Stewart Finishes Second at Richmond, Slots Third in Chase Standings
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Tony Stewart finished second in Saturday night’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway after a spirited battle with Dale Earnhardt Jr., during the last 20 laps of the 400-lap race.The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) had to pass and then hold off the hard-charging Earnhardt while he pursued reigning Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson for the lead. While unable to catch eventual race winner Johnson, Stewart’s runner-up effort gave him nine top-fives and 18 top-10s so far this season.
“We just didn’t end up where we needed to be,” said Stewart, who has captured the top spot at Richmond five other times – thrice in Nextel Cup and twice in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. “I’m pretty proud of these guys. They did a great job. We had a good night. We just kept sneaking up on it all night, kept making changes and kept getting better, but we feel like we kind of let one get away from us tonight.”
Stewart started seventh and was a top-five mainstay. Pit stops occasionally lost some of the track position earned on the race track, but constant chassis adjustments directed by crew chief Greg Zipadelli and tenacious driving by Stewart put the No. 20 team in position to contend for the their fourth win this season.
And while it was Johnson who took the checkered flag for the sixth time in 2007, Stewart’s strong run showed that he belonged in this year’s Chase for the Nextel Cup, as he clinched a spot in the Chase three races ago at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
“I’m really proud of how this team rebounded from missing the Chase last year,” said Stewart, who fell a scant 16 points shy of making the Chase in 2006. “We ended this year’s 26-week stretch second in points and we’re slotted third in the Chase. That shows that this team never gives up and that all of The Home Depot associates who support us don’t give up either.”
Only the top-12 drivers in points are eligible to compete for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. NASCAR recalibrated the points for those in the top-12 as soon as the Richmond race was over, with each driver getting 5,000 points, plus 10 bonus points for each of their respective wins during the regular season. Ranked in order of where their bonus points seeded them, the drivers competing for this year’s championship are:
1. Jimmie Johnson (5,060 points)
2. Jeff Gordon (5,040 points, -20)
3. Tony Stewart (5,030 points, -30)
4. Carl Edwards (5,020 points, -40)
5. Kurt Busch (5,020 points, -40)
6. Denny Hamlin (5,010 points, -50)
7. Martin Truex, Jr. (5,010 points, -50)
8. Matt Kenseth (5,010 points, -50)
9. Kyle Busch (5,010 points, -50)
10. Jeff Burton (5,010 points, -50)
11. Kevin Harvick (5,010 points, -50)
12. Clint Bowyer (5,000 points, -60)
Representing JGR in this year’s Chase will be Stewart and teammate Denny Hamlin. This is Stewart’s third appearance in the Chase and Hamlin’s second. Stewart won the Chase in 2005 – the second year of the Chase – to collect his second Nextel Cup championship. (Stewart’s first championship came in 2002 under the old NASCAR Winston Cup Series format.) Hamlin finished third in his Chase debut last year. This marks the first season that JGR has placed two cars in the Chase since the Chase debuted in 2004.
Johnson’s win in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 was his 29th career Nextel Cup victory and his second straight, as he was victorious last weekend at California Speedway in Fontana. Stewart, David Ragan, Jeff Gordon and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top-five. Stewart’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kahne, Kurt Busch and J.J. Yeley – Stewart’s other JGR teammate –comprised the remainder of the top-10.
Yeley’s top-10 finish, his first since May at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway when he finished second to Casey Mears, allowed him to climb one spot to 19th in the point standings.
The next event on the Nextel Cup schedule – the first race of the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup – is the Sept. 16 Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT, with live, high-definition coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 1 p.m.
it will be a battle between Smoke,johnson, and Edwards I’m thinking