It took Dale Earnhardt Sr 20 tries to win the Daytona 500. Eight years ago, he won the last race of his career in the fall race at Talladega. It took Tony Stewart 20 tries to capture a Cup race at Talladega, and it comes as his 12 year career at Joe Gibbs Racing comes to an end.
After being the first loser 6 times at the 2.66 mile Alabama track, Tony held off the DEI trio of Regan Smith, Paul Menard and David Ragan to hoist the winners trophy, after a few tense moments while NASCAR determined that Regan Smith, who crossed the finish line in front of Tony had passed him below the yellow line.
Prior to todays win, Tony had gone 43 races, since last years Watkins Glen victory, since he had won a race.
Great job Tony, Zippy and the entire number 20 Subway/Home Depot team. Let’s hope there’s a few more before Tony cleans out his locker at JGR.
I’ll get the official JGR press release up as soon as it’s available, in the mean time, here’s he is in victory lane.