Catchfence

“Z-Line Designs Driver Leads Six Times for 17 Laps, but Forced to Settle for Seventh”

Date: Feb. 19, 2011

Event: DRIVE4COPD 300 (Round 1 of 34)

Series: NASCAR Nationwide Series

Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)

Start / Finish: 8th / 7th (Running, completed 120 of 120 laps)

Winner: Tony Stewart of Kevin Harvick Inc. (Chevrolet)

Kyle Busch and teammate Joey Logano looked to be in prime position to bring home a win for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) when the white flag waved for the final lap of Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Busch used his No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry to push Logano into the lead, but when he caught Logano’s rear bumper at a bad angle, he accidentally sent Logano spinning into the outside SAFER Barrier off turn one. Busch didn’t suffer any damage from the contact, but the lost momentum caused him to lose the lead draft, which left him with a seventh-place finish in the season-opening Nationwide Series race.

“It was just unfortunate with Joey there,” said Busch, who won the July 2007 Nationwide Series event at Daytona. “We had two great racecars all day. We worked together the whole time. All we wanted to do was bring it home in one piece and, unfortunately, we didn’t make it.

“I saw the ‘4’ (Tony Stewart) coming up in my mirror really, really quick so I tried to block the middle and come down just a little bit. Obviously that off-centered me from Joey’s rear bumper and turned him sideways – completely my fault. Unintentional, but just trying to make it to where the ‘4’ didn’t have room to shoot up through the middle of us there and make us all three-wide all pushing each other. I hate it for those guys and Joey and everybody on the team. Our Z-Line Designs Camry was good and it worked well with them all day. It was just unfortunate at the end there.”

After starting a solid eighth, Busch quickly teamed up with Logano at the drop of the green flag. The pair shot straight to the front of the field, with Logano leading 10 times for 22 laps and Busch six times for 17 laps.

With new asphalt at Daytona for the first time since 1979, the fastest way around the 2.5-mile oval is being part of a two-car tandem. However, the trailing car can only stay behind the leader for a few laps before its engine temperature gets too high. Because of that, it’s necessary for drivers to switch places every three to four laps to keep their engines from overheating.

Throughout the 300-mile race, Busch and Logano worked together, even sharing a radio channel so they could communicate effectively when it was necessary for the pair to swap positions. The communication was paramount, as a smoothly coordinated switch in positions kept the pair from losing too much time to the cars in front of them, for making the switch slowed their momentum.

Busch and Logano stayed hooked to each other’s bumpers at the front of the pack for the entire race, but a lap-114 restart and subsequent six-lap shootout ended up determining the race’s outcome.

“I felt pretty optimistic about it,” said Busch of the final restart, where he lined up sixth with Logano in seventh. “I just wanted to block the middle so that would’ve made the ‘4’ and the ‘1’ (Landon Cassill) pick a lane. They probably would’ve pushed the inside being as though they were Chevrolets. My whole goal was to make it a race between us four, and once the ‘4’ kind of showed his nose there in the middle, I tried to block it.

“I thought the ‘4’ was going to come up and push me and just try to get our row past, but then when he tried going through the middle – that’s obviously when I tried to block the middle. It got Joey and me off-center and caused him to wreck.”

Logano wound up 12th. Fellow JGR teammate Brian Scott in the No. 11 Toyota Camry, finished 34th after being involved in multi-car crash early in the 120-lap race.

Stewart won the DRIVE4COPD 300 to score his 10th career Nationwide Series victory and his sixth at Daytona. The .007 of a second margin of victory over Clint Bowyer was the third closest finish in Nationwide Series history and the closest in series history at Daytona since the introduction of electronic scoring in 1993. It was also Stewart’s sixth win in the February Nationwide Series race at Daytona in the last seven years.

Cassill came home third to notch his career-best Nationwide Series result, while Earnhardt and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top-five. Jason Leffler, Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.,Rand Trevor Bayne comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 23 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish.

While Busch is not running the full Nationwide Series schedule, the No. 18 Toyota is competing for the owner’s championship and is seventh in the standings after round 1 of 34.

The next event on the Nationwide Series schedule is the Feb. 26 Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. The race starts at 5:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ESPN2 beginning with its pre-race show at 5 p.m.

- True Speed Communication Press Release