Stewart is first but someone else might have been the big winner; Is a new feud brewing?

Tony Stewart wins and revives hopes in his title chances, several drivers likely saw their title hopes end and a new feud might be developing between a Chase and a non-Chase driver.

But first, let’s get to one driver who might have saved his title hopes Sunday.

Jeff Gordon was running in the top 10 when he was caught speeding on pit road _ only the second time all season Gordon was caught speeding on pit road. Crew chief Steve Letarte radioed Gordon that he was .06 mph too fast.

Suddenly, Gordon fell to 29th with about 40 laps left. Gordon struggled in traffic. He was 24th with less than 15 laps to go. He climbed to 17th with 10 laps left and when David  Ragan and Kurt Busch brought out a caution for their incident, came down pit road and got two tires. He rallied to ninth.

That effort actually helped Gordon gain a spot in the points standings to fourth. While he lost ground to points leader Jimmie Johnson, Gordon is only 85 points out of the lead with six races to go.

Going from 17th to 9th in the last 10 laps (and even 24th to 9th in last 15 laps) might have saved Gordon’s title hopes.

“It was pretty crazy,’’ Gordon said of the end. “I kept hearing four and five wide and I just stayed in it. When we got into (turn) three, they just spread out and gave me a hole and I had the better tires and I just shot right through there.’’

So what happened on his speeding infraction? Here’s what Gordon said:

“Normally I can push it to one red light (on the dashboard). I have five green and then it goes red and if I have one red, I’m usually OK. Usually when it goes to two red (lights),  I’ve got to back off because we have some leeway in the system in the way we do it. I ran one red and it was too much.’’

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A NEW FEUD?

Ryan Newman wasn’t thrilled with Kevin Harvick after Sunday’s race. Here’s what Newman said about Harvick:

“Had a little beating and banging there with (Harvick), not sure what his deal was. He caused us a little bit of damage and we had to fix that. His car was better down the straightaways than he was.”

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TONY WINS AND MAKES A STATEMENT

Just imagine if the fuel gamble for Tony Stewart would have worked at New Hampshire and he would have won instead of finished 24th. He would have 94 more points. He would be breathing down points leader Jimmie Johnson’s back. Instead, Stewart is 107 points back with six races to go.

The performance was not what Stewart was expecting earlier in the weekend.

“I'll be honest, when I woke up this morning I thought if we had a top 10 day that was going to be good, and if we ran in the top 5 today that was going to be an outstanding day,’’ he said.

“You know, it just shows how hard this guy works (referring to crew chief Darian Grubb).  Some of the crew guys and I, we were out, we went to a sprint car race last night and went to a fair and rode rides last night, and I can tell where Darian was.  He didn't go very far from his computer and from the engineers.  I guarantee they were busy last night.

“He told me this morning he found something that he was confident was going to be quite a bit different and better than yesterday, and he for sure didn't disappoint on that.  It was a big key. ‘’

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BANG UP FILL-IN JOB

Clint Bowyer finished second on Sunday in his first race with interim crew chief Scott Miller, who is the director of competition.

Miller, who last was a crew chief last year with Jeff Burton, was working with Bowyer as his regular crew chief, Shane Wilson, began serving a four-race suspension as penalty for Bowyer’s winning car from New Hampshire failing inspection at NASCAR’s R&D Center.

Said Bowyer: “I really was worried that this was going to be a major struggle being without my crew chief, but Scott Miller and everybody filled in well, and I think it speaks volumes about Shane’s preparation back at the shop.’’

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TITLE CHANCES DONE

Kyle Busch saw his title hopes end when his engine blew and he finished 35th.

As he coasted to the pits, Busch said over his team’s radio: “If anybody wasn’t sure the championship is over, it’s over now.’’

I asked him in the garage if that was just frustration of the moment considering there’s still six races left in the Chase. His response?

“It’s over.’’

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WHAT THEY SAID:

CLINT BOWYER (2nd): “A good run was critical for our race team after what had happened with our (New Hampshire) win and we got that today, but I was frustrated I didn’t get the win. I really, really wanted to win just to set the record straight on what had happened with the last win.’’

MARK MARTIN (5th): “It was nice to really be strong. I am really proud of how we ran. We had a great car. It’s been a long time since I had a race car that could win a race and that one could have won today under the right circumstances.’’

KEVIN HARVICK (7th): “Our car was good on the long runs, but we struggled a little on restarts and we ha a couple of pit stops that hurt us. I got busted for speeding on pit road, so all of us contributed to that finish.’’

DENNY HAMLIN (8th): “I needed it to go green that last 20 laps. We were catching the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and those guys. I felt like we were going to finish third or fourth. Just got those restarts. That was our Achilles heel all day -- we’d lose three or four spots every lap for the first couple and then we would make them back up. A little bit frustrated. All in all it’s a decent day. Can’t be too disappointed with it -- especially from where we started. It’s somewhat uplifting that we got out of here with a top-10 day. On the other hand, we felt like we at least could have raced those guys.”

DAVID REUTIMANN (10th): “We got up inside the top 10 then came down pit road, made no changes, just changed four tires on it and it went to pieces. It’s just disappointing when you have a really good car and you really bust your tail and you can’t even come down pit road and put four tires on the thing without it going to heck.’’

REGAN SMITH (12th): “We’re working hard as a team with Furniture Row Racing to get the company’s first top 10 … and move on to bigger and better things.’’

KURT BUSCH (21st): “We … looked to be a threat for a top 10 until we had the run-in with (David Ragan with six laps to go). He just washed right up the track and pinned us into the wall. The left front blew and we had to pit for repairs.

MATT KENSETH (30th): “I had something wounded that was getting ready to break, so I just held on to what I could. We’re using the same gear now, so it’s something that we’ve got to look at. (Teammate Greg Biffle) had a problem and we did too in 400 miles. They’ve been working really hard to give us more power to be competitive and there are always growing pains with that every once in a while getting that figure out. You know that you’re not going to be able to win it now from where we’re at, barring a miracle, so we’ll just keep trying to build on it this year.’’

CARL EDWARDS (34th): “It was something in the ignition, the rotor is what they said, in the distributor and it was scattering the spark. I could tell it was going away and then finally it just quit. We just had a par failure. We’ve got six races left and we’re 162 points back, so over six races that’s not a lot of points per race, so I think we can do it. We just have to keep digging.’’

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ODDS AND ENDS

# ESPN.com reported that Kenny Francis will join Kasey Kahne at Red Bull Racing next year. The move is not a surprise with Francis’ contract at Richard Petty Motorsports up after this season.

# Tony Stewart’s win was the 39th of his Cup career. That ties him with Tim Flock for 17th on the all-time wins list

# There were 23 lead changes among 14 drivers

# Ryan Newman’s fifth-place finish was his fourth consecutive top 10 finish, the best active streak in the series.

# Dale Earnhardt turned 36 on Sunday. He finished 16th _ his second top-20 finish in the last six races.

# Tony Stewart's win allowed Chevrole to claim the manufacturer's championship for the 34th time since the award's inception in 1950.

# Jeff Burton's crew chief, Todd Berrier, was taken to a local hospital before the race because he wasn't feeling well. A team official reported that Berrier returned to the track before the race ended and was back atop the pit box.

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SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU GO HMMMMMMM

In 2006, Jimmie Johnson was 156 points back after four Chase races but went on to win the title by finishing first or second in five of the remaining races. Using that as a guidepost, it doesn’t look good for many of the title contenders after Sunday’s race. Those more than 156 points back are drivers in positions 7th-12th _ Carl Edwards (-162), Jeff Burton (-177); Kyle Busch (-187), Greg Biffle (-215), Matt Kenseth (-241) and Clint Bowyer (-241).

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