Stewart ready to move on

Associated Press

AVONDALE, Ariz.

Sitting second in what would be the final restart at the Daytona 500, Tony Stewart was in prime position to end his long and seemingly inexplicable winless streak in The Great American Race.

A missed hookup with Mark Martin, another car or two thrown into the mix and the driver they call Smoke saw his hopes go up in smoke.

Now 0-for-13 in NASCAR’s biggest race, Stewart can only shrug this one off and move to the next race. It’s the only move he’s got at this point.

“It’s over. We’re on to Phoenix now,” Stewart said Friday after a practice session at Phoenix International Raceway. “We wish the outcome would be different, but the only thing we can do is worry about what we’re doing this week. If we’re paying attention to what we did last week, we’re not doing a good job this week right now.”

Stewart has been a winner seemingly everywhere in everything.

He’s won national championships in karts and midgets, taken home USAC and Sprint Car titles, and earned the 1997 Indy Racing League title. Stewart also has won two NASCAR series titles, 39 races overall, and his 12-year run with at least one victory is the longest in the Sprint Cup.

He’s even had success at Daytona, winning three Sprint Cup races and Nationwide races six of the last seven seasons, including last weekend, when he overcame a late pit stop to fix a flat tire and caught Clint Bowyer at the finish line to win his fourth straight.

But when it comes to the Daytona 500, Stewart can’t quite pull it off. He’s come close, most notably in 2008, when he was nipped at the finish by teammate Ryan Newman.

A repaving during the offseason made two-car drafting the only way to get to the front last week, and Stewart managed to work the push-pull system well throughout the race, moving to the front after starting 25th.

He just couldn’t get a hookup when he needed it the most.

Coming out of the restart, he and Martin, who was right behind him, tried to get a two-car train going, one they hoped would propel one or the other to their first Daytona 500 checkers.

They just couldn’t synch it up, bouncing off each other’s bumpers instead of locking close together. Stewart and Martin began drifting apart and the rush of a couple of other cars caused further separation. Martin found another drafting partner, Stewart didn’t and it was too late for both. Martin finished 10th, Stewart in 13th.

“We had an excellent shot at it, but as it turned out we didn’t get the run we had hoped and the wind from the other cars broke us apart,” Martin said. “It wouldn’t have been any big deal if we would have had five laps left, but we only had a lap and a half left and we were broke well apart — four or five or six car lengths. Then Bill Elliott picked me up and so I couldn’t pick Tony up. I had to go with what I had going.”

Next up is Phoenix, which will look and feel quite different when NASCAR returns this fall.

Almost as soon as the checkers drop on Sunday, the mile-long oval will undergo its first repaving in 20 years, along with a slight reconfiguration that will add progressive banking to allow for at least two racing grooves.

“Everybody’s good when tracks have grip,” Stewart said. “It’s been that way in every form of racing that I’ve ever seen.”