Wrecktona and an overly contrite Tony Stewart

By Mike Smith (contact)

Monday, July 6, 2009 | 9:03 a.m.

I’ve said it before and it’s probably worth repeating after the last lap wreckfest we saw at Daytona on Saturday night: We can all think of things about the COT that make the hair on the back of our necks stand up, but this car has definitely raised the level of safety for all of the Cup drivers.

As far as Kyle Busch was concerned, he wasn’t involved in a wreck on the last lap at Daytona. He was involved in three wrecks on the last lap at Daytona. The initial altercation was with Tony Stewart, then Kasey Kahne hit Busch and, finally, Joey Logano T-boned the No. 18 car. As I watched the wreck unfold, my immediate fear was that Busch was injured. But Busch exited the car and began a brisk walk back toward the garage area, initially trying to avoid the mandatory trip to the infield care center. He didn’t look like a man who had just suffered three bone-jarring wrecks. The COT is a tank.

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I have never witnessed Stewart as contrite as he was in the post-race interview. Actually, I felt he was a little too apologetic in his tone regarding a wreck that comes with the territory of restrictor-plate racing. But Tony has had a Zen-like calmness this season that I suspect is a result of realizing that as an owner he has a responsibility to set an example for his employees and sponsors.

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I was curious to see if the leaders would choose the inside or outside lane on the double-file restarts. I had anticipated that some strategy regarding drafting partners might play into the decision, especially during restarts toward the end of the race. But in every restart, most of which had Stewart as the leader, the inside line was always the position of choice. The opportunity to be in the lead position for most of the restarts was due in large part to great pit stops by the No. 14 team. No stop was over 14.4 seconds.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. is currently 21st in the points standings, 64 points behind the rookie Logano. Earnhardt lost two positions in the standings with his 39th place finish on Saturday.

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Busch declined talking to the media after the race. But eventually he did release some comments about the wreck through a press release. “This is a product of restrictor-plate racing with these race cars. What are you going to say? Everyone on this race team worked their tails off and we had a good race car. I’m not pointing any fingers at Tony Stewart.”

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Wally Dallenbach may have been correct when he mentioned that it was a good thing that Busch didn’t talk to the media. Anything he said in the heat of the moment probably would have been used against him.

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As everyone knows, Dallenbach’s broadcast partner, Bill Weber, has been suspended from the broadcasts for the rest of the season after he was involved in a verbal confrontation at a hotel. Fortunately, we won’t have to hear “We looked it up so you don’t have too” again this season.

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Here's an interesting story from Sunday's New York Times on how the business of NASCAR is changing in these tough economic times.

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