Stewart excited about returning to Daytona again

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tony Stewart had his heart broken on the last lap of the Daytona 500, when a victory in NASCAR’s biggest race was snatched away from him by winner Ryan Newman.

It was an agonizing defeat, but the two-time series champion didn’t let it linger. He had no hard feelings when he returned to Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s race, which was not completed in time for today’s edition.

“My buddy that came with me from home, we were talking about how many wins we actually have here,” Stewart said. “We’ve got a lot of wins and this is a race that has been really good for us. I’m looking forward to it actually.”

Stewart had good reason to be excited for Saturday night. He won this 400-mile race in 2005 and 2006. The first year he led all but nine of the 160 laps, and led half of the race the next season. He might have made it three straight, too, but wrecked with teammate Denny Hamlin while they were running first and second in last year’s race.

All said, he has won 12 races here and had a dominant car in February when he won the Nationwide Series race, finished second in two exhibitions, then was leading the 500 with a half-lap to go when Newman snatched the win away from him.

In hindsight, it was a sign of the sour luck that has plagued Stewart all season. He has had strong cars all year, only to lose his shot at a win in freak fashions. Accidents, broken parts, blown tires and even the weather have plagued Stewart and stretched his winless streak to a career-worst 31 races.

Stewart has not been to Victory Lane since winning on the road course at Watkins Glen last August.

“I’m scared to get in cars, planes, everything,” Stewart said. “I’m scared to walk, open doors without looking before I walk through — it’s the oddest year I think I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen this team and even in my career — I’ve never seen us have a string of bad luck like this.”

Despite the difficulties, Stewart is still having a decent season. He’s ninth in the points, has eight top-10s, led 520 laps and dominated several races — leading 267 of 506 at Bristol and 132 of 284 last week at New Hampshire.