In a race characterized by the two-car drafting pairs prominent at the Bud Shootout and Duels at Daytona, Stewart found the right drafting partner—Landon Cassill, in this case—and came from 11th on Lap 114 to win by 0.007 seconds on Lap 120.
“It’s been a long weekend,” Stewrt told ESPN. “I’ve been sick for three days, I feel terrible but this will make me feel better.”
Bowyer and Stewart, teammates at Kevin Harvick Inc., had worked together to stay up front most of the race, but a flat tire on Lap 109 dropped Stewart back down the order.
“That was so scary, when we got the tire down—not only did it hurt us, it was going to hurt Clint [Bowyer] too,” Stewart said. “I didn’t realize we had that many cars lapped I thought we were going to be a lot further back for the restarts.”
Clint Bowyer, who led frequently throughout the race, usually with Stewart as a drafting partner, hooked up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Lap 114 restart, and the pair opened a small gap over the rest of the field, as no one else could find suitable partners.
Reed Sorenson eventually partnered with Jason Leffler, and Joey Logano finally teamed back up with Kyle Busch to take the lead on Lap 116. When Logano had to move to the front of the pair on the next lap, Bowyer and Earnhardt stormed past to retake the lead.
Bowyer and Earnhardt had a slight gap over the rest with two laps to go, as Busch and Logano tried to catch back up after swapping places. Meanwhile, Stewart and Cassill swapped and the pair went flying to the front.
On the last lap Logano got loose and slammed the outside wall, then careened across the infield. Without a partner, Busch dropped back to seventh, while Stewart and Cassill came roaring up the outside.
Coming through Turn 4 onto the back stretch, Bowyer and Earnhardt held the lead on the inside while Stewart, pushed by Cassill, took the wide line. In the final few hundred yards Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his move, trying to slingshot past Bowyer on the inside, while Bowyer went high, almost blocking Stewart.
Neither tactic worked, so Bowyer and Earnhardt teamed up for the run to the line, but the lost momentum killed their chances; Stewart edged his number 4 Oreos Chevrolet across the line a foot ahead of Bowyer. It was the third-closest finish in Nationwide history.
“If they didn’t get Clint and I separated, there’s no doubt we were going to win the race that way,” Stewart concluded. “We didn’t know what order it was going to be crossing the line. I’m glad that we got them one–two.”
| 2011 Drive4COPD 300 Daytona International Speedway | ||||||
| Pos | Car | Driver | Lap | Speed | Time | Behind |
| 1 | 4 | Tony Stewart | 120 | 197.126 | 45.66 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | 120 | 195.469 | 46.04 | 0.007 |
| 3 | 1 | Landon Cassill | 120 | 197.122 | 45.66 | 0.056 |
| 4 | 5 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 120 | 195.448 | 46.05 | 0.069 |
| 5 | 32 | Reed Sorenson | 120 | 194.502 | 46.27 | 0.785 |
| 6 | 30 | Jason Leffler | 120 | 194.456 | 46.28 | 0.851 |
| 7 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 120 | 189.084 | 47.60 | 1.767 |
| 8 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 120 | 187.313 | 48.05 | 6.017 |
| 9 | 99 | Michael Waltrip | 120 | 182.797 | 49.24 | 7.119 |
| 10 | 16 | Trevor Bayne | 120 | 183.083 | 49.16 | 7.184 |
| 11 | 38 | Kasey Kahne | 120 | 179.928 | 50.02 | 7.966 |
| 12 | 20 | Joey Logano | 120 | 106.066 | 84.85 | 38.966 |
| 13 | 19 | Mike Bliss | 119 | 193.170 | 46.59 | 1 Lap |
| 14 | 7 | Danica Patrick | 119 | 188.013 | 47.87 | 1 Lap |
| 15 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | 119 | 188.060 | 47.86 | 1 Lap |
| 16 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | 119 | 188.155 | 47.83 | 1 Lap |
| 17 | 52 | Bobby Santos | 119 | 186.513 | 48.25 | 1 Lap |
| 18 | 15 | Todd Bodine | 119 | 185.426 | 48.54 | 1 Lap |
| 19 | 88 | Aric Almirola | 119 | 170.268 | 52.86 | 1 Lap |
| 20 | 66 | Steve Wallace | 118 | 192.736 | 46.70 | 2 Laps |
| 21 | 05 | David Starr | 118 | 187.477 | 48.01 | 2 Laps |
| 22 | 70 | Shelby Howard | 118 | 187.091 | 48.10 | 2 Laps |
| 23 | 81 | Donnie Neuenberger | 118 | 185.536 | 48.51 | 2 Laps |
| 24 | 41 | Patrick Sheltra | 118 | 185.429 | 48.54 | 2 Laps |
| 25 | 28 | Derrike Cope | 118 | 175.152 | 51.38 | 2 Laps |
| 26 | 89 | Morgan Shepherd | 117 | 177.124 | 50.81 | 3 Laps |
| 27 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | 116 | 189.024 | 47.61 | 4 Laps |
| 28 | 09 | Kenny Wallace | 115 | 181.437 | 49.60 | 5 Laps |
| 29 | 60 | Carl Edwards | 107 | 170.742 | 52.71 | 13 Laps |
| 30 | 22 | Brad Keselowski | 105 | 172.712 | 52.11 | 15 Laps |
| 31 | 39 | Josh Wise | 103 | 175.641 | 51.24 | 17 Laps |
| 32 | 23 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 103 | 173.457 | 51.89 | 17 Laps |
| 33 | 14 | Eric McClure | 95 | 174.975 | 51.44 | 25 Laps |
| 34 | 11 | Brian Scott | 70 | 131.096 | 68.65 | 50 Laps |
| 35 | 40 | Scott Wimmer | 57 | 74.182 | 121.32 | 63 Laps |
| 36 | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 53 | 34.038 | 264.41 | 67 Laps |
| 37 | 01 | Mike Wallace | 51 | 181.335 | 49.63 | 69 Laps |
| 38 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | 45 | 169.284 | 53.16 | 75 Laps |
| 39 | 62 | Michael Annett | 26 | 3.290 | 2735.63 | 94 Laps |
| 40 | 44 | Jeff Green | 18 | 68.062 | 132.23 | 102 Laps |
| 41 | 24 | Kevin Lepage | 12 | 133.618 | 67.36 | 108 Laps |
| 42 | 27 | J.R. Fitzpatrick | 10 | 54.637 | 164.72 | 110 Laps |
| 43 | 25 | Kelly Bires | 5 | 138.117 | 65.16 | 115 Laps |
