This week: Tony Stewart is a top driver who hasn’t won a race at California Speedway. He is 0-for-13 at the Inland Empire oval but has three top-five and six top-10 finishes in his 13 Cup starts. He finished eighth in this race last year and 13th last September. Stewart had the dominant car at the Fontana track in 2003 when he started third and led 100 laps before he dropped out of the race with engine failure. He finished 41st in that race. In 2001, Stewart started fourth and finished fourth.

Last week: After his latest disappointment in the Daytona 500, Stewart was downright despondent. Stewart’s Toyota Camry was in the lead on the white-flag lap before the Penske Racing Dodges driven by Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch teamed up to take away the lead going down the backstretch. Newman would win the race and Stewart would finish third behind his nemesis, Kurt Busch, and it left the two-time NASCAR Cup champion trying to find a way to deal with his latest heartbreak. “I’m disappointed, obviously,” Stewart said. “It would be a lie to come in here and say I was happy about going from first to third on the last lap of the Daytona 500. I just made the wrong decision on the backstretch. I tried to get down in front of (teammate) Kyle Busch and thought I would get a push down there. And then the 2 (Kurt Busch) got glued to the 12 (Newman).” Stewart, who used to be a tremendous IndyCar driver, thought he was finally going to win his first Daytona 500 since switching to Cup in 1999.

Etc.: After winning Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona, Stewart made a promise to the media that if he won the Daytona 500 the next day, he would let them give him a haircut. Stewart’s hair has grown so long, it looks as if he has a dreaded “mullet,” and it has been a source of conversation among fans, media and fellow competitors alike. “I thought we were going to have a fun hair-cutting party in here tonight,” Stewart said after he didn’t win the 500.

Hookscenter.com wire report.