Columns

In this squabble, push beats punch

By John Romano, Times Columnist
Published February 18, 2008

Ryan Newman, front, passes Tony Stewart on the backstretch during the final lap - with a little push from Kurt Busch.
	[AP photo]

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] Tony Stewart leads the field at the 50th running of the Great American Race. On the last lap, he lost the lead - and the race.

DAYTONA BEACH - It took a week, but the scrawny guy finally fought back.

And you'd have to say his push was a lot more painful than the other guy's punch.

Ryan Newman might have been the driver steering into the winner's circle of the Daytona 500 on Sunday evening, but the irony of Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart meeting again on the final lap was hard to miss.

You might recall Busch and Stewart have had their differences in the past. They clashed again in one of the week's early practices, and Stewart supposedly threw a punch at the svelte Busch in a NASCAR trailer.

It took about 498 miles, but Busch got his revenge.

With Stewart one lap away from winning the first Daytona 500 of his career, Busch got behind Newman and gave his teammate the drafting push needed to shoot past Stewart for the checkered flag.

"We didn't start off the week very well," team owner Roger Penske said, referring to the six-race probation handed down to Busch. "But Kurt's got a real big heart, and today he showed the kind of teammate he is.

"That means as much to me as anything. He could have dove down and tried to win the race himself, but he got behind Ryan and gave him the push he needed."

And Stewart will forever wonder if he cost himself a victory in the 50th anniversary of the Great American Race. Stewart let Busch and Newman go high on the track when he went low for drafting help from teammate Kyle Busch.

"Maybe he did think twice ... that it was me up there," Kurt Busch said. "Instead of worrying about who it was, he should have just went there."

For NASCAR, the moment could not have been better. This was real racing. This was an actual rivalry. It had nothing to do with the contrived story lines that have fallen flat in recent seasons.

They might not be Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers, but the dynamic between Stewart and the Busch brothers has the potential for endless entertainment.

Like him or not, NASCAR needs Tony Stewart. He is talented. He is obnoxious. And he is the closest thing the sport has to some of the flair of days gone by.

Stewart is beginning to enter the territory of past champions who have chased the Daytona 500 as if it were NASCAR's holy grail. It took Dale Earnhardt 20 attempts before he finally won. Darrell Waltrip won in his 17th try. Stewart, a two-time series champion, has now fallen short in 10 consecutive Daytona 500 attempts.

"It would be a lie to come in here and say I was happy about going from first to third on the last lap of the Daytona 500," Stewart said. "I just made the wrong decision on the backstretch. Tried to get down in front of Kyle. Thought I would get a push down there and the top line - the 2 got glued to the 12.

"It's hard to explain. It's probably one of the most disappointing moments of my racing career."

Disappointing for Stewart but delicious for NASCAR. If Sunday was any indication, the 2008 season will not follow the same anticlimactic script of recent seasons.

A pair of Toyotas dominated the race Stewart and Kyle Busch, and a pair of Dodges finished 1-2 (Newman and Kurt Busch). There were 42 lead changes among 16 drivers, and Rick Hendrick's lineup of Chevrolet all-stars barely cracked the top 10 (Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ninth).

No one is suggesting Hendrick doesn't have the team to beat, but the gap might not be as wide as it has appeared in the recent past.

In 2007, the story of the season was virtually told by the end of March. Nine of the top 10 drivers after the season's first five races were in the top 10 by season's end.

With Toyota coming strong and Dodge getting off to a good start, NASCAR can at least hope for a better story line than the rest of the field chasing Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

"I feel good about our start, but that's just what it was. It was the first week for us with Toyota," said owner Joe Gibbs, who saw Stewart finish third and Kyle Busch fourth. "You're kind of sick you don't get a win there. When everything starts scrambling at the end, you never know where you're going to wind up."

In the end, disappointment can sell as well as triumph. It is part of what makes a sport worth following. Anyone can cheer for the winner in all of his glory, but it is the competitor who comes up short who tugs at your heart.

It is hard today to imagine Stewart as the sympathetic type. He is a little too successful and a little too surly. Yet the description of Earnhardt a decade ago was not all that different, and his lone win in the Daytona 500 is one of the sport's most cherished moments.

Maybe it could happen for Stewart, too.

As long as he keeps, um, fighting.

John Romano can be reached at romano@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 18, 2008, 00:01:03]