On a night when neighborhoods across the country were celebrating with fireworks in honor of the 4th of July, Kyle Busch provided fireworks of his own during the 51st running of the Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. A race which was dominated by Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin came down to a two lap shootout between former teammates.

In the end, Stewart celebrated in Victory Lane while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch was escorted unwillingly by three NASCAR officials to the infield care center. Desperately trying to protect the lead, Busch threw the block on the No. 14 Burger King Chevrolet as the field came to the checkered flag, triggering another exciting Daytona finish.

Stewart and former teammate Denny Hamlin clearly dominated Saturday night’s annual 400-miler at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway. The owner/driver and current points leader paced the field for a race high 86 laps after starting from the pole.

Thanks to that number one starting spot, Stewart was able to reserve a premium stall on pit road. That advantageous piece of the race track, in addition to a lightning fast pit crew kept the No. 14 out front all evening long.

“You know, having the pole got us that No. 1 pit spot and got us an opportunity to we had great pit stops all night,” Stewart said after his second win of the year. “We came in with the lead came out with the lead every time, so I was really proud of our guys for that. That's something that I can promise you they're going to take a lot of pride in, and I'm taking a lot of pride in as how good a stops they had.”

The Stewart-Haas Racing pit crew may be overlooked in this victory thanks in part to Stewart’s former teammate at JGR, Kyle Busch. Biding his time, working the draft and being his aggressive self Busch plotted his move for the lead starting on the final restart with just four laps remaining. With Hamlin tucked up behind him, Busch jumped to the outside of Stewart for the lead coming off the fourth turn with two to go. Reacting to the teammates’ attack, the former JGR driver moved up the track to cut off Hamlin’s charge as Busch took the lead.

With Busch driving with one – if not both – eyes in the mirror, Stewart went to work doing his best to rattle Rowdy’s cage. Using a push from Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson, the two time Cup Series champion mirrored Busch’s move one lap earlier by jumping to the outside off Turn Four.

Refusing to give up, Busch attempted to block Stewart’s move for the lead by throwing a block to the high side as the leaders entered the tri-oval. The No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota drove across the nose of Stewart, sending him hard into the outside wall as Stewart drove on to victory – behind him, mayhem ensued.

Busch’s wrecked machine sat in the middle of the track as the rest of the field raced towards the checkered flag. After barely escaping an early incident, Kasey Kahne had nowhere to go but under the rear of the No. 18 Toyota as he drove hard into the back of Busch as they slid towards the start/finish line.

Kahne’s contact sent others behind him into a frenzy. With two wrecked race cars sitting in the middle of the track, those drivers mid-pack and back were forced to do their best to avoid getting collected. Unfortunately, Jeff Burton, AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano, Robby Gordon, Paul Menard, Greg Biffle and others were involved in the last lap incident.

"Well, I don't know that I was real proud of that,” Stewart admitted in Victory Lane, “but I don't know what else I could have done there. I went where I had to go and he (Kyle Busch, No. 18 car) went where he had to go. You hate seeing a guy that's been up front all day; and especially a guy that helped me the whole race get wrecked like that. I don't like winning them like that."

Reviewing replays for those celebrating with friends and family at homes and barbeques all across this great nation, Kyle Petty called the dramatic and exciting ending to the Coke Zero 400 an “ugly finish,” while fellow TNT commentator Wally Dallenbach pointed out from a driver’s point of view that after Busch threw the block, “he kind of had that coming.”

“We went for it right there at the end,” Busch’s crew chief Steve Addington said following the race. “That’s part of this. This is a product of restrictor-plate racing with these race cars. What are you going to say? Everybody on this race team worked their tails off and we had a good race car. I can’t say anything. I’m not pointing any fingers at Tony (Stewart). He was trying to win the race, Kyle (Busch) was trying to block him for the win, and we got turned around.”

After climbing from his mangled race car, Busch was quick to take off his helmet and HANS device as he walked down pit road. Unsure about his next move and concerned with what he had in mind, NASCAR stepped in to avert any further dramatics. With cameras focused on the often unpredictable Busch, three NASCAR officials confronted Busch and escorted him to the infield care center.

“Oh yeah -- it’s a big disappointment,” Addington went on to say. “We sat there, he was patient all night long and sat there and rode. Jeff (Dickerson, spotter) kept telling him to just click off laps and we didn’t have any power issues. We were just fine. We took care of tires all night long and wanted to be there at the end because we needed to have a good points day and we were in a position to go for the win and he (Kyle Busch) did and we end up wrecked. What are you going to say?

Kyle Busch opted to say nothing and did not speak with members of the media following his last lap wreck.

Talking with TNT in Victory Lane and during his post-race press conference, Stewart made it clear he was upset with the outcome of the race. Of course he was happy to take home the trophy, but the two-time champ would have rather raced cleanly for the win as opposed to crashing his former teammate.

“I don't know that we did anything wrong,” a reserved Stewart explained. “I mean, I've seen replays of it, and he's protecting his position, which he's got to do.  I mean, that's what he has to do as a driver.  He can't just sit there and let us make a move like that and not try to defend it.  But it puts him, it puts us, it put Kasey Kahne behind him in a bad position where it drove Kyle's car all the way up to Kasey's windshield.”

For the second time this season, another restrictor plate race has come down to late-race dramatics and a spectacular crash. Much like Carl Edwards’ crash at Talladega in April, Saturday night’s classic finish at the World Center of Racing showed plate racing is a dangerous game to play and anything will happen.

The Coke Zero 400 was slowed eight times for a total of 30 laps and featured 23 lead changes amongst ten different drivers. Next weekend it is off to the Chicagoland Speedway for the LifeLock.com 400.

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