posted the fastest time during qualifying last week, it seemed as if the air had been knocked out of the garage.

Everybody came to Daytona knowing Johnson, the 2006 winner here, would be strong. They had hoped offseason gains would have closed the gap a bit, but Johnson's dominance made it clear his team would make a strong run for its third straight title.

"I feel very good about where we are, and I know what we've done in the offseason has only made us stronger," Johnson said. "But I still think we have a lot of room for improvement."

That's bad news for the rest of the industry, which has grown weary of watching Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team dominate week in and week out for much of the past five seasons.

But Johnson will have strong competition from within Hendrick Motorsports, which now includes Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR's most popular driver instantly became the star of the super team, supplanting four-time series champion Jeff Gordon. When Sports Illustrated recently photographed the four Hendrick drivers together, Johnson was relegated to the back.

"It's because he was the tallest," crew chief Chad Knaus reasoned. "They had to stick him behind all those short dudes."

He has yet to grab the spotlight at Daytona, where Earnhardt has stolen the show.

He won the exhibition Budweiser Shootout last week in his Hendrick Motorsports debut, then won the first of two qualifying races Thursday. It established Earnhardt as the favorite to win the Daytona 500, a victory that would snap a winless streak that is closing in on two years.

"I feel like we got a shot, you know what I mean?" said Earnhardt, trying to become the first to win the Shootout, a qualifying race and the 500 in the same year. "Nobody is boastful enough, I don't think, personality-wise, to come in here and claim that. I wouldn't expect anybody to do that.

"But I think we got a great shot."

He'll have plenty of help with all four Hendrick cars in the top nine of Sunday's race. But they'll be surrounded by three Joe Gibbs Racing entries, setting up what's expected to be a showdown between NASCAR's top two teams.

Although anything can happen at Daytona, where the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates means the cars run in large packs and drivers can shoot to the front of the field in a matter of seconds, early indications point to a Hendrick or Gibbs victory.

"From what I see on the track, Dale Jr. is real good, the Hendrick cars are good and the Gibbs cars are unbelievably strong," 2003 series champion Matt Kenseth said. "From sitting back and watching, unless some other people really get their stuff going, I really think it's going to be somebody out of those couple of groups unless something weird happens."

That's not out of the question.

Kevin Harvick never seemed to be in contention in last year's race, then charged to the front and stole the win from Mark Martin as the two raced to the checkered flag.

In this 50th running of The Great American Race, an unlikely winner would be fitting.

That includes a Toyota.

Led by the three Gibbs entries, the Toyotas have been strong throughout Speedweeks. Denny Hamlin took the Japanese automaker to its first Victory Lane, winning the second qualifying race Thursday.

Pushed to the win by teammate Tony Stewart, they devised a strategy to work with Gibbs newcomer Kyle Busch to end Hendrick's run. Stewart counseled Hamlin in the closing laps of their qualifying race on how to hold off Gordon, and it was a lesson they hope to use Sunday.

Stewart lost the Shootout to Earnhardt last week when Hamlin was not in position to help hold off the Hendrick charge. But group the entire Gibbs team together in the 500, and Stewart likes his odds.

"I feel we finally have a shot to beat that lineup of four guys that I had to go up against the other night," Stewart said. "I feel we have three good cars in our camp, they've got four good cars on their side. That's about as even as it gets.

"You give us 3-to-1 odds and it works in our favor just as easy as it does in theirs."

Stewart, a two-time series champion who is searching for his first Daytona 500 win, has had his heart broken in nine previous tries to win NASCAR's biggest race. He hates that winning it will depend on teamwork, but knows Busch and Hamlin are all on the same page.

"There's safety in numbers — and that's the sad, disappointing part," Stewart said. "That's what this race has come down to, not great individual performances, but sheer numbers of strength. I think it's harder than ever to win because you've got to rely on everyone else.

"For an individual, you can't count on anything. The only thing you can count on is that your teammates will work with you. The disappointing part is our biggest race of the year, you have to rely on someone else for your success."

If that means a win, Stewart might be ready to make nice, just like his Hendrick rivals.

NASCAR's real chase

When Tony Stewart checked his rearview mirror in the final laps of the Budweiser Shootout last weekend, he knew he was in trouble.

The Hendrick Motorsports cars were lined up and ready to take charge.

And they did.

Unfortunately for Stewart and all the other Sprint Cup teams, it may have been a sign of things to come for the NASCAR season.

"They've definitely picked up where they left off for sure," said Stewart, the top driver at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Now it's up to everyone else to catch up — a daunting task considering Hendrick's four-car team has become arguably the most dominant in NASCAR history.

Hendrick boasts two-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson and four-time series champ Jeff Gordon. Throw in Casey Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and team owner Rick Hendrick's talent pool is starting to draw comparisons to some of the most recognized dynasties in professional sports history.

Few would mention Hendrick in the same breath as the 1960's Boston Celtics, the 1970's Pittsburgh Steelers or — gasp! — the New York Yankees. But after winning 18 of 36 races last year and then sweeping the first two events of Speedweeks, those comparisons might not be far off.

"They're on their way to being the New England Patriots on wheels," NASCAR chairman Brian France said during his preseason "state of the sport" address. "Can they do it again? Can they keep their dominance?"

Not surprisingly, no one in the garage is ready to concede the title — not even after Earnhardt won the Shootout and then Johnson claimed the pole for Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500.

Still, they realize the challenge in front of them.

"You go home in the winter and you try to get better, but they get better, too," veteran driver Kyle Petty said. "They don't just go home and sit on their butt. You get 5 percent better, but they get 10 percent better every year.

"It's tough to catch up to an organization like that. They are a great organization with great leadership and great people working there."

Hendrick's success is nothing new.

The team won four consecutive championships beginning in 1995, added three more Cup titles since and has 167 career wins.

But last season, Hendrick took it to a whole new level. The team won nine of 16 races involving the Car of Tomorrow, including the first five.

"Those guys are so good," Roush-Fenway Racing driver Matt Kenseth said. "Right now, they're the guys you're looking at that are on the top that you're trying to knock off."

Competing teams argue that Hendrick got a head start on CoT testing and the results reflected it.

Now they're eager to show they've caught up.

"It's clear that Hendrick has been the team to beat," Richard Childress Racing driver Jeff Burton said. "But we're not coming this year to take a whippin'. I'm not here to say we're going to beat them, but we're not here to run second."

Burton and his colleagues will get another chance to see whether they've closed the gap on Hendrick on Thursday in the twin, 150-mile qualifying races.

But winning one race — even if it's the Daytona 500 — might not be a good indicator since the NASCAR season places such a premium on consistency.

"Let's say we gave ourselves four, five, six races (last season) where we genuinely had a chance to win a race," Chip Ganassi Racing driver Juan Pablo Montoya said. "But the guys at Hendrick, they give themselves 20-25 chances a year to win. When you have that many chances, you are going to win a lot of races, and that's what we need to work on."

Hendrick seems to have it down pat — and everyone in the garage has noticed. Rick Hendrick even says he knows there's resentment from fellow teams, which makes the challenge of three-peating more difficult.

"Any time everybody's really shooting at you, it makes it tougher," Hendrick said. "We've got to keep working hard because there's a lot of folks that are gunning for us, and that's a good thing."

The Hendrick drivers, meanwhile, are up for the challenge. They even seem to enjoy the role of heavy favorite.

"I think that's a great position to be in and I think there is a reason why guys want to be on the Yankees and why these guys that we have want to be with Hendrick Motorsports," Gordon said. "It's no different than the Yankees.

"There is no guarantee that they are going to win the World Series every year. They've won it a lot, but it's the same with us. It doesn't guarantee anything, but at least on the inside, we know that we've got the tools to get it done. If we don't get it done, it's our fault."

Busch, Stewart on probation for wreck

NASCAR is placing drivers Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart on probation for six races, beginning with Sunday's Daytona 500.

The punishment follows a confrontation between the two former series champions, who wrecked in practice last week and then carried it into the NASCAR officials' trailer.

NASCAR says the probation stems solely from the on-track portion of their clash, when the drivers deliberately used their cars as battering rams.

Rocky start for NASCAR at Daytona

Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch were scheduled for a Saturday morning meeting with NASCAR officials. It was a volatile start to Speedweeks and gave NASCAR a chance to show it was actually willing to let drivers be more emotional this season.

"It'll be interesting to see how this all unfolds," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

Stewart and Busch were involved in the second of two wrecks during practice for Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout, an exhibition race that kicks off nine days of racing at Daytona International Speedway.

Busch was blocking Stewart, and contact between the two cars sent Busch spinning into the wall. Stewart then turned low and ran into teammate Denny Hamlin.

As Stewart tried to drive to the garage, Busch caught up and twice slammed into the side of his car. Busch then blocked Stewart from exiting the track, prompting some of Stewart's crew members to run toward pit road. They appeared to yell at Busch.

Both drivers were called into a meeting with NASCAR. Jeff Gordon and crew chief Chad Knaus burst into laughter as Stewart walked toward the NASCAR trailer with a throng of reporters and cameramen in tow.

Fans on an observation deck above the garage area shouted encouragement to Stewart, including, "Get it on, Tony!"

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said officials would meet with them again Saturday. It was undecided whether they will be punished, and this gives NASCAR its first chance to decide how serious officials were when they said last month they will allow their drivers to show more emotion this season.

Friday night's confrontation between Stewart and Busch was clearly emotional, but NASCAR was upset with the bumping and banging under caution.

"They made it pretty clear that these two drivers are going to have to really think about what they are doing when they are in that race car," Hunter said.

The meeting ended a wild two sessions of practice for a no-points, 70-lap dash for cash.

"We are getting aggressive out there for not a lot of money on the line now," fellow driver Greg Biffle said.

Eleven of the 23 cars practicing for the exhibition were damaged, a possible indication of what's in store leading up to next week's season-opening Daytona 500.

The first wreck started when Clint Bowyer nipped the back of Ryan Newman's car, sending Newman sliding up the track and collecting several others in an eight-car crash.

Two-time defending Cup series champion Jimmie Johnson, Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Bill Elliott and David Gilliland also were caught in the wreck.

"We're going to see a lot of things like this happening because the drafting is so severe that there is a lot of movement going on out there," Gordon said. "I've been saying it's going to be exciting, and I think there's a whole lot more excitement to come."

The crashes sent crews scrambling to prepare backup cars and gave everyone a little insight into what kind of racing might come with the Car of Tomorrow, which is making its Daytona debut.

"The racing should be spectacular," Edwards said. "Cars are really all over the place."

When practice resumed after the second wreck, only five cars turned laps on the 2 1/2-mile oval.

After practice ended, several drivers said some were being too aggressive, especially with a new car that was anything but predictable during testing.

"It almost seems like we were going for the win tonight," Reed Sorenson said.

Guys have had their hands full trying to keep the cars in line, especially in traffic. And since testing included no more than 14 cars at a time, the practice session was the first chance to get a feel for bigger packs of side-by-side racing.

"It was totally like 'Days of Thunder,'" J.J. Yeley said. "I felt like Cole Trickle."

Many predicted it would only get worse when the green flag drops Saturday night, when there's actually something at stake and even more drivers trying to take chances in hopes of getting to the front.

Given the rocky start, there's little doubt the Shootout will be much more than an exhibition race. It promised to provide an exciting start to Speedweeks.

"Every (driver) will be watching, whether it's on the top of a truck or in a suite or in their bus watching it on TV," series director John Darby said. "They'll be watching it all."