by DUSTIN LONG , News & Record

So ended Saturday night's race at Daytona International Speedway, where a battle between Stewart and Busch for the lead as they headed toward the finish line turned into a Stewart win and carnage behind.

Busch led exiting turn four. He tried to block Stewart, but Stewart darted high. They made slight contact, sending Busch into a half-spin into the wall where he hit on the driver's side. The impact was so hard all four wheels came off the ground.

Kasey Kahne then slammed the back of Busch's car, sending the rear wheels of Busch's cars onto the Kahne's front windshield. Seconds later, rookie Joey Logano tagged Busch's car, hitting his teammate near the driver-side door.

Busch wiggled out of the wrecked racer and walked away up pit road, leading some to wonder if he was headed for victory lane where Stewart was.

Instead, three NASCAR Sprint Cup officials stopped him and escorted him to a nearby vehicle for a trip instead to the infield medical center. Busch finished 14th and offered no comment afterward.

"I don't know that I was real proud of that,'' Stewart said in victory lane after his third victory in this race in the past five years. "I don't know what else I could have done. I don't like winning like that. If I did something wrong, I'm sorry. I don't think I did.''

Jimmie Johnson placed second to Stewart with Denny Hamlin third. Carl Edwards was fourth and Kurt Busch fifth. Marcos Ambrose placed sixth with Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya and Elliott Sadler completing the top 10.

It was an electric finish to an electric night.

Twenty-five years after Richard Petty's 200th and final NASCAR win, the 72-year-old fired up a car he drove during the 1984 season and paced the field for a lap before the race.

Four hundred miles later, Stewart beat everyone to the checkered flag and scored his second win the last five races. Stewart, the points leader, is looking to become the first owner/driver to win the series title since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.

While Stewart scoffs at comparisons with Kulwicki - Stewart notes Kulwicki faced more challenges as a car owner than he does - Stewart is showing signs he could become only the ninth driver in series history with three titles.

That's down the road, though. Saturday night, he had to worry about Hamlin and Busch. They were the only cars that could keep pace with Stewart. Hamlin led 63 laps. While Busch led one lap, he was in the top three most of the night.

Busch led the next to last lap, charging past Stewart when Stewart dramatically slowed. Stewart said he was trying to drag the brake to keep Busch from building a big run. Stewart said Busch had been setting up that move the past two laps. Stewart said he timed his braking wrong and Busch shot by.

That set up the fireworks at the finish that had Stewart a bit down afterward.

"I just don't like it to end that way,'' said Stewart, who planned to reach out and talk to Busch sometime this week about the finish. "You don't want to see races decided by guys wrecking coming to the finish line. Maybe I'm being hard on myself.''

Elsewhere, Kahne climbed into the top 12 in the points, taking the 12th spot, as Mark Martin fell out. Martin, tied for the most wins this season, had an early accident and finished 38th. He's 65 points behind Kahne for the final transfer spot to the Chase.

Also, Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered damage in a 13-car accident and finished 39th. Jeff Gordon also was collected in the incident that started when Kahne and David Stremme made contact.

Gordon finished 28th. That allowed Stewart to grow his lead on Gordon in the season standings to 180 points heading into this week's race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com

The nudge and wreck happens on the final lap at Daytona

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