Stewart owns Watkins Glen
Published: August 11, 2009, 8:57 am
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WATKINS GLEN — This season, Tony Stewart doesn't just own his car and his team, he seems to have taken ownership of the NASCAR Sprint Cup points race.
On Monday he added one more deed to the list: Watkins Glen International.
The 38-year-old continued his outstanding season as a driver and Rookie co-owner of Stewart-Haas racing by winning for a record fifth time at the Glen. He beat Marcos Ambrose by nearly three seconds to claim the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen before an announced crowd estimated at 85,000.
Stewart's five wins (in 11 starts) broke a tie with Jeff Gordon for most Sprint Cup wins at the track. Also, he now has the most victories by any driver from any series which has twisted its way around the historic, 11-turn road course that has also hosted open-wheel races all the way up to Formula One.
"This place has just been good to us — there's something about this place that we've been really good," said Stewart, who was inducted into the track's "Legends of the Glen" last year.
"I think the bigger honor [than winning for a fifth time] was last year when we got inducted as one of the drivers of the decade here. That's something that means a lot to me."
Stewart's outstanding first season as a owner-driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet continued as His third win this year increased his lead over Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup points standings from 197 to 260.
Stewart has won or finished second in the Sprint Cup race here in six straight years. His previous wins were in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007.
"I know what feel we need here and it's just matter of how we get to it and how to get it right," said Stewart. "That's where Darian [Grubb, Stewart's crew chief] comes in. We weren't as strong as we needed to be at the start. Came in on the first stop and I asked for a lot of changes there. I appreciate Darian and the guys. They did an awesome job."
Stewart led twice for 34 laps, including the final 23 of the 90 laps around the 2.45-mile track.
Stewart passed Kyle Busch twice for the lead out of the double-file restarts that made their debut at the Glen this year after being introduced midway through this season.
Stewart took his first lead on lap 46, overtaking Busch on the outside and beating him through Turns Two, Three and Four - the series of uphill, back-and-forth turns known as The Esses. After pit stops shuffled Stewart back behind Busch, he did it again on lap 67, this time on the inside.
"It was awesome that on both of the restarts we were able to stay ahead of Kyle," said Stewart. "Both on the outside and the inside we were able to get good jumps, beat him to Turn Two, up to the top of the Esses."
As the leader, Busch chose the inside on the first restart but switched to the outside the second time.
"I thought that was a pretty big moment in the race," Stewart said, "showing our strength."
Ambrose never really challenged for the lead on the final laps. On a restart with 16 laps to go, Stewart pulled away from the Australian who won Saturday's Nationwide race.
"I had to work really hard to keep up with 'Smoke,' " said Ambrose, who recorded the best Sprint Cup finish of his career. "I was closing in, but he didn't make a mistake. What a fantastic driver he is. He's just unbelievable."
After crossing the finish line 2.969 seconds ahead of Ambrose, the driver nicknamed "Smoke" then celebrated by grabbing the checkered flag and doing some big, smoky burnouts down in Turn One.
Carl Edwards finished third after starting 33rd, Kyle Busch got a much-needed good points finish in fourth while Greg Biffle did the same in fifth.
The race was delayed under a red flag for nearly 20 minutes on lap 63 due to a frightening accident in the straightaway between Turns Nine and 10.
Sam Hornish Jr. was doing some side-by-side racing with Kasey Kahne out of Turn Nine when Kahne drifted to the left and forced Hornish off the track. Hornish's No. 77 Dodge slammed hard into a tire barrier which boomeranged him into traffic, where he collided hard with the cars of Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton. All drivers were unharmed.
"[Kahne] got loose and had to correct and got me sideways," said Hornish. "I thought the tires were probably going to hurt a little bit; I didn't think I was going to get hit by two more cars. It was a pretty big hit, but the cars are safe."
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