Tony Stewart proud of Joe Gibbs Racing and the driver who replaced him, Joey Logano
Stewart-Haas Racing driver/co-owner Tony Stewart (right) congratulates Joe Gibbs Racing's Joey Logano after Logano won the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. // Chris Graythen, Getty Images
LOUDON, N.H. – Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart was quick to offer congratulations to winner Joey Logano Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
After all, Logano was the driver who took over the Joe Gibbs Racing team, with crew chief Greg Zipadelli, that Stewart took to two NASCAR Cup championships. So he was quick to applaud Zipadelli's pit call that left Logano on the track long into a fuel run as rain threatened to shorten the NASCAR Sprint Cup Lenox Industrial Tools 301. When the rain did cause first a caution on lap 268, then the red flag and then the race being called with 273 laps completed, Logano became the series' youngest winner.
"I’m happy for Zippy and Joey and all the guys on The Home Depot team," Stewart said. "Man, you take ‘em any way you can get ‘em. That’s as much as a strategy as shocks and springs and everything else. They still had to work to get themselves in that position, so they did a good job."
Stewart was pleased with his own effort as well. He finished fifth, maintaining his points lead by 69 over Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon, who finished second. Stewart started the race in a backup car after an incident in practice on Friday.
“I’m really proud of our guys," he said. "We were just a little bit off, but we had sparks of brilliance during the day where we were really decent. So we can’t be too disappointed with that.
“I’m a big, big fan of this double-file restart stuff because it’s so much fun restarting with the guys that you’re racing with and are used to running up front with and not having to deal with some of these other guys on the restarts that you sometimes have to deal with.”
As to Logano, Stewart pointed to his victory as vengeance of a sort – for the race a year ago when Stewart led 132 laps but lost out on pit strategy when that race, too, was shortened by rain.
“It’s been a hard learning year for Joey, and he’s done a great job, and it’s like I told him, I said 10 years down the road nobody’s ever going to know how this win came, but the thing is, they still had to earn it," Stewart said. "They had to put themselves in position to be in this spot. They did a good job strategy-wise. For them, it makes up for the one that we lost here last year because of the rain. I’m happy with our run, but proud for those guys, too."
