Distractions fade into background with thrilling Daytona finish

Attendance might be off, television ratings down and sponsorships hard to come by.

But one thing NASCAR has going for it lately is exciting racing.

Since the summer months began when the season sped into June, the Sprint Cup Series has produced a string of compelling and dramatic races.

Pocono and Michigan ended with fuel-mileage strategy, Sonoma featured wild side-by-side road-course racing and New Hampshire had short-track-style action punctuated by a first-time winner in Joey Logano.

Now add Saturday night's wild Coke Zero 400 at Daytona to the list.

Restrictor-plate races are usually unpredictable, but Saturday's annual midsummer visit to Daytona was an extreme example.

The new double-file restart rule, which went into play five races ago and made its Daytona debut Saturday night, didn't hurt.

When the field went back to green flag racing in two-abreast formation, the excitement level was raised several notches.

"It certainly has made things more interesting for us behind the wheel," said Kurt Busch. "So I know it must be something to watch for the fans."

• Daytona: Results | Stewart wins | Rear View | Photos

But it wasn't the new restart policy that lit the last-lap fireworks between Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch on Saturday night.

That was restrictor-plate racing -- plain and simple.

Just like April's spectacular Talladega ending that saw Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski make contact just before crossing the finish line, Saturday's Stewart-Busch duel ended with one driver going to Victory Lane and the other nearly flying into the grandstands.

Busch was trying to fend off Stewart by blocking him, which is the only thing left to do when drivers are battling each other at nearly 200 mph in a plate race.

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"The guys are racing," said Jimmie Johnson. "Tony didn't mean to dump him. Same thing with Talladega. It's just the product of restrictor-plate racing. Every time we use the restrictor-plate tracks there's questions about how we can keep from having the big wreck and things like that, and you just can't. When you run plates and we run wide open all the way around the track, situations like this come around."

Johnson has no idea how these situations can be avoided. In fact, he isn't sure anything needs to be done at all.

Double-file restarts made their Daytona debut, adding to the excitement. (Getty Images)

"There is nothing to do to stop it," said Johnson. "If you think about the position that the sport is in, one race, it's boring, there's no racing, there's no excitement. And then a couple races there's an exciting finish and we're worried about the exciting finish. You know, it's plate racing. We're damned if we do, damned if we don't."

Despite winning, Stewart did feel a bit damned himself.

"You know, you don't want to see a guy that's leading, you don't want to see anybody, but you don't want to see somebody that ran up front all day lose that many spots and lose an opportunity to win because of an accident like that coming to the checkered flag," Stewart said.

But Stewart also realizes plate racing is, as they say, what it is.

"It's nobody's fault, it's just racing," he said. "I mean, it's a product of the environment. It doesn't mean the environment is bad, it just means that's the way it is. Like I said, he did what he had to do, and he defended his spot and we held ours. It wasn't even that we tried to hold our ground, we just got on his quarter panel, and that's just how you suck up. As soon as he moved, I didn't anticipate him moving, and went across the nose."

The slam-bang finish will no doubt generate great discussion this week and give NASCAR some more much-needed buzz, albeit in the aftermath of the controversial and dramatic finish.

That kind of exposure is much better for the sport than the ongoing Jeremy Mayfield saga or any of the other off-track issues that have been plaguing NASCAR recently.

Stewart certainly understands that, but even with a second victory of the season now under his belt, he's still uncomfortable with how Saturday night played out.

"But no matter like I said, even if it's 100 percent his fault, I still won't feel good about it," he said. "I think racers hold the integrity of the sport in mind, and it was a good race, it was a good race all night long as far as guys moving around. There was a pack of cars that were definitely the strongest cars all day, and we were one of those cars, and we deserved to have a shot at it at the end."

"The outcome may go your way, but it doesn't mean that you have to like how it happened."