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By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff WriterNight became early morning during the Pepsi 400, but Tony Stewart was the one constant.
DAYTONA BEACH - In the good old days, the boys and their families would be back in the condo having dinner when the inevitable Florida evening thunderstorms rolled through. The then-Firecracker 400, NASCAR's July 4 spectacular, would have started at 10 and then 11 a.m and everyone was working on a tan by midday.
But the new age Independence Day feature, a crafted for television spectacle, tempts nature under the lights. On Saturday night, nature led for more than three hours. Tony Stewart took over once he was allowed to fire his engine.
Dominant but denied the last three races at Daytona International Speedway, the pole-sitter led a race-record 151 of 160 laps and drove off into the early morning to win the Pepsi 400.
Stewart restarted fifth on the final pit stop with 18 laps left, but within two orbits around the 2.5-mile track he had grasped the lead again. His No. 20 Chevrolet was so strong and his desire to put it back in front so fervent he created a four-wide situation to pass Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth on the outside in Turn One to lead again on Lap 144. Two laps later, a six car crash took out the strong cars of Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, but Stewart was well ahead of the mess.
Stewart won by three car lengths, followed by Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr., then climbed out of his car, up the catch fence and onto the flag stand to pump his fists at the crowd.
"Nobody knows how big a restrictor plate points win for this team is," said Stewart crew chief Greg Zipadelli.
The race's original scheduled start time of 8:20 p.m. was moved ahead to 7:48 in an attempt to get some laps in before an approaching band of showers arrived, but thunderstorms rolled through well before the event could begin. The race began at 10:38 p.m. with the first 11 laps run under caution as crews continued to jet-dry the 2.5-mile track. Pole-sitter Tony Stewart led the field to the green flag at 10:57 p.m. and led 102 of the first 103 laps. He surrendered the lead on Lap 104 during a caution period pit stop only because Robert Yates Racing teammates Elliott Sadler and Dale Jarrett were pitting as the yellow flag flew.
Stewart restarted fifth, was second on Lap 109 and led again on Lap 111. Knowing he had to pit one more time to refuel even if he stopped on a Lap 112 caution, Stewart stayed out, and Sadler and Jamie McMurray followed.
A win on one of NASCAR's two restrictor plate tracks - Daytona or Talladega - is one of the few items the 2002 series champion has yet to add to his resume. A winner last week at the Infineon Raceway road course, Stewart led seven times for 107 of 200 laps in the Daytona 500 in February, but could not hold off Jeff Gordon during a spate of late cautions flags and finished seventh. He was second at Talladega this spring. Stewart led 97 laps in the 2004 Daytona 500 and finished second. He was fifth in the 2004 Pepsi 400.
Mark Martin's 41st and final race at Daytona ended on a rollback truck when a 10-car crash broke out behind Jeff Gordon as he attempted to pit on Lap 34. Gordon signalled with a hand-wave as he slowed and Jamie McMurray checked up behind him, but apparently did not signal to Scott Riggs behind him. Riggs' No. 10 Chevrolet veered up the track, pinching Martin into the wall and setting off a wreck that took out defending series champion Kurt Busch.
"I didn't see any hand signals," said Riggs, who started second. "I don't know if there there and I didn't see them. I was right on Jamie and I didn't see them."
Several teams incurred a penalty to refuel before pit road opened rather than go dry on the track. Elliott Sadler, third in the points standings before the race, ran out of gas as crews cleaned up the track and fell a lap down, but gained a lap back with the free-pass rule later and worked his way into the top 10 by Lap 78.
Cautions slowed the race on Laps 63 and 65 and another on a Lap 70 restart severely damaged the No. 16 Ford of points leader Greg Biffle, who collided with Michael Waltrip in the first turn when a blown tire caused his No. 15 Chevrolet to spin.