Two Wins In A Row For Tony Stewart
Stewart wins; Johnson grabs points lead
Greg Engle
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
FORT WORTH, Texas -- For the second week in a row a Nextel Cup race turned into the Tony Stewart show.
Stewart staged a dominating performance Sunday to win the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, his second consecutive victory and third in the past six races.
Stewart survived a round of late green flag pit stops, a caution with four laps to go and a green-white-checkered flag restart to become the 12th different winner in 12 Nextel Cup races at Texas.
Jimmie Johnson finished second for the second consecutive week and used his fourth straight top-two finish to grab the points lead from Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth battled an ill-handling car the entire race and scrambled to finish 12th despite a late-race spin. Johnson leads the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup by 17 points over Kenseth with two races remaining. It's the first time Johnson has led the points standings since Bristol in August.
"That's great," Johnson said. "We just hope we can lead this thing at the end of the year. That's the goal."
Stewart led 278 of the 339 laps Sunday, a record at the 1.5-mile track. Last week at Atlanta, Stewart led a race-high 146 of 325 laps.
"In the 27 years I've been racing, I can count on my two hands the times I had a car this good all day long from start to finish," Stewart said. "Last week was one of them, this week is another. I'm not even sure that the car I had in Atlanta last week was that dominant."
The race started nearly 45 minutes late because of light rain.
Stewart started eighth and took the lead for the first time on Lap 43. From there it was his race to lose.
Kasey Kahne, who had started fourth, became a threat to Stewart in the closing stages. On Lap 314, green flag pit stops began, led by Kahne. Stewart cycled out with the lead, with Kahne second, four seconds back.
On Lap 328 the caution flew when Greg Biffle smacked the wall. As the field slowed, the engine in Kahne's Dodge soured, sending him to the garage for his second DNF in a row.
more on Tony Stewart winning at Texas Motor Speedway
Greg Engle
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
FORT WORTH, Texas -- For the second week in a row a Nextel Cup race turned into the Tony Stewart show.
Stewart staged a dominating performance Sunday to win the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, his second consecutive victory and third in the past six races.
Stewart survived a round of late green flag pit stops, a caution with four laps to go and a green-white-checkered flag restart to become the 12th different winner in 12 Nextel Cup races at Texas.
Jimmie Johnson finished second for the second consecutive week and used his fourth straight top-two finish to grab the points lead from Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth battled an ill-handling car the entire race and scrambled to finish 12th despite a late-race spin. Johnson leads the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup by 17 points over Kenseth with two races remaining. It's the first time Johnson has led the points standings since Bristol in August.
"That's great," Johnson said. "We just hope we can lead this thing at the end of the year. That's the goal."
Stewart led 278 of the 339 laps Sunday, a record at the 1.5-mile track. Last week at Atlanta, Stewart led a race-high 146 of 325 laps.
"In the 27 years I've been racing, I can count on my two hands the times I had a car this good all day long from start to finish," Stewart said. "Last week was one of them, this week is another. I'm not even sure that the car I had in Atlanta last week was that dominant."
The race started nearly 45 minutes late because of light rain.
Stewart started eighth and took the lead for the first time on Lap 43. From there it was his race to lose.
Kasey Kahne, who had started fourth, became a threat to Stewart in the closing stages. On Lap 314, green flag pit stops began, led by Kahne. Stewart cycled out with the lead, with Kahne second, four seconds back.
On Lap 328 the caution flew when Greg Biffle smacked the wall. As the field slowed, the engine in Kahne's Dodge soured, sending him to the garage for his second DNF in a row.
more on Tony Stewart winning at Texas Motor Speedway
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