Tony Stewart, other favorites knocked out of Daytona 500 early

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 24: Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, and Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Budweiser Chevrolet, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 24, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 24:  Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, and Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Budweiser Chevrolet, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 24, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida.  (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 24: Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, and Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Budweiser Chevrolet, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 24, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Tony Stewart has a total of 19 wins at Daytona International Speedway; but he’ll have to wait another year to attempt to add a Daytona 500 victory to his resume.

Stewart, who was one of the favorites after showing strength all Speedweeks, started the day 13th and was quickly fighting for the top ten.  On lap 32 however, Stewart’s hopes for a win came to an end when he was swept up in a multi-car crash ignited when Kyle Busch pushed the Chevy of Kasey Kahne into the outside wall. Kahne careened down the track sweeping up Stewart and others.

“The guys in front of me were all checking up,” Kahne said “I was trying not to run over Jeff (Gordon) and I could feel a lot of momentum right there, so I was trying hard not to run over Jeff. Kyle (Busch) was probably feeling the same momentum from behind and hit me, which shot me to the infield. There were a lot of cars close together.”MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.