Stewart Plans to Enter NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Stewart’s entry for the New England 100 will be prepared by Chase Racing. Team owner Curt Chase also fields a regular Modified Tour entry for Doug Coby.
Stewart is the only driver to win in the Indy Racing League and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series at “The Magic Mile”. He finished second in his only NASCAR Busch Series start at NHIS. Stewart has 10 Top-5 finishes, 11 Top-10 finishes, and 3 wins on New England’s only Superspeedway.
Stewart will be extremely busy on Saturday, July 15. Tony will participate in two morning practice sessions in preparation for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series New England 300, and then compete in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour New England 100 at 1:00 p.m.
Smoking the Field
The victory was Stewart's third of the season and 22nd of his Nextel Cup career. It is his third win in the last four events and he has led the most laps in four of the last five starts.
After a short pre-race delay due to a few rain drops, the race began with pole winner Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne leading the way.
But on the move was the hottest driver in the series, Stewart. The No.20 Chevrolet started 13th and moved all the way up to fourth by lap 30. Others moving up through the field were Jeff Gordon and Joe Nemechek.
"As quick as we got to the front, I knew we had something special today," said Stewart.
After the first round of pit stops on lap 30, it quickly became apparent that pit stop strategy was going to play a major role in the race. Ryan Newman and at least eight other cars stayed out to get track position. Elliott Sadler took fuel only while more than a dozen others came in for just two tires.
A couple of championship contenders suffered early problems. Jamie McMurray got spun around by future Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. The No.42 incurred major body and suspension damage when he slammed the outside wall. Busch also got turned around, but while he slid back to 39th place, at least all his fenders stayed straight.
Stewart continued his charge passing Robby Gordon, Casey Mears and Ryan Newman as he posted fastest lap after fastest lap. He took the lead on lap 51.
Rain returned on lap 58 bringing out a caution. They got back to racing after eight yellow-flag laps. Stewart immediately went for the lead and got it. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon made his first appearance in the top-10 on lap 70.
By lap 80, Stewart's lead was more than one second on the field, Jeff Gordon was up to fifth and points leader Jimmie Johnson joined the top-10 as well.
Stewart's lead was 1.518 seconds at the 100-lap mark and he had led 41 laps. Busch also had a fast car and had worked his way back through the field. By lap 147, the No.97 Ford had returned to the top-10.
At the mid-point of the 300-lap event, in was still all Stewart all the time. He had led 90 of the laps and had almost a two-second advantage over second- place Kyle Busch. Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon and pole winner Vickers made up the top-five, while last week's race winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had made his way to 12th place.
Kurt Busch, the two-time NHIS winner, continued his charge through the top-10 and pushed his way past Jeff Gordon for third place at lap 190.
For the next 30 laps, the order remained constant with Stewart leading the way.
Follow a round of caution flag pit stops, Kurt Busch advanced another position to third place. The biggest loser on pit road was Jeff Gordon who dropped from fifth to 10th.
Lap 235 saw another championship contender knocked out of the race when Mark Martin sent Elliott Sadler into the wall.
Still, no one could make a move on the orange Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch made his way around little brother Kyle for second place and with 30 laps to go was within 1.773 seconds.
He couldn't make any headway either as Stewart opened up the lead to 2.224 seconds with 25 laps to go. But then Stewart came up on some slower cars and his lead started to shrink.
Jeff Gordon was the next championship challenger to fall by the wayside. With 15 laps to go, Gordon radioed in that he had no brakes. He was sixth at the time, but the problem left him with an 25th-place finish.
Stewart easily made his way through the backmarkers and seemed to be toying with everyone. He was never challenged over the last laps as he saw the checkered flag.
Bobby Labonte, Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle completed the top-five.
Johnson finished 13th and maintained a 77-point margin over Biffle (2,672-2,595). Stewart third win of the year has him within 85 points of the leader.
The next scheduled event is Sunday, July 24th at the Pocono Raceway.
And a crowd of 100,000 at New Hampshire International Speedway roared its approval Sunday as he grabbed the checkered flag and pumped his fist in the air -- just as he did two weeks earlier after a victory at Daytona. He called himself fat then, and this time heaped on more self-deprecating humor.
Trust me, I'll be glad to be panting like a dog when I get up there," he said. "It's something they like and I'll keep doing it for them."
Stewart said he needs a personal trainer.
"Yes, I'm still too old and too fat to be doing that stuff," the 34-year-old driver said. "I'm probably going to fall and bust my butt before its over. I'm glad they let me go through the gate instead of climbing back down."
Stewart started 13th and wound up winning for the third time in four races, passing at will inside and outside in a dominant performance in the New England 300.
"It was as good as I thought," Stewart said of his car. "This thing was awesome from the start. As soon we got to the front, I knew we had a great car, but you don't know what they're showing."
The win was his second on this track and 22nd of Stewart's career. He also won at Sonoma and Daytona, and has posted finishes of second and fifth in his last five starts.
"We feel like we're on top of the world," crew chief Greg Zipadelli said.
Stewart began a run of dominance after passing Ryan Newman on Lap 51. But Kurt Busch, trying to become the only driver to win three times on the track after sweeping the races last year, got by with 60 laps to go.
Zipadelli was asked whether he thought Stewart had taken too much out of his car.
"He just told me to relax, that he'd get back up there," Zipadelli said.
Stewart did just that, reclaiming the lead after he and Kurt Busch banged twice five laps later. But he said he wasn't as dominant late in the race because the other teams began adjusting and closing the gap.
"I played with them for a while," he said, alluding to the first half of the event.
But he knew he had his hands full with the Busch Brothers later on.
"Kyle Busch was able to stay with us longer," Stewart said. "Kyle was almost good enough to get by and Kurt did get by. But once our tires came in, we were able to get by him."
The most defining moment of the race came when Stewart moved from fourth to second on lap 68 by passing Rusty Wallace on the outside and cutting inside Kyle Busch just a few hundred feet later.
Race leader Scott Wimmer nearly became Stewart's third conquest of the lap. Wimmer barely kept the lead at the line, then Stewart went by less than a half-lap later.
His Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet led 232 of 300 laps and beat the Ford of Kurt Busch by 0.851 seconds on The Magic Mile. It was the eighth top-10 finish in the last 11 races for Stewart, third in the Nextel Cup point standings.
"Tony was just too strong [Sunday]," said Kurt Busch, who overcame a spinout on Lap 35. "It's good we had a car that could come back."
Points leader Jimmie Johnson, twice a winner here in 2003, finished 13th. He leads fifth-place finisher Greg Biffle by 77 points in the series standings. Stewart is 85 points back.
"They're on a tear right now," Biffle said. "This is Tony's kind of track."
Series champion Kurt Busch moved from 10th to fifth in the points race.
"I would have loved to have won [Sunday]," he said. "But we're not on our last thread."
Stewart, the 2002 Cup champion, got his sixth career victory here in July 2000. A year earlier -- while seeking the first win of his career -- rookie Stewart ran out of gas while holding a substantial lead with less than three laps remaining.
Third in the $5.1 million race was Stewart's teammate, Bobby Labonte. Next came the Chevy of Kyle Busch and Biffle's Ford.
Stewart averaged 102.608 mph in a race slowed 10 times by 49 laps of caution -- including once for rain, which also delayed the start by 24 minutes. There were 14 lead changes among nine drivers.
Kasey Kahne, Newman, Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth completed the top 10.
Loudon Info
Before an estimated crowd of 101,000, Ryan Newman got off to the right start in the "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup" holding off Tony Stewart in a side-by-side duel to win his first race of the season in Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Int'l Speedway.
Keys to Victory Lane
Newman slipped his Alltel/Mobil1 Dodge around the dominant car of Tony Stewart with two laps to go and held on to score his 12th career NEXTEL Cup Series victory. Newman pitted first among the leaders of the race during the final round of stops and when the day's tenth and final caution waved, found himself in the lead with 16 laps to go.
Highway to Hell
There will be a caravan on the road south this week after the wild action at Loudon. But Kurt Busch getting knocked into the fence only three laps into the first race of the playoffs has to be the winner, er loser in this category. Busch was able to get back on track and finished the race, but has to hope that using his "mulligan" in the opening race won't come back to haunt him.
Zero to Hero
The reunion between Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Eury, Jr. paid dividends immediately with the Budweiser No. 8 coming home fifth. Think everyone at DEI wishes the move would have come say ten races ago?
Hero to Zero
Jeff Gordon's new crew chief didn't work out as well the first time out of the box like Junior's did. Sure the weekend started well with Gordon qualifying second, but after running near the front and having a chance to win, Gordon got shuffled back in the late race round of pit stops and wound up finishing 14th.
Rookie of the Race
Kyle Busch by default. Even though he was involved in the celebrated tango with Kasey Kahne, he still finished in front of the snakebitten Travis Kvapil, who every week comes a bit closer to the NEXTEL Cup unemployment line.
Chase for the Cup
Newman shot up from tenth to third with the win while Stewart's second place finish and bonus for leading the most laps kept him on top of the standings after week one. The middle of the pack stayed pretty much intact with Busch falling to the last spot after his early race mishap.
Best in Show
Out of the "Chase," these guys are in the battle for the 11th position. Jamie McMurray has a one point advantage over Jeff Gordon in this race with Harvick in the hunt after a tenth place finish on Sunday.
Pit Stops
Lug Nuts