Stewart Rallies to Mow Over Field

They’re going to race motorized lawn mowers Sunday at California Speedway as part of Nextel Cup weekend, and you can bet if Tony Stewart hears about it, he’ll want in. And if he’s in, you can probably bet he’ll win.

Stewart has an obsession to win in every type of racing there is, dirt or pavement, oval or road, and he added another one Saturday when he won his first Busch series race, the Hershey’s Take 5 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

It gave him a sweep of NASCAR’s major classes, having won in Cup cars -- he was the Winston Cup champion in 2002 -- and in a Craftsman truck. In open-wheel racing, he won the Indy Racing League title in 1997 and completed a U.S. Auto Club sweep by winning midget, sprint car and Silver Crown titles in 1995. When he was 12, he was the International Karting Grand National champion.

Driving a Chevrolet owned by Nextel Cup rival Kevin Harvick, Stewart came out of the pack on the last restart, 15 laps from the finish of the 110-lap race, in 17th place. On one lap he passed seven cars and with two laps remaining he somehow squeezed past Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and another fast-closing driver, Robby Gordon, for the win.

“I wish I could tell you how I did it, but I really don’t know,” said the unshaven winner, looking more like a renegade pirate than a race car driver. “I got a run up behind Kahne and we were three-wide when I got a hole down to the bottom. That was the place to be all day. I was fourth or fifth when I got a run on the backstretch and it was like I was shot out of a cannon. I cleared [Earnhardt] and all of a sudden I was out in front.”

Earlier, he displayed his versatility at handling dirt and grass as well as asphalt. Heading out of the tri-oval on Lap 94 with the lead, he and Carl Edwards tagged fenders and Stewart shot to the left, racing across the grass infield before returning to the track just as the car reached the 31-degree banking in the turn.

“I made a mistake and left the bottom open for Carl, and when I came down across his nose, I put myself in the grass and tore up the right front sliding back up the race track,” Stewart said. “On the next pit stop, the crew fixed the damage and got the fender pulled back, put on four tires and got a can of gas in there. We were eighth when we pitted and 17th coming out. It was awesome the job they did, and that right there was probably the most significant thing for us all day.”

Almost as impressive as Stewart’s wild ride was the steady performance of 19-year-old Reed Sorenson. The youngster from Peachtree, Ga., who was making his first start at Daytona and raced all day with the leaders, most of whom were Nextel Cup regulars, finished ninth, the first rookie and the first non-Cup driver.

“I followed Reed most of the day and I thought the job he did was great,” Harvick said. “He’s going to win a lot of races.”

Just as Stewart took the white flag, signaling one lap to go, three cars slid through the infield, bringing out the yellow caution flag. However, because the white flag had been displayed, Stewart cruised to the finish line the winner.

“When we were headed for the last lap I wasn’t going to check up for anybody,” Stewart said, grinning. “Not even my boss, but when I saw he was in second, I thought, ‘Man, one of us is going to win this race.’ That’s all I cared about.”

About that lawn mower race. It’s being done to raise money for the Petty family’s Victory Junction Gang Camp.