Commentary: Writing Stewart off early was a mistake as he continues to prove
Tony Stewart has never had a problem silencing his critics. In fact, he quite enjoys doing so.
As the Sprint Cup Series approaches the midway mark of their season, as well as closing in on the 10 races that will mark the race to the Chase, Stewart has silenced everyone. Five weeks ago he sat 21st in points and had many already questioning his possibility of making the Chase, before a win and back-to-back top five finishes catapulted Stewart to 10th in points entering Sonoma, where he’s won twice.
“It’s definitely been gratifying for sure. The thing is that, ‘A,’ we have to stay there and ‘B,’ we got to be consistent,” said Stewart Friday in Sonoma about his point position. “Getting there has been a lot of fun, it’s been very trying to get to this point, but it just shows how quickly you can get things turned around.
“There’s other teams that can make gains like that too. It’s a constant moving target. You have to consistently keep up with it and I’m proud of our group. The hard work that they’ve put to get us caught back up. The hard thing is that you can’t stop and they can’t stop with that intensity. We all have to keep working hard and keep that intensity up to get through the rest of the year.”
Stewart’s win in Dover came as a pleasant surprise, not so much for him – who proudly said the team had the ability just not the finishes – but perhaps his fans and others in the garage. Muscling his way past Juan Pablo Montoya with three laps to go, it began a hot streak for the team. Stewart-Haas Racing as company was the talk of the garage for their struggles and uncharacteristic performances.
It started to irk Stewart, who continuously defended his team and the work they putting in. Things didn’t get any better however, when rumors started swirling that crew chief Steve Addington should and would be fired. The owner-driver called it ‘unprofessional’ and said it ticked him off to have to worry about his race teams and what everyone else was saying.
Don’t wake the sleeping bear, a mistake that we made. Stewart’s awake now – with Addington still atop the pit box – and making his charge towards more visits to Victory Lane and another Chase appearance. And it’s got the attention of his competitors.
Clint Bowyer, who won this race last year, when asked what winning does for a race team simply noted what Stewart was doing.
“Look at Tony Stewart. I have no idea what it does, but you win a race, the confidence boost it gives you and your team and your organization – Stewart is a prime example,” said Bowyer.
“What was it four weeks ago, [the media] were hammering him to the point where he was fighting back, snapping back a little bit. He wins, now he’s running the top five ever since. He’s one to beat. He’ll be the one to beat here. He’ll be one of the cars you’ll have to beat to win the race.
“I don’t know what it does. It’s hard to explain momentum, the roll that you get on and probably all of sports, but this sport in particular.”
The Mobil 1 / Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet starts 11th on the grid Sunday for the Toyota-Save Mart 350. Stewart, looking to add another victory in the summer months where he’s often so strong, said he was encouraged with his machine because every time he’d been on track the team was making it better. Get him in the ballpark and Stewart can do the rest as he’s shown on more than one occasion.
Sunday should be no different. As he and his team continue to prove a little bad luck to start the season wasn’t enough to already be writing them off. For Stewart’s used to doing what has been said to be impossible, after all, he rewrote the Chase record book in 2011 on his way to a championship.
Since Charlotte in late May, he’s finished no worse than seventh. Before that Stewart only had one top 10 finish this season, an eighth at Phoenix in the second race of the year.
The Toyota-Save Mart 350 from Sonoma will air on TNT on Sunday, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
Dinger Dominates at Road America!
AJ Alimendinger “Dinger” won the fourth Annual NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Johnsonville Sausage 200 Presented by Menards at Road America. This is Alimendinger’s first career win in NASCAR.
Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Owen Kelly and Sam Hornish Jr rounded out the top 5.
Alimendinger won the pole early Saturday morning for his first career pole in the NNS in nine starts. Dinger lead the first lap and pit strategy already was in the works. Alex Bowman, Trevor Bayne and some others came in on lap-1 to top off the fuel.
The first caution waved when the No.18 of Michael McDowell stopped on the racetrack in turn-5. He was one of the favorites in this race. Only three of the front runners came in to pit as everybody has a different strategy.
They went back to green on lap 6 with Dinger still leading and McDowell headed to the garage. Dinger got his tires locked up and went into the grass and Billy Johnson took advantage and got the lead from him. Kelly took second while Dinger went back to the third spot.
The top-3 all came in on lap 15 and got four tires and fuel and when all of them were leaving pit road, the caution came out for the No.53 of Andrew Ranger. Ranger stopped on the racetrack and had to get towed in which resulted in the caution to be waved. This is a good break for Johnson and Austin Dillon since they both had speeding penalty and have to come back to pit road. Sadler and others that have not pitted, went in and got their pit stops completed. During the caution, Brian Vickers is called back to pit road for a missing lug nut.
We went back to green on lap 19 after a long caution flag due to drivers figuring out where they should be starting for the restart. Nelson Piquet Jr wheel hopped into the corner and ran into the back of Brian Scott and just smashed the front of his car.
Caution came out on lap 30 when the driver in second place, Kelly, stopped in turn-5. He was another front runner who had a great shot at winning. He ran out of fuel and he got fuel before the pace car got back to the pit lane so he did not lose a lap. Most everybody came in except for Hornish Jr. which stayed out due to getting a bonus point for the point race.
They went back to green with 17 laps to go and Dinger took back the lead with Smith right behind him. Hornish Jr. went in right as the green flag waved but then got a speeding penalty so it did not work out for Hornish.
The caution waved when the No.32 of Kyle Larson was involved in two incidents. He went hot into the turn and got into the No.5 of Johnny O’ Connell and then spun trying to avoid the No.21 of Brendan Gaughan.
The caution waved again when the 75 of Kenny Habul got loose and got into the grass and put debris on the racetrack. Back to green and Dinger got into the No.16 of Johnson and Johnson got loose, Dinger got around him. Dinger had a pretty big lead but the No.51 of Jeremy Clements smacked the tire barriers and the caution waved with five laps to go.
Green flag waved with four laps to go and Dinger leading. They restarted cleanly but in turn 5, Kligerman got loose and smacked into Kelly which smacked the No.7 car of Smith who bumped the No.16 of Johnson. That was not the caution though. The caution was for the No.26 of John Young who stopped between turns 5 and 6.
Green flag waved with two to go with this being the first GWC. Dinger had a good lead and was pulling away but Kelly spun out Annett and Larson got into Kelly. Papis also spun in turns 7 and 8. This will be the No.2 green-white-checkers now.
Dinger led the field to the second and he pulled away and had enough fuel to win his first career race in NASCAR. Max Papis slaps Johnson, who still had his helmet on to receive the slap.
Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 55 laps, 150 rating, 0 points, $59,325.
2. (4) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 55, 103.2, 43, $43,225.
3. (3) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 55, 89.1, 42, $33,925.
4. (2) Owen Kelly, Toyota, 55, 126.8, 41, $28,275.
5. (8) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 55, 108.4, 40, $23,775.
6. (9) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 55, 94.4, 38, $23,425.
7. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 55, 101, 37, $21,825.
8. (17) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 55, 90.4, 36, $20,100.
9. (22) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 55, 87.9, 35, $20,825.
10. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 55, 80, 34, $20,775.
11. (26) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 55, 73.8, 0, $13,475.
12. (12) Johnny O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 92.2, 32, $19,400.
13. (31) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 55, 68.7, 31, $19,300.
14. (29) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 55, 58.9, 0, $13,175.
15. (7) Billy Johnson, Ford, 55, 113.3, 30, $18,575.
16. (19) Travis Pastrana, Ford, 55, 71.1, 28, $19,025.
17. (10) Max Papis, Chevrolet, 55, 88.3, 27, $18,925.
18. (28) Kenny Habul, Toyota, 55, 52.8, 26, $12,825.
19. (25) Stanton Barrett, Ford, 55, 54.3, 25, $18,750.
20. (18) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 55, 71.3, 24, $19,375.
21. (6) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 55, 80.5, 23, $18,625.
22. (37) Kevin O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 38.3, 22, $18,585.
23. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 55, 61, 21, $18,550.
24. (15) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 55, 49.2, 20, $18,490.
25. (40) Dexter Stacey, Ford, 55, 37.2, 19, $12,895.
26. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, 55, 44.4, 18, $18,385.
27. (35) Eric McClure, Toyota, 55, 40.5, 17, $18,350.
28. (34) John Young, Dodge, 55, 51.7, 16, $12,320.
29. (21) Andrew Ranger, Dodge, 55, 60.2, 15, $12,285.
30. (11) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 55, 63.7, 14, $18,540.
31. (27) Kyle Kelley, Chevrolet, 54, 54.4, 13, $18,195.
32. (16) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 54, 90.9, 12, $18,150.
33. (23) Mike Bliss, Toyota, overheating, 53, 64.8, 11, $18,120.
34. (5) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 52, 58.3, 0, $18,100.
35. (20) Michael Annett, Ford, accident, 50, 66.7, 9, $18,068.
36. (38) Derek White, Toyota, oil leak, 37, 30.9, 8, $17,255.
37. (33) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 31, 37, 7, $17,235.
38. (39) Tony Raines, Toyota, rear gear, 20, 28.7, 6, $11,216.
39. (30) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, engine, 7, 30.3, 5, $11,075.
40. (36) Jeff Green, Toyota, brakes, 2, 29.2, 4, $10,975.
Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 13 Toyota/Save Mart 350 – Sonoma Raceway – June 23, 2013
On to the first of two road course races for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week, Sonoma being the 1.99 mile road course on Sears Point this week. Possibly one of the best things about heading to Sonoma this week, is the track is a destination not only for California’s NASCAR fans, but also many racing enthusiasts in general.
Sonoma Raceway attracts folks to its 11-turn stadium-like road course, because of it’s technical turns, elevation changes, and fantastic scenery. The blind corner entries, number of shifts, and finesse it takes to get around Sonoma efficiently make it one of the most difficult tracks to master for the drivers. In fact, all but one of the nine active NASCAR Sprint Cup winners at Sonoma participated in at least one or more races at the 1.99 miler, before visiting Victory Lane. Juan Pablo Montoya won at Sonoma in his rookie season and his first appearance, after starting 32nd, also the deepest in the field a race winner has ever started, back in 2007.
Starting towards the front of the field at Sonoma has paid its dividends over the years, as 18 of 24 races have been won from a top-10 starting position. That trend hasn’t been as significant as of late with 3 of the last 6 race winners at Sonoma have started from outside the top-10. This weekend’s race is going to be one to watch with the delta shrinking between the road course specialists and the top guys in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and this new Gen6 car producing more down force than we’ve ever seen.
Michigan Recap
I only made one pick last week, and I went with the wrong Roush-Fenway driver. I picked Carl Edwards on Thursday last week (along with Greg Biffle as my number two pick, but failed to mention him in my column last week), which was looking even better after last Friday’s qualifying session. Edwards led some laps last Sunday, but the caution flag waived just after a mid-race green flag pit stop, and Carl spent the entire second-half of the race trying to gain back the track position he lost in the shuffle. He fought his way back to an eighth place finish last week, netting me a top 10.
Sonoma Picks
Winner Pick
Marcos Ambrose and Juan Montoya are the obvious picks this week at Sonoma, and when deciding between the two, do keep in mind some of the luck Ambrose has had at Sonoma. For instance, remember back to 2010 when Ambrose opened up a 2+ second lead over Jimmie Johnson, when Brad Kesolowski spun and stalled in Turn 7, bringing out the caution with just 6 laps left. While trying to conserve fuel under caution, Ambrose shut down the engine and eventually lost pace with the caution car. He lost the race under caution in 2010, and luck just hasn’t been on his side at Sonoma over the years.
It’s because of Ambrose’s misfortune that I am leaning towards Juan this week. Montoya is going through the best stretch of his season, and the fact that he will probably need two wins to secure a Wild Card for the Chase, is why I’m going to take Juan this week. He won in his first ever appearance at Sonoma back in 2007, and has been lighting up the charts so far this weekend. Montoya was second to Ambrose in the first practice session on Friday and fifth-fastest in happy hour, and rides a string of solid finishes into a track he’s been successful at over the years. He’s the guy to watch on Sunday.
Dark Horse Pick
This is a true longshot pick this week. Sonoma ranks as Jamie McMurray’s 6th-best track, and he’s inside the top-10 in a few of the traditional loop stats including green flag passes and average green flag speed. The practice speeds look even better as McMurray was 5th fastest in first practice yesterday, and followed up that practice session being shown second on the leaderboard after Happy Hour. This team has been coming around as of late, and could be a guy to knock off some of the road course ringers this week.
That’s all for this week so until we head to the Bluegrass State…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!
