Tony Stewart Gets First NASCAR Fontana Win

Prior to Sunday’s PepsiMax 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, there were three tracks where Tony Stewart had never won a race. After the race, that number was reduced to two. More important, Stewart gained five places in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, from tenth to fifth.

After the race Stewart was excited by the win but more concerned with two of his friends recently injured in motorsports accidents.

Former NASCAR driver Shane Hmeil sustained head, neck, and back injuries practicing for a USAC Silver Crown race on Saturday, and 18-year-old Eric Saunders, who had raced on Stewart’s motocross team since turning nine, had broken his spine in a practice crash on August 29.

“I knew we were going to have our hands full with [Jimmie Johnson] and goodness, Clint Bowyer got up there and mixed it up, just broke the momentum,” Stewart told ESPN. Then he continued, “This is a kind of the best of highs and the lowest of lows this week, thinking about Shane Hmiel and our buddy Eric Saunders.

“I don’t know how you knew we were going to win this race, buddy,” Stewart said, addressing Saunders via TV, “but he called it and told me he told us yesterday we were going to win this.
“I didn’t think we were good enough to do it but [the team] did an awesome job, and to finally win for [team co-owners] Gene and Margaret Haas at home here—this is their home race—glad to finally win one in California. I can knock that off the list I haven’t won at now.”

The #14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet started 22nd, but by lap 63 Stewart had worked his way into the top ten. He kept pushing forward, finally taking the lead on lap 149.

The rest of the race was a duel between Stewart and Clint Bowyer, but Smoke held the lead in a of cautions and restarts in the final dozen laps and crossed the finish line .466 seconds ahead of Bowyer’s Cheerios-sponsored Chevrolet.

When asked how if the five-place jump in the standings affected his chance to win a third Sprint Cup, Stewart replied, “We are doing everything we can do. We are going to need some help but we are doing everything we can do.

“I am proud of these guys and thank Hendricks engines and chassis, and everybody at Stewart Haas, they just they refused to give up they refused to back down.

We are just going to keep doing what we’re doing here. Glad to get Chevy the manufacturers’ championship and lock that up today, and just thinking of Eric and Shane and the guys back in Indianapolis.”

Great Day for Hendricks, Disaster for Roush Fenway

Hendricks Motorsports had a lot to be happy about. Cars they own or provide were all over the front of the field all day long. Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Mark martin all took turns at the front, Stewart won and his teammate Ryan Newman finished fifth. Half the top ten were HMS machines. With results like that it is easy to see how Chevy won the manufacturer’s trophy.

Ford had an absolutely rotten day by comparison. All three Roush Fenway cars had engine problems. Carl Edwards lost fifteen laps with electrical issues and Greg Biffle blew an engine, both within the first 60 laps. That left the team’s hopes on the shoulders of Matt Kenseth, and he carried on well until his motor started smoking on lap 189. The motor lasted two more laps before letting go.

Jimmie Johnson Holds Slim Lead

Jimmie Johnson had an almost-great day at this track, which many consider to be his playground. Qualifying eighth and running near the front all day, Johnson was just a bit off the pace in the final few laps; he could not keep up with Stewart or Bowyer.

While satisfied with third, Johnson was hoping for better. His #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet was in second on the last restart with two laps to go, but he couldn’t hold the position.

“I think, if it had stayed green, this 48 car would have been in victory lane,” Johnson explained. “We were really catching Tony fast on the top side, I just didn’t have anything on the bottom down in Three and Four. And on the restart, that’s what allowed Clint [Bowyer] to get inside of me and get by me.

“A good day overall. We certainly want to be in victory lane but if we can finish in the top three week in, week out we can have a shot at Homestead and that’s all we’re after.”

His third-place finish keeps Johnson atop the points standings, but he has eight drivers within 200 points of him. A wreck at Talladega, or a retirement at Charlotte, and Jimmie Johnson could find himself at the bottom of that list. It seems likely that this year’s Chase will go all the way down to the season finale at Homestead.

From Fontana, the Chase for the Sprint Cup head to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a night race, the Bank of America 500 on October 16th. Tickets are available through the Charlotte Motor Speedway website.

Coverage kicks off at 7:30 Eastern on ABC.

Points Standings after Fontana
	(+/-)	Drivers	Points	Behind
1	–	Jimmie Johnson	5673	—
2	–	Denny Hamlin	5637	36
3	–	Kevin Harvick	5619	54
4	+1	Jeff Gordon	5588	85
5	+5	Tony Stewart	5566	107
6	–	Kurt Busch	5533	140
7	-3	Carl Edwards	5511	162
8	+1	Jeff Burton	5496	177
9	-2	Kyle Busch	5486	187
10	-2	Greg Biffle	5458	215
11	–	Matt Kenseth	5432	241
12	–	Clint Bowyer	5426	247

Unofficial Race Results—NASCAR Pepsi Max 400
	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Pts/Bns	Status
1	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet	200	190/5	Running
2	33	Clint Bowyer	The Hartford Chevrolet	200	175/5	Running
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet	200	170/5	Running
4	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Ford	200	160	Running
5	39	Ryan Newman	Tornados Chevrolet	200	155	Running
6	5	Mark Martin	CARQUEST/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	200	160/10	Running
7	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet	200	146	Running
8	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office Toyota	200	142	Running
9	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont/Pepsi Max Chevrolet	200	143/5	Running
10	00	David Reutimann	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	200	134	Running
11	20	Joey Logano	Home Depot Toyota	200	130	Running
12	78	Regan Smith	Farm American Chevrolet	200	132/5	Running
13	19	Elliott Sadler	Reynolds Wrap Ford	200	124	Running
14	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	200	126/5	Running
15	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	200	118	Running
16	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet	200	120/5	Running
17	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald's Chevrolet	200	117/5	Running
18	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Toyota	200	109	Running
19	43	A J Allmendinger	Valvoline Ford	200	106	Running
20	38	David Gilliland	Taco Bell Ford	200	108/5	Running
21	2	Kurt Busch	Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge	200	100	Running
22	98	Paul Menard	Vertis/Menards Ford	200	102/5	Running
23	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	200	94	Running
24	82	Scott Speed	Red Bull Toyota	200	91	Running
25	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Toyota	200	88	Running
26	12	Brad Keselowski	No. 12 Penske Dodge	200	85	Running
27	83	Reed Sorenson	Red Bull Toyota	200	82	Running
28	34	Travis Kvapil	Long John Silver's Ford	200	84/5	Running
29	37	Dave Blaney	A&W All American Food Ford	200	76	Running
30	17	Matt Kenseth	Crown Royal Ford	200	78/5	Running
31	7	Kevin Conway #	Extenze Toyota	197	70	Running
32	6	David Ragan	UPS Freight Ford	193	67	Accident
33	47	Marcos Ambrose	Little Debbie Toyota	193	64	Running
34	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	187	61	Running
35	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Toyota	155	63	Engine
36	71	Andy Lally	The Media Barons Chevrolet	76	55	Electrical
37	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports Toyota	69	52	Fuel Pump
38	09	Bobby Labonte	Phoenix Construction Chevrolet	56	49	Trans.
39	46	Michael McDowell	Whitney's Collision Centers Chevrolet	55	46	Rear Gear
40	64	Landon Cassill	Little Joe's Autos Toyota	43	43	Trans.
41	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	40	40	Engine
42	36	J J Yeley	Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet	33	37	Trans.
43	66	Jason Leffler	PRISM Motorsports Toyota	23	34	Electrical