If Tony Stewart Was In The Chase
Where would Tony Stewart be if he did qualify for the Chase for the Championship
If only Tony Stewart was in the Nextel Cup Chase For The Championship.
Only Tony Stewart has won multiple races in this year’s Nextel Cup Chase For The Championship, however, he marginally missed the cut and can finish no higher than 11th in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings regardless of how many wins he accumulates throughout the Chase.
Since the Chase for the Championship began in September, Stewart has recorded finishes of 2, 33, 1, 22, 13, 4, and 1. And the way this season’s championship chase has turned out, with drivers struggling with consistency, Stewart would likely be the favorite to sweep his second consecutive Nextel Cup championship. Oh, what could have been?
Stewart led the most laps en route to the Bass Pro Shops 500 victory at Atlanta, his fourth of the 2006 Nextel Cup season. On lap 306, Stewart and the rest of the lead lap cars headed down pit road for the final time, while Dale Earnhardt Jr stayed out. Carl Edwards took only two tires, but Stewart was able to beat out the rest of the drivers who took on four tires. Stewart restarted third, and by lap 316, he was back in the lead.
Stewart pulled away from second place finisher Jimmie Johnson.
After he crossed the finish line, Stewart did his victory ‘thing’ and climbed the fence in front of the vast Atlanta crowd.
And even though he missed the Chase for the Championship, Stewart took note of the brighter side of his 2006 campaign.
"It's better than last year,' he said. "We were in it last year and couldn't win any of these, so it's a lot of fun.'
Johnson’s second place finish continued his resurrection from championship improbability, as he is now only 26 points behind championship leader Matt Kenseth, who finished 4th.
"We got off to a rough start [in the Chase], but we had the speed in the car and now we're getting the results.' Johnson said.
Earnhardt Jr held on to finished third with tires that were approximately 10 laps older than the rest of the frontrunners.
"I don't think we would've run third if we'd have gone in,' Earnhardt said. "It wasn't a bad decision in the end.'
Jeff Burton saw his championship hopes recede when a punctured tire late in the race forced him to pit under green. If the green flag pit stops would have cycled through, Burton may have salvaged a top ten finish, but a debris caution, which was allegedly caused when Robby Gordon through his roll bar padding out the window, was displayed, Burton was trapped two laps down and ultimately finished 13th.
Burton was none to pleased with the situation. "Whoever threw the roll bar padding out, they ought to fine them 185 points and fine them 100 grand, because it is a huge impact on the race and it is ridiculous and it happens too often. They need to figure out who did it and penalize them."
Gordon denied the accusations on NBC. "I definitely didn't throw anything out the window, so I don't know. It looked like it came out the back of the car actually." Gordon finished the race in 10th.
Other Nextel Cup chasers- Jeff Gordon finished 6th, Denny Hamlin finished 8th, Kyle Busch finished 27th, Kevin Harvick finished 31st, Mark Martin finished 36th, and Kasey Kahne finished 38th.
Quote of the week
Juan Pablo Montoya describing the Busch Series drivers
"But there are some guys out there who would race like it’s the last lap. It feels like kindergarten out there."
By the way, Juan Pablo Montoya finished 11th in the NASCAR Busch Series debut at Memphis.
