DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There was no fire or rain. Still, another frantic finish at Daytona International Speedway.

Tony Stewart emerged the winner, charging past Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth on the last lap and holding on as the challengers stacked up behind him Saturday night in one of Daytona’s trademark wrecks.

“I don’t even remember what happened that last lap,” Stewart said.

Stewart has 18 victories at Daytona, second only to the late Dale Earnhardt’s 34 wins.

None of Stewart’s wins are in the Daytona 500, though. Stewart is 0 for 14 in NASCAR’s biggest race of the year and was a non-factor in February, when the race was delayed a day by rain and then stopped more than two hours for a massive jet dryer fire.

“I wish I could trade a couple of these races in for just one Sunday race in February,” he said of the Daytona 500.

But he’s always strong in the summer race at Daytona, and this visit was no different.

Stewart qualified second but dropped back to 42nd at the start of the race because his time was thrown out by NASCAR after his Chevrolet failed inspection. He quietly rode around — which is his style at restrictor-plate races — and let Roush Fenway Racing teammates Kenseth and Greg Biffle control the front.

“We were going to try to win the thing and be there at the end,” Biffle said. “We were right there.”