Tony Stewart’s slump is over and his shoulder is just fine.

He proved that by charging into the lead with two laps to go at Daytona International Speedway to win his second consecutive Pepsi 400 last night.

This one was nothing like last year, when he rolled to a dominating victory in which he led all but nine laps. Instead, he had to earn it after two late cautions nearly yanked the win away from him.

Stewart was out front when Jimmie Johnson bumped into Bobby Labonte with 14 laps to go to bring out just the fourth caution in what had been an unusually calm race. It set up one final round of pit stops, and Stewart dropped back to 10th on the restart.

Boris Said, the surprising pole-sitter, didn’t pit and inherited the lead. But he kept a nervous eye on his rear-view mirror, all too aware of Stewart’s bright orange No. 20 Chevrolet closing in on his bumper.

Stewart jumped all the way to second in one sweeping move on the low side of the track, and was preparing to pass Said when a wreck behind him brought out the fifth caution. It gave him time to figure his strategy, which was to sit back and let Said jump out to a huge lead on the restart with three laps to go.

It left Said without any drafting help, and Stewart passed him on the outside with two to go.

He was out front when the race was stopped on the final lap for a debris caution, earning his second win of the season and ending a slump that began six races ago when his shoulder blade was broken in an accident in Charlotte, N.C.

Stewart celebrated the win with his trademark climbing of the fence. He made it all the way to top, grabbed the checkered flag, then jumped into the crowd below him in what quickly turned into a joyous mosh pit.

Kyle Busch finished second, his older brother, Kurt, was third and Said wound up an impressive fourth.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

1 2 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet 190 Running 160

2 14 5 Kyle Busch Kellogg’s Chevrolet 170 Running 160

3 16 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 165 Running 160

4 1 60 Boris Said Sobe-No Fear Ford 165 Running 160

5 10 17 Matt Kenseth R&L Carriers Ford 160 Running 160

6 13 38 Elliott Sadler M&M’s Ford 150 Running 160

7 40 42 Casey Mears Texaco/Havoline Dodge 146 Running 160

8 26 26 Jamie McMurray Smirnoff Ice Ford 142 Running 160

9 32 29 Kevin Harvick Hershey’s Chevrolet 143 Running 160

10 30 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniels Chevrolet 134 Running 160

11 23 12 Ryan Newman Alltel Dodge 130 Running 160

12 31 21 Ken Schrader U.S. Air Force Ford 127 Running 160

13 35 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet 129 Running 160

14 25 7 Robby Gordon Harrah’s Chevrolet 126 Running 160

15 39 31 Jeff Burton Cingular Wireless Chevrolet 118 Running 160

16 3 40 David Stremme Coors Light Dodge 120 Running 160

17 6 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet 112 Running 160

18 17 25 Brian Vickers ditech.com/GMAC Chevrolet 114 Running 160

19 5 01 Joe Nemechek U.S. Army Chevrolet 106 Running 160

20 28 10 Scott Riggs Valvoline Dodge 103 Running 160 21

21 96 Tony Raines DLP HDTV Chevrolet 100 Running 160

22 7 88 Dale Jarrett UPS Ford 102 Running 160

23 18 09 Mike Wallace Miccosukee Resort Dodge 94 Running 160

24 20 14 Sterling Marlin Ginn/Waste Management Chevrolet 91 Running 160

25 38 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 88 Running 160

26 36 66 Jeff Green Best Buy Chevrolet 85 Running 160

27 41 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Dodge 82 Running 160

28 33 45 Kyle Petty Tire Kingdom Dodge 79 Running 160

29 8 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 81 Running 160

30 15 32 Travis Kvapil Tide/Downy Chevrolet 73 Running 160

31 12 16 Greg Biffle National Guard Ford 75 Running 160

32 9 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 67 Running 160

33 24 6 Mark Martin AAA Ford 64 Running 160

34 37 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge 66 Running 160

35 43 61 Chad Chaffin Taco Bell Chevrolet 58 Running 159

36 42 19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge 55 Running 159

37 11 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet 57 Running 158

38 19 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA Dodge 49 Running 157

39 29 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford 51 Running 157

40 4 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 48 Accident 154

41 22 00 Hermie Sadler Aaron’s Dream Machine Chevrolet 40 Running 154

42 34 43 Bobby Labonte Pillsbury/Cinnabon Dodge 37 Accident 146

43 27 27 Kirk Shelmerdine Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine Chevrolet 34 Out 28

Selected Driver Quotes:

TONY STEWART - #20 Home Depot Chevrolet (Finished 1st) - “It was close. It wasn’t quite as good to start with. Last year it cooled off a lot more and I think our car tightened up a lot more. But this year, the first three runs of the race we were a little bit loose and needed to tighten the car up. That’s where (crew chief) Zippy and the guys did an awesome job. It’s hard to do everything you want to do when you’ve got come in and in one stop just take fuel only and the next stop just take two tires and all that. It got that way at the end. I’m just not sure it was at the point to where I could just go and run and not have to worry about holding guys off. I really had to pay a little more attention to what was going on behind me this year than last year.”

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 5 CHEEZ-IT/KELLOGG’S MONTE CARLO SS - (Finished 2nd) - ON TRYING TO GET A FEW RUNS IN ON TONY STEWART AT THE END OF THE RACE: “Yeah, we just didn’t have a good enough run on him there. Kurt (Busch) was pushing me from behind but just couldn’t ever get a strong enough run on him to complete the pass. I felt like I had a good run down the back straightaway. If I would have pulled out a little bit too soon and blocked his mirrors but he had to do what he had to do to win the race. Congratulations to (Tony) Stewart and congratulations to my whole Kellogg’s/Cheez-It team for being able to put me in second place tonight.”

KURT BUSCH - No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge (Finished 3rd) - “All in all it was a good day to be able to run up front and have a good teammate like Ryan Newman to be able to draft with and be able to race with my little brother at the end. I was trying to tell him telepathically to drag the brake and slow down a little bit and maybe we could draft by Tony, but it was a solid 20 car. It was tough to pass him. We had a battery go dead halfway through the race. We had to make a pit stop, under yellow of course, and worked our way through that. We made adjustments on the car all night and to bring home our Dodge with a third-place finish, the best Dodge, that’s a great race for us. The Miller Lite team continues it momentum. I hope we get just as good a finish next week at Chicago.

BORIS SAID - No. 60 Sobe No Fear Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) - “I’m speechless. That’s like a win for us and for everyone at Sobe No Fear energy drink, Dollar General, all of our men and women in the Armed Forces. Thank you for what you do over in Iraq. This Ford Fusion was great. Thanks to everybody at Roush Racing. I’m speechless.” WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ON THE LAST RESTART? “I’ve got to hold off that 20 car, but I just couldn’t. He was fast. We were on old tires, but it was still a great call by Frank Stoddard and this whole No Fear Racing Team. This is just great. For the first time in my life I’m speechless.” HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THOSE CLOSING LAPS? “A blast. It’s fun when you see daylight. That’s what you live for when you’re racing. I just can’t believe it - a top five at Daytona, I’m psyched.” WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE CAR? “Just concentrating. I was really relaxed just waiting to go. I just can’t believe it happened. For Jack Roush to give me this opportunity to sell me these great cars is just great.” DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A CHANCE FOR THIS KIND OF DAY BEFORE THE RACE STARTED? “No, I didn’t, but I was really good in the draft and I really took my time and was learning and trying to gain some respect. On old tires we were really fast, so Frankie made a great call to stay out at the end and we were just as fast on old tires. That’s one fast Ford Fusion, No Fear energy drink, it’s just great.” WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? “It’s like a win. It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever accomplished in racing.”

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 R&L Carriers Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) - YOU NEED TO HAVE FRIENDS OUT THERE DON’T YOU? “Yeah, it helps a lot to have a good car too. There are some days where I’ve had help and had a slow car and can’t do anything. Today, we had a really fast car. We ran up front the whole time, but I’m just real disappointed in myself. I made bad decisions on that restart picking my way through traffic. He got boxed in and I got boxed in, so Tony made it back through there. When we went back green I think we still had a shot to get back to second, but it would have been hard to pass Tony without a lot of help.” YOU’RE ONLY 13 POINTS BEHIND JIMMIE JOHNSON. “Yeah, that’s good. We got another top five and it’s amazing how many of those we’ve had this year, so I feel good about that. We made up some ground on the point leader, which at this time of the year is not really important, but to run good and gain some points on the whole field helps a lot.” IT DIDN’T COME EASY TONIGHT. THE CARBURETOR, THE TIRE, PIT ROAD. “Yeah, we just had little stuff go wrong. The carburetor was just running a little bit funny, but it was only on pit road so it didn’t affect it on the race track. We had an equalized right-rear tire and then I ran into the 22 leaving the pits, so between those three things it made it tough. We were able to make our way back up through there, but I just made a poor decision on that restart and kind of cost us the deal.” HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE NIGHT? “It was good for us. It was an up and down night, but we came out of fifth. It’s great. We made up some ground on Jimmie. On that one restart, that was the only bad thing about the whole night, I just made poor decisions and got boxed in. We were ahead of Tony and had about equal cars. I think if I could have been ahead of him, we could have won but I didn’t do the right thing. Tony was gonna push me back to the front. I was pushing him most of the night and I thought we were gonna turn out one-two, and I was hoping it would be in our order since we beat him out of the pits, but I just didn’t do the right thing. I caught traffic and got boxed in.” HOW IMPRESSED ARE YOU WITH BORIS? “I’m impressed. It’s a team deal. I’m impressed with Boris, but Frankie Stoddard and all of those guys have our stuff. They came over and it’s almost like a little Roush team. We’ve been helping them a lot and Frankie is a real smart guy and did a good job in the pits. It was a good call at the end and they got enough cautions to where they got a good finish. That was really good for them.”

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M’s Ford Fusion (Finished 6th) - DID THE PIT DAMAGE HURT YOU BAD? “It might have hurt me a little bit because it just made me a little bit aero-tight behind the guys. At the beginning I could really run good on the long runs, but at the end it just hurt me enough to where I couldn’t make the passes I needed to. The guys did a great job. They gave me a car capable of winning, we just made a few mistakes here and there, but a top five is great for this team right now. We needed this at our company.” THAT’S TWO GOOD FINISHES IN A ROW. “I’m happy - to come back from our damage on pit road like that, to run in the top three or four all night long and then have to go to the rear of the field in 30th and come all the way back through there was great for our team. I’m proud of my guys and how hard they worked. This is a great finish for us.” WHAT ABOUT THE LAST RESTART AND YOUR THOUGHTS? “I got a good run on Jamie and pulled up under him. He ran me down a little bit, but he’s protecting his position and I’m going after mine, so it’s just the way you race. All in all, it was great there at the end. Matt and I were racing side-by-side coming back to the line. I’m just glad we got fifth. We needed a top five. It’s the first one in a long time. To finish fourth in the 500 and come back and finish fifth in this race is good. We had a good night.”

CASEY MEARS - No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger (Finihed 7th) - “We were really tight the whole race. We could run with the pack for about 15 laps and then it was so tight we couldn’t run with them. The last time we came in they freed the car up a lot. We stayed out and got track position and that was the key. The team got it for us tonight. We wrecked our primary car, and this one was further off than we thought it was going to be. Really, Donnie made the call to stay out and got us track position and a good finish. I’m glad to we got some decent points and got back in the mix of things. Going to Chicago is a really good track for me. I hope we have a good car like we had at Michigan and get another good top 10 there.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR - No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet (Finished 13th) - “We’re pretty frustrated with the whole night. The car was tight all night - I couldn’t turn and I couldn’t move forward when I needed to. I mean, I couldn’t go on the restarts… I couldn’t go getting out of my pitbox … and we struggled with so many things. But - lemme tell ya - this crew has worked so hard and they have such a great work ethic, I knew I couldn’t just throw my hands up and give up. All the guys in front of us kept piling into each other and we kept digging and picked up a big chunk of points. We would have had a few more spots but I let off after crossing the line on the last lap. I thought we were coming to the checkers instead of the white flag, so we probably would have been 10th or 11th. But, we’re higher than we have been all year in points, so it’s one of those nights where I’m happy it’s done and we’re gonna get outta here and go home.”

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