2009 Coke Zero 400 Review
by Virginia Vroom of Predictem.com
Kyle Busch’s wild ways may be catching up to him. It seems like just yesterday we were all watching the out of control, temper-ridden, outspoken Tony Stewart on the track wrecking people and doing anything he had to do to win. Well, those days are long gone as Stewart has blossomed into a much wiser and respectful owner-driver. Maybe Busch should take some notes.
I suppose that maturity comes with time, but Stewart has definitely proven that he has undoubtedly earned his spot atop the points standings. In Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400, the last lap turned out to be the best lap. Coming through turns 1 and 2, Busch managed to snag the lead from Stewart, who clearly dominated all night. Well, Stewart wasn’t about to have his win taken away that easily. Coming off turn 4, Stewart dove low, but Busch tucked in front of him blocking the spot. Stewart then jumped to the high side with Busch trying to block him up there too. Unfortunately for Busch, Stewart had just enough of a run that he clipped Kyle’s right rear quarter panel sending him flying into the outside wall right by the start finish line. What came after that was chaos.
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Being that it’s Daytona, I honestly expected nothing less but was no less awe-struck by the chaos that ensued after that one small move that Stewart pulled to regain his position and take the victory. Cars piled up after Busch slammed into the wall, all four tires in the air and spun around in a fit of smoke and fluids. Luckily for some other drivers, like Mark Martin who suffered early problems, a good deal of the field had major problems being involved in that last lap crash, meaning that the points weren’t too far out of reach still.
Another big wreck happened on lap 77 when Kasey Kahne and David Stremme made contact causing a 13 car pile up involving none other than Dale Jr. It seems like Jr. just can’t ever catch a break no matter where he’s at these days. Jeff Gordon also suffered severe damage from the crash, coming away with a disappointing 28th place and losing a great deal of points to Stewart.
Let’s take a look at your top ten finishers from Daytona:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Carl Edwards
5. Kurt Busch
6. Marcos Ambrose
7. Brian Vickers
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Juan Montoya
10. Elliot Sadler
There were some bubble drivers who had trouble as I mentioned previously like Mark Martin. The 11th and 12th place in the points changed. In fact, those are the only two positions that did change. Here are your current top 12 in the points after the Coke Zero 400:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kurt Busch
5. Carl Edwards
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Ryan Newman
8. Kyle Busch
9. Greg Biffle
10. Matt Kenseth
11. Juan Montoya
12. Kasey Kahne
Tony Stewart extended his lead on Gordon to 180 points, and also collected those valuable bonus points for winning another race as we head into the Chase.
This weekend, we are headed to a relatively new track but an awesome one nonetheless. Chicagoland Speedway only has Cup series history dating back to 2001, so it’s still pretty virgin in terms of its history and what drivers know about it. The great thing about Chicago is that because of it being so new, it just gets more and more exciting every year.