News Sports Reporter Keith McShea reviews the highlights from Watkins Glen International:

Big winner

This driver-owner thing must not be so hard. Tony Stewart won the Heluva Good! Sour Cream

Dips At The Glen for a record fifth victory at Watkins Glen which ballooned his points lead to

260 as he closed in on clinching a spot in the 10-race postseason chase.

Big loser

David Stremme started fifth and finished 26th. Plus, his unwise move through the Inner Loop

caused a spin that took out Kevin Harvick (35th), who accurately described the incident: "From

what I can see, the driver of the No. 12 just ran out of talent."

Biggest letdown No. 1

The double-file restarts heading into Turn One were entertaining and certainly had an

impact on the race with Stewart's pair of passes, but they didn't exactly cause the chaos many

drivers spoke of (and reporters wrote about).

Biggest letdown No. 2

Jimmie Johnson was on the pole and talked of yearning for a road course victory, but he

didn't even lead the first lap and was a non-factor finishing 12th.

Best sound

Mike Paz's voice over the public address system. The Rochester native and longtime PA man

for auto racing throughout New York (including Genesee Speedway) suffered a stroke earlier

this year, appeared at the Glen in a wheelchair (and didn't do announcing) for July's IndyCar

race, but was on his feet calling the shots this weekend.

Easiest punchline

The name of the race. Just the reading the eight-word mouthful (get it?) of a title in some

postrace news conferences elicited unavoidable laughter.

Best axiom

Joey Logano, after Robby Gordon developed a love affair with his bumper during Saturday's

Nationwide race. "Stupid is forever."

Best public relations

Stewart thanking the fans in victory lane. "We know it cost them a lot of money to stay

that extra day today but we appreciate them. ... That's why we've got the best fans in all

of pro sports."

Worst carried-out PR

A man held up a small, hand-written sign in Stewart's direction right before Stewart did

his postrace interviews in Victory Lane. The sign read: "THANK FANS." Great sentiment, clunky

execution.

Best retrospective

Kyle Busch finished fourth in a tough-handling car a year after winning here. "Wouldn't

turn, wouldn't brake, wouldn't stop, wouldn't accelerate, everything," he said. "I'm tired.

That wore me out. I had to drive with everything I had. I could barely hang on to it. That was

three times harder than I had to drive here last year, and last year we spanked 'em."

WNY-related top 10s

Two. While three WNY natives on Greg Biffle's crew helped him to an important fifth-place

finish, Max Papis had an outstanding career-best eighth-place finish in the No. 13 Toyota of

Germain Racing. The unit's general manager is Lockport native Mike Hillman Sr. Son Mark is on

Papis' crew and son Mike Jr. - normally Todd Bodine's crew chief in the truck series - was

helping out.

"The GEICO team, we are just a small family," said Papis. "Every success is felt

through the skin of everybody. We maximize what we have."

Best (and scariest) crash

The scrap metal tornado coming out of Turn Nine that was Sam Hornish spinning violently

into Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton.

Second scariest crash

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost his brakes, collided with Reed Sorenson and went front-end-first

through a sand trap and into a tire barrier in front of a guardrail in Turn 10.

Safety first

It might be listed last, and it might not get said enough, but NASCAR's safety for drivers

can be amazing. All three drivers walked away from Hornish's violent crash as did Earnhardt

Jr., whose impact was quite possibly lessened by the head-and-neck safety device that became

mandatory after his father's fatal crash.