Tony Stewart snaps winless streak with victory at Atlanta
Tony Stewart wins the Emory Healthcare 500 in
Atlanta Ga
// Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Illustrated
HAMPTON, Ga. – Tony Stewart has won two NASCAR Cup titles. He’s won some of the series’ biggest races. He’s been a contender since moving from open-wheel to stock-car competition a decade ago.
So it was somewhat surprising to hear the 39-year-old climb from his car in victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway and say, “God, I’ve never been so happy to win in my life.”
Stewart erased a 31-race winless streak here Sunday night, pulling away after a late-race caution to win the Emory Healthcare 500 in front of an announced crowd of 93,200.
The Stewart-Haas Racing owner/driver, who’s last win had come at Kansas Speedway in 2009, finished 1.316 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing). Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports) was third, while Jeff Burton (Richard Childress Racing) and Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) completed the top five.
Stewart led eight times for a race-high 176 laps of the 325-lap event. It was his third career win at the 1.54-mile track.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been in victory lane” said Stewart, who pulled away from Edwards and the rest of the field following a restart with 18 laps remaining. “… We had an awesome race-car tonight. It was balanced at the start of the race. I knew the first run when we were a little bit off and the leaders weren’t getting away from us, I thought, ‘We’ve probably got a shot at this thing tonight, at least a shot at a solid top-five and maybe a top-three.’
“Once we got a couple of runs in there and it was Denny [Hamlin] and I trading spots back and forth, it was fun racing with him like that. We gave each other room. Whoever got caught in traffic, the other got the lead back.”
Traffic wasn’t much of a concern for Stewart, until a blown engine by Scott Speed on lap 265 scrambled the running order. When Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon opted to stay out rather than pit, Stewart found himself restarting the race in seventh. It was the deepest he had been in the field all night.
He had raced his way back to fifth when Brad Keselowski’s spin brought the yellow back out less than 20 laps later, and after another round of pit stops, he was second to Edwards.
Before the next green-flag lap had been completed, Stewart was back out front.
The result was no different on the final restart, with Stewart and Edwards lined up alongside only momentarily. At the drop of the green, Stewart’s Chevrolet was gone.
“When you have a car that’s that good, it’s not good to lose those spots like that. … We got caught back there one time and we struggled getting that track position back,” he said. “But when you have a car that’s that fast, it’s nice. You don’t feel like you’re in too much trouble when you lose a couple of spots on a restart like that.”
Stewart’s 38th career victory was worth $357,198. He has now won at least one race for 12 consecutive years.
Edwards led three times for 32 laps. Prior to the Atlanta race, he had led just six laps all season.
“I feel that this race suits my driving style, you know, very well,” Edwards said. “I really enjoy this race track. When Jimmie and Kasey [Kahne] and I were racing two‑ and three‑wide for the lead there for a few laps, I mean, there's one point where I was laughing going down the front straightaway. It was just fun.
“That's what racing's about is having some fun. I feel like this race track really lends itself to that style of racing, so I enjoy it and it was a good coincidence my crew and my car were on their game tonight, as well.”
Predictability went out the window at Atlanta nearly as soon as the series’ 25th of 36 races got under way. Long green-flag runs were the order of the day early on, as the first caution didn’t appear until lap 133. Until then, Denny Hamlin (JGR) had been the dominant driver, leading 67 laps while trading the lead with Stewart, who led 57.
But Hamlin’s day went south on lap 141 when the engine broke in his No. 11 Toyota.
“It’s just the reliability part of it,” Hamlin said. “The good news is that we brought our best race car to the race track and said that this was going to be a Chase race and this was going to be a test for us. It was an A-plus on the race track. The car handled great. I was just messing around out there and having a good time.
“It’s frustrating. 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.”
The caution flag was a much more frequent guest in the second half of the race, eventually flying eight times. And Hamlin wasn’t the only contender to see his Labor Day weekend efforts fail to pay dividends.
Kasey Kahne sprinted away with the lead shortly after a lap-276 restart to lead 16 laps. But following the seventh caution period, contact from Ryan Newman forced Kahne into the car of Kurt Busch, cutting a tire down and leading to a water leak in the Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. Kahne lost nearly 15 laps while repairs were made in the garage. He returned to the track and retaliated against Newman.
Kahne finished 32nd.
Series points leader Kevin Harvick, running in the top 10, blew a tire on lap 254 and the damage eventually led to a 33rd-place finish.
Harvick and Jeff Gordon had already secured spots in this year’s Chase, and eight others locked themselves in as well with their Atlanta finishes.
Only Greg Biffle (11th) and Clint Bowyer (12th) failed to clinch, although Bowyer leads 13th-place Newman by 117 points as the series prepares to head for Richmond next weekend.
