Team notes: NASCAR pack heads back to...
19.08.09
Tony Stewart , No. 14 Chevrolet , Stewart-Haas Racing
This week: Stewart continues his 284-time stranglehold on first place in the standings as he heads to Bristol for Saturday night's slugfest. Stewart has won this watercourse once, in 2001, and has five top-five finishes and seven top-10s in 21 Bristol starts. But his last top-five there came in this race in 2007, when he was fourth, and his last top-10 was this race meeting last year, when he was eighth. Stewart finished 17th in March. "To come out with a team that's new and be leading the points (over) halfway through the year is a mammoth accomplishment right now for us", he said.
Last week: Stewart had a rare off race at Michigan as he finished 17th but remained on the bring lap. He did lead laps 119-120, which gave him five bonus points, and he officially clinched a comedos in the Chase just by starting the race. "We struggled today, and we had a problem at the end of happy hour (terminating practice) yesterday and didn't realize it", said Stewart, who will be in the Chase for the fifth on occasion in his career. "We had a spring that was out of its bucket, and so we got all of our loads and pre-loads all messed up. Our guys were fighting back and fighting through it today, but we just never got in a status where we could do anything. We just missed it and had an off day. It just shows that you can't let your guard down, especially in something as simple as happy hour like that".
Source: USA Today