Stewart wins Daytona Nationwide

Following a less than perfect morning when he crashed with his Stewart Haas teammate Ryan Newman in the final practice session for the Daytona 500, 'Smoke' held on to the lead on the last lap of the Camping World 300, fending off Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

Busch looked to be in the right position to win on the final sprint, pushing Stewart on the back-straight and entering the last two turns of the race. However the Joe Gibbs racer was unable to translate his speed into a pass, while Stewart's car even looking unsettled at one point, pulled away to take victory.

"Kyle pushed me all the way to the corner and if I had spun or crashed I was going to have to have it that way to win that one," said Stewart after taking his eighth Nationwide Series career win, which put him and Rick Hendrick to the top of the standings.

"I don't know how we held on to it but [Busch] kind of caught a brake out of four and kind of let us back in but this Hendrick car is awesome. It's been awesome being back to Chevy this year."

Kyle Busch not only lost a possible win but was also overtaken on the last few yards by Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards and defending Nationwide Series champion Clint Bowyer - who led the most laps during the race. Bowyer pushed Edwards on the outside of Busch out of the last corner and both made the move work for them.

"There at the end Clint was pushing me and I really though ramming out on the outside of Tony," Edwards said about the finish. "But I thought 'I know I'm going to hit the wall and I'm going to tear this thing up' and I still didn't think I was going to the able to beat him, so I kind of gave him a little bit of room and ended up working out okay.

"I wanted to win this thing but still it was a fun race and that's a heck of a way to start off the year."

Greg Biffle rounded up the top-five followed by Brian Vickers, both of whom also led laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr didn't lead a single lap but still was able to get a top-ten result by finishing seventh ahead of David Ragan.

The race saw six different caution periods, the third caused by Jason Leffler spinning out Steven Wallace. Rookies Scott Lagasse Jr and Justin Allgaier both got caught up in the wreck, which had Leffler parked in the pits for five laps as officials punished him for aggressive driving.

"I've never seen a call - I've heard of a call like that before," said Leffler. "I wrecked a lot of cars and definitely made a mistake and feel bad for it. I don't know what to say about a five-lap penalty like that. That was a rookie mistake by a veteran driver that took out a lot of rookies."

Stewart leads the driver standings, although he is not scheduled to run the whole season. Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards are tied for second place 15 points behind.

Pos  Driver                  Make        Laps
 1.  Tony Stewart            Chevrolet   120
 2.  Carl Edwards            Ford        120
 3.  Clint Bowyer            Chevrolet   120
 4.  Kyle Busch              Toyota      120
 5.  Greg Biffle             Ford        120
 6.  Brian Vickers           Toyota      120
 7.  Dale Earnhardt Jr       Chevrolet   120
 8.  David Ragan             Ford        120
 9.  Jason Keller            Ford        120
10.  Matt Kenseth            Ford        120
11.  Kevin Harvick           Chevrolet   120
12.  David Reutimann         Toyota      120
13.  Joey Logano             Toyota      120
14.  Joe Nemechek            Chevrolet   120
15.  Michael McDowell        Toyota      120
16.  Brendan Gaughan         Chevrolet   120
17.  Kenny Wallace           Chevrolet   120
18.  DJ Kennington           Dodge       120
19.  Mark Green              Chevrolet   120
20.  Mike Wallace            Chevrolet   120
21.  John Wes Townley        Ford        120
22.  Danny O'Quinn Jr        Chevrolet   120
23.  Brad Keselowski         Chevrolet   120
24.  Michael Waltrip         Toyota      120
25.  Brian Keselowski        Dodge       120
26.  Eric McClure            Ford        120
27.  Jeff Green              Chevrolet   120
28.  Mike Bliss              Chevrolet   120
29.  Mike Harmon             Chevrolet   120
30.  David Green             Toyota      118
31.  Tony Raines             Chevrolet   116
32.  Scott Wimmer            Chevrolet   116
33.  Jason Leffler           Toyota      114
34.  Robert Richardson Jr    Chevrolet   114
35.  Michael Annett          Toyota      112
36.  Donnie Neuenberger      Chevrolet   109
37.  Brandon Whitt           Ford        101
38.  Kertus Davis            Chevrolet    94
39.  Morgan Shepherd         Chevrolet    91
40.  Justin Allgaier         Dodge        82
41.  Kenny Hendrick          Dodge        80
42.  Steve Wallace           Chevrolet    71
43.  Scott Lagasse Jr        Toyota       71