Stewart snaps drought with win; 10 of 12 Chase spots already settled heading to Richmond

Tony Stewart's win Sunday night at Atlanta not only was his first of the season and brings up many key points and thoughts as the series heads to Richmond. So let's get to it.

 

STEWART WINS

 

Tony Stewart scored his first win since last October and did you notice what played a key role?

 

His pit crew.

 

Yes. the crew let him down a bit on the next-to-last stop when he lost a stop to those that pitted, but, then when he needed it most the pit crew bailed him out. Stewart entered the pits fifth on lap 297 and gained three spots, exiting second. This was huge, not only for gaining three spots but with the double-file restarts, it put Stewart on the front row and not in traffic. So when the race resumed, Stewart pulled into the lead. Even after another restart, Stewart did the same thing.

 

Those were his best restarts of the night. He had struggled all night, spinning his tires and losing spots off the restarts. At one point, he radioed his crew shorlty after another bad restart and said: "I'm sorry. I'm doing everything I can.''

 

Stewart acknowledged the value of his pit crew, saying: "The pit crew is who we have to give all the credit to tonight. They had an awesome pit stop last time we came in and that got us that track position that I lost on the previous restart.''

 

About the win, this is what Stewart had to say in Victory Lane: "I have never been so happy to win a race in my life. It's been awahile.''

 

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CHASE SCENARIOS

 

10 of the 12 spots are set for the Chase as the series heads to Richmond this weekend. Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon had already clinched spots before this race. Clinching spots into the Chase Sunday were: Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin.

 

Here's the Chase scenarios for the remaining spots:

 

# Greg Biffle is 11th and only needs to finish 42nd of better to clinch. He also clinches if he leads a lap.

 

# Clint Bowyer is 12th and clinches a spot in the Chase by finishing 28th or better at Richmond.

 

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STREAKING

 

# Tony Stewart's win gives him 10 top 10 finsihes in the last 12 races. Said crew chief Darian Grubb: "We've had good top-five, top-10 cars but just we were not able to get to Victory Lane. Tonight we had all the pieces together.''

 

# Carl Edwards finished 2nd to earn his seventh top 10 in the last eight races. Edwards admits he wasn't a big believer in momentum, especially entering the Chase, but now sees its benefits with this stretch. Edwards said: "Now I'm seeing this turnaround and it's been a couple of months and I think I understand the team more where we've been gaining, so far that reason, I believe in this momentum that we have and I believe it will apply to future races. You can't do anything about a cut tire or a broken valve spring or something like that,but at least we've provent to ourselves the last couple of months that we can do it and that feels good to us.''

 

# Even Jimmie Johnson says the momentum aspect is important. His third-place finish was just his second top-10 in the last eight races even though he's been running well in some of those races but not getting the finishes. So this finish was important Johnson noted, saying: "It's a big confidence booster, it might sound crazy for myself, for Chad, to be in the heat of the race in the end when pit stops count, the adjustments count, strategy counts, that's the stuff you need to be on your game with during the Chase. And to get a good race here to be in that moment and to feel the pressure is something we needed.

 

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NOT EVERYBODY GOT ALONG

 

Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne talked after the race about Newman's bump that sent Kahne into Kurt Busch and ruined Kahne's race as he ran in the top five. Instead, Kahne finished 32nd.

 

Said Newman: "Kasey is a good friend of mine and we've always raced hard. I got into the back of him there on the back straightaway on that restart, thed same time (Kyle Busch) hit me, you can watch the replay, and at least I think it was the 18, I got him (Kahne) crossed up and sidways and it ruined his day. It was unintentional, but it happens. It's happened in enough situations this year where I've been told it's unintentional and it's ruined my day. He felt like he needed to retaliate. Fortunately I kept mine straight and we went on. I told him ... I'd rather talk about it before we go out and do that again. I'm good. We're good. Everytying is fine.''

 

Said Kahne about the incident: "Ryan and I are fine. We don't have an issue with each other, it's just that when you get racing sometimes it gets you mad. He lost about four spots from me rubbing him a little bit and I lost about 25 or 30 from him rubbing me, so he got me a little better.''

 

As for what happened to Newman with the incident with Greg Biffle, Newman said: "He just cut across my nose. I don't know if the spotter told him he was clear or he thought he was and he wasn't but he just came across my nose and spun himself out. It hurt out day and I should be mad at Biffle as much as Kasey should be mad at me.''

 

Said Biffle of that incident: "It was my fault. I didn't know we were still three wide and I guess I cut down on (Newman). He certainly didn't cut us any slack. He could  have cut us some slack and let us go there.''

 

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WHAT THEY SAID

 

Jeff Burton (4th place) about clinching and going to Richmond with no worries: "We are going to kick it off next week and just bring everything we have got. We've been protecting a little bit the last four or five weeks. It is no more protecting now. It is go time and we have to lay it all on the line.''

 

Kyle Busch (5th place) on his up-and-down day: "We fought through an awful lot. It's good to come home with a run like that. We just could never get the car exactly the way I wanted it. We battled hard and made some good adjustments. We came from almost two laps down and got back on the lead lap. It was a hard fought battle and that's what it's going to take the next 10 races (in the Chase).''

 

Kurt Busch (6th place): "I don't know what it was all about tonight, whether it was perseverance, us making adjustments or dumb luck. We just missed the setup big, but we came home with a sixth-place finish.''

 

Clint Bowyer (7th place): "That is absolutely what we needed. Man, I tell you, it was a hard fought battle. The guys kept digging and kept digging.''

 

Denny Hamlin (43rd place after his engine blew): "I know if we had the reliability that we could win this championship and the odds would be pretty good to win the championship if I can just keep it together for 10 weeks. ... When it gets down to the Chase, it seems like we have a lot of issues and problems with keeping our cars together and today was just a small sign of that.''

 

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ODDS AND ENDS

 

# NASCAR estimated the attendance Sunday night at 93,200. Last year's attendance (remember it was the first night race at Atlanta) was 111, 300.

 

# David Gilliland finished 20th, his best finish since Infineon and teammate Dave Blaney finished 24th -- Blaney's best finish since 2008 because he's been in a start-and-park ride most of the last two seasons.

 

# Carl Edwards led 32 laps Sunday night. He had led 6 laps all of this season entering Sunday's race (the 25th points race of the season).

 

# Tony Stewart's victory was the 38th Cup win of his career.

 

# Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin traded the lead 10 times between laps 52 and 127.

 

 

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RACE RESULTS

 

1. Tony Stewart

2. Carl Edwards

3. Jimmie Johnson

4. Jeff Burton

5. Kyle Busch

6. Kurt Busch

7. Clint Bowyer

8. Ryan Newman

9. Juan Pablo Montoya

10. Marcos Ambrose

11. Matt Kenseth

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Jeff Gordon

14. Reed Sorenson

15. Jamie McMurray

16. David Reutimann

17. Regan Smith

18. AJ Allmendinger

19. David Ragan

20. David Gilliland

21. Mark Martin

22. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

23. Bill Elliott

24. Dave Blaney

25. Brad Keselowski

26. Casey Mears

27. Joey Logano

28. Patrick Carpentier

29. Travis Kvapil

30. Sam Hornish Jr.

31. Bobby Labonte

32. Kasey Kahne

33. Kevin Harvick

34. Scott Speed

35. Paul Menard

36. Greg Biffle

37. Kevin Conway

38. Joe Nemechek

39. Michael McDowell

40. J.J. Yeley

41. Elliott Sadler

42. Mike Bliss

43. Denny Hamlin

 

POINTS STANDINGS

 

1. Kevin Harvick ...... 3,585 points (has clinched Chase spot)

2. Jeff Gordon ......... 219 points behind (has clinched Chase spot) 

3. Kyle Busch ..........260 pointes behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

4. Tony Stewart .......283 points behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

5. Carl Edwards .....297 points behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

6. Jeff Burton ...........324 points behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

7. Jimmie Johnson..338 points behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

8. Kurt Busch ........... 357 points behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

9. Matt Kenseth ........360 points behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

10. Denny Hamlin ....438 points behind leader (CLINCHED CHASE SPOT SUNDAY)

11. Greg Biffle ...........161 POINTS AHEAD OF 13th ... Clinches Chase spot by finishing 42nd or better at Richmond

12. Clint Bowyer .......117 POINTS AHEAD OF 13TH ... Clinches Chase spot by finishing 28th or better at Richmond

13. Ryan Newman ....117 points BEHIND 12th

14. Jamie McMurray ..128 points BEHIND 12th

15. Mark Martin ...........147 points BEHIND 12th

16. David Reutimann ..186 points BEHIND 12th

17. Juan Pablo Montoya .. 200 points BEHIND 12th

18. Kasey Kahne ...........210 points BEHIND 12th

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