Stewart Shakes Slump for Victory at Daytona

Tony Stewart’s slump is over, his shoulder is fine and his fence-climbing is as good as ever.

Stewart proved that by charging into the lead with two laps to go at Daytona International Speedway to win his second consecutive Pepsi 400 on Saturday night at Daytona Beach, Fla.

This one was nothing like last year, when he rolled to a dominating victory in which he led all but nine laps. Instead, he had to hold on after two late cautions nearly yanked the win away from him.

Stewart, who led 85 of the 160 laps, was out front when Jimmie Johnson bumped into Bobby Labonte with 14 laps to go to bring out only the fourth caution in what had been an unusually calm race. It set up one final round of pit stops, and Stewart dropped all the way back to 10th on the restart.

Boris Said, the surprising pole-sitter, didn’t pit and inherited the lead. But he kept a nervous eye on his rearview mirror, all too aware of Stewart’s bright orange No. 20 Chevrolet closing in on his bumper.

But Stewart jumped all the way to second in one sweeping move on the low side of the track, and was preparing to pass Said when a wreck behind him brought out the fifth caution. It gave him time to figure his strategy, which was to sit back and let Said jump out to a huge lead on the restart with three laps to go.

It left Said without any drafting help, and Stewart used a full steam of drafting help to pass him on the outside with two left.

He was in the lead when the race was stopped on the final lap for a debris caution, earning his second win of the season and ending a slump that began six races ago when he broke his shoulder blade in an accident in Concord, N.C.

Stewart had finishes of 42nd, 25th, third, 41st and 28th since the accident, and dropped from fourth to seventh in the standings.

“This team needed this,” he said in Victory Lane. “We’ve had two really rough weeks the last couple of weeks.”

Stewart celebrated the win with his trademark climbing of the fence. He made it all the way to the top, grabbed the checkered flag, then jumped into the crowd below him in what quickly turned into a joyous mosh pit.

Kyle Busch finished second, and his older brother, Kurt, was third.

Terry Cook used pit strategy to his advantage to take the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.

Cook took the lead with 40 laps to go in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250, staying out while most of the leaders chose to take fuel and tires. He stretched his lead to as much as four seconds over Rick Crawford, who finished second. It was Cook’s first win in 94 races since he last won at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis in August 2002.

Australian rookie Marcos Ambrose made a dash at the end to finish third, his best performance of the season. Ambrose led the first lap of the race, passing pole-sitter Mike Skinner on the front stretch of the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Skinner finished fifth.

Dan Wheldon of England attacked his qualifying laps at Kansas Speedway to earn his first Indy Racing League pole of the season.

Wheldon’s top qualifying speed of 213.536 mph was the slowest in the track’s six-year history.

Sam Hornish Jr., who won last week at Richmond, will start on the outside of the front row in today’s Kansas Lottery Indy 300.

Hornish turned in a top qualifying speed of 213.372 mph on the 1.5-mile tri-oval to earn his fourth front-row start this season.

A transmission problem ended Travis Thirkettle’s five-race winning streak in Irwindale Speedway’s late models division.

Thirkettle started eighth and took the lead on the 15th lap of the 40-lap race on the half-mile track. On a restart on the 26th lap, Thirkettle lost a gear on the transmission of his Chevrolet Monte Carlo when he shifted, causing drivers behind him to slow down to avoid hitting his car. However, a collision involving other cars did result, prompting another yellow flag.

Dan DiGiammarino, who had been in second, took the lead after the subsequent restart and kept it for the remainder of the race, finishing 0.832 of a second ahead of runner-up Tim Huddleston.

Thirkettle, forced to the rear of the 18 cars on the lead lap after his transmission problem, remained in the race but was able to complete only seven more laps and finished 19th.

*

-- Steven Herbert

*

MISCELLANY

Pacquiao Beats Larios

to Retain WBC Title

Manny Pacquiao battered Oscar Larios today and earned a unanimous decision to retain the World Boxing Council International super-featherweight title at Manila.

Pacquiao constantly showed off his speed and power in front of the home fans in the Philippines. He knocked down Larios twice in the 12-round bout and raised his record to 42-3-2.

Pacquiao took control in the sixth, putting together several effective combinations that appeared to hurt Larios and reopened a cut.

The crowd went crazy as a right hook dropped Larios (56-5-1) to one knee early in the seventh.

James Toney will take on Samuel Peter of Nigeria in a 12-round nontitle heavyweight bout Sept. 3 at Staples Center.

The bout will serve as a WBC elimination for the No. 1 spot.

Toney (69-4-2, 43 knockouts), who has won world championships at middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight levels, is ranked No. 2 by the WBC. Peter (26-1, 22 KOs) is ranked No. 3.

A state appellate court judge ruled Saturday night that thoroughbred and harness racing in New Jersey can temporarily continue operations despite Gov. Jon Corzine’s executive order closing state government.

Judge Stephen Skillman issued the temporary stay after hearing a motion filed by the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Assn. and the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Assn., said Winnie Comfort, a court spokeswoman.

The state racing commission was told to file its response by 2:30 p.m. today, Comfort said.