Joliet, IL (Sports Network) - Tony Stewart passed up new tires on the final
pit stop and the strategy worked as he captured Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400
at the Chicagoland Speedway. The No.20 Home Depot Chevrolet driver crossed the
finish line 1.727 seconds ahead of Matt Kenseth.
The victory was Stewart's first of the season and 30th of his Nextel Cup
career.
"The Home Depot guys (pit crew) won us the race today," said Stewart. "They
got us the track position we needed...Being out front, being in clean air was
everything."
Pole winner Casey Mears brought the field to the green flag. Mears lasted
until the end of the sixth lap when Martin Truex Jr. slid to the bottom of the
track for the lead. Mears continued to drop as he complained of a tight car.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson took off after Truex Jr. who had built a lead of
nearly one second. He caught Truex Jr. on lap 17 and passed him two laps
later.
Johnson's Chevrolet was working very well and by lap 28 his lead was 1.395
seconds and growing. He began to lap slower traffic and still his margin grew
to two seconds. Johnson's pace was such that after 48 green-flag laps, there
were just 28 cars on the lead lap.
Through the first round of green-flag pit stops and Johnson was still the
leader. The only casualty was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who missed pit road and had
to make an extra lap. He came out 13th after running sixth.
A Jeff Green spin sent everyone down pit lane, but this time there were
different strategies used. Johnson came in first and left in 10th place after
he took four tires. In front of him were drivers who took zero tires or two
right-side tires.
Kevin Harvick and Reed Sorenson didn't come in at all and led the race. Newman
came out first after his fuel only stop and was third on the track.
Harvick quickly built a four-second lead, but if there was another long green-
flag run, he might be in some trouble. Johnson's four new tires were working
and by lap 75 he was back up to seventh place.
On lap 85 Stewart, in second place, began to cut into Harvick's lead. Johnson
was still on the move, now in fourth place. By lap 95 Stewart had cut the lead
in half while Johnson, faster than both of them, was in third place and still
flying. Stewart caught Harvick on lap 110 and when the No.29 pitted, the Joe
Gibbs Racing Chevrolet took over the race lead.
The cars cycled through their pit stops and they returned to the track with
Harvick leading Johnson and Stewart. But Johnson didn't like following Harvick
and on lap 120 he passed underneath him for the lead.
At the mid-point of the 267-lap race, Johnson held a 0.876 second lead over
Stewart and 3.963 seconds over a fading Harvick. Harvick continued to drop as
Kyle Busch passed him as well.
Johnson and Stewart continued to show the way, building the lead to six
seconds over third place as the field reached the 150-lap mark. Then Jamie
McMurray slapped the way on lap 155 and Johnson's big lead disappeared in a
split second.
Stewart beat Johnson off pit road to grab the lead as the race restarted on
lap 160. With clean air Stewart began to pull away from Johnson until lap 165
when Robby Gordon spun into the outside wall.
Just like the last restart, Stewart and Johnson quickly separated themselves
from the pack. By lap 185 they had built a gap of two seconds between
themselves and third-place Kenseth.
On lap 187 Johnson went to the top of the track and drove around Stewart for
the lead. Stewart didn't stay in second for long, it's not his style. A couple
of laps later he zoomed back into first place and was still there after 200
laps were completed.
Dave Blaney brought out the caution flag when he blew a tire on lap 202 and
slammed the wall. There were 63 laps remaining when cars pitted for what they
hoped would be the final time. But with a maximum of 50-55 laps on a tank,
teams would still need about eight more caution flag laps to reach the
checkered flag.
The race went back to green on lap 207.
Stewart got off to a great restart and quickly built a half-second lead on
Johnson. Meanwhile, both Earnhardt Jr. (power steering) and Truex Jr. (engine)
had problems and were off the pace.
For the third time Stewart and Johnson built a big lead on the field. But
trouble found Johnson on lap 223 as his right-rear tire exploded sending him
into the turn three wall and ending his day.
Everyone took the opportunity to top off fuel and take it out of the equation.
Stewart took about two seconds of fuel, barely stopping, before he was off.
Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Harvick followed.
The green flag dropped with 37 laps to go. Stewart and Kenseth immediately
jumped out front and Kenseth went to the bottom getting side-by-side with
Stewart. But Stewart fought him off and Kenseth had to get back into line.
"We just didn't quite have the car," said Kenseth. "I got a run on him and we
ran side-by-side, but just getting down into (turn) three I thought I was
going to lose control and take out both of us."
Caution flags, for a J.J. Yeley crash and a Joe Nemechek spin, set up a 12-lap
shootout for the win.
Stewart, Kenseth, Harvick and Carl Edwards easily cleared the lapped traffic
and set up a four-man race to the checkered flag. Edwards got around Harvick,
but was still more than one-and-a-half seconds behind the two leaders.
Stewart built his lead over Kenseth to 1.428 seconds with six laps to go and
he was never challenged over the final half dozen laps.
Edwards, Harvick and Mears completed the top-five.
After a week off, the Nextel Cup Series will return on Sunday, July 29th at
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.