Points tiebreaker gives Stewart championship after he beats Edwards for fifth win
Tony Stewart won the biggest game of winner-take-all in the history of NASCAR.
Rebounding from a succession of setbacks, Stewart took the checkered flag in Sunday’s rain-interrupted Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to win the Sprint Cup championship in a tiebreaker over race runner-up Carl Edwards.
Tony Stewart’s fifth Chase victory made him a three-time Cup Series champ. Smoke needed every one as he and Carl Edwards finished in a dead heat and Stewart won on the tiebreaker.
With four new tires to Edwards’ two — thanks to a strategic gamble that paid off when rain hit the 1.5-mile speedway for the second time on Lap 213 of 267 — Stewart gradually pulled away after a restart on Lap 231 and claimed his third Cup title, bookending the five consecutive championships won by Jimmie Johnson from 2006 to 2010. Stewart also won in 2002.
Reversal of fortune: Stewart claims Loudon victory
After climbing from his winning car Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart made the understatement of the year.
“We’ve got a shot at this thing,” said Stewart, who by taking the checkered flag in the Sylvania 300 became the second driver to win the first two races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
In a dramatic reversal of fortune, Stewart won the race — and grabbed a seven-point lead in the Cup standings over 12th-place finisher Kevin Harvick — when Clint Bowyer ran out of fuel with fewer than three laps to go.
Reversal of fortune: Stewart claims Loudon victory
Stewart starts Chase with his first win of season
Poor-mouthing Tony Stewart, who four days ago minimized his chances for a third Sprint Cup title, outlasted the field in Monday’s rain-delayed Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Saving fuel during a 50-lap green-flag run to the finish, Stewart, who started 26th, crossed the stripe .941 seconds ahead of hard-charging Kevin Harvick to win his first race of the season and the 40th of his career, tying him with Mark Martin for 16th on the all-time list.
Stewart starts Chase with his first win of season
Harvick holds on in wild race at Richmond
As far as the Chase was concerned, nothing changed during Kevin Harvick’s victory in Saturday night’s Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond International Raceway — but what happened between the green flag and the checkered flag was astounding.
For the record, Harvick won his fourth race of the season and the 18th of his career as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin secured the final Chase spots they held provisionally entering the race — but not without considerable angst in the process.
Harvick holds on in wild race at Richmond
Gordon earns historic 85th victory at Atlanta
It may have taken two extra days to complete the AdvoCare 500, but for Jeff Gordon, it was worth the wait.
The four-time Cup champion chased down teammate Jimmie Johnson in the waning stages of Tuesday’s rain-delayed Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, then held off a furious rally by Johnson to score his third win of the season and the 85th of his career.
Gordon earns historic 85th victory at Atlanta
Keselowski inches closer to Chase with Bristol win
Brad Keselowski’s phoenix-like rise from the ashes continued Saturday, with an improbable victory in the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway — his third win of the season and his second since breaking his left ankle Aug. 3 in a crash during testing at Road Atlanta.
Keselowski grabbed the lead on a restart with 80 laps left in the 500-lap Sprint Cup race and held on to win for the fourth time in his career. The victory all but assured Keselowski of at least a wild-card position in the upcoming Chase.
Keselowski inches closer to Chase with Bristol win
Busch beats Johnson in G-W-C at Michigan
Michigan finally unrolled the welcome mat for Kyle Busch, the first official member of the 2011 Chase.
Busch got his first Sprint Cup Series victory at Michigan International Speedway in his 14th start at the two-mile track, holding off Jimmie Johnson in a green-white-checkered finish to win Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400.
Busch beat Johnson to the finish line by .568 seconds to claim his series-best fourth victory of the season and the 23rd of his career. Busch kept Johnson winless at Michigan, one of five active tracks on the Cup circuit where the five-time champion hasn’t been to Victory Lane.
Busch beats Johnson in G-W-C at Michigan
Ambrose avoids violent wrecks for first Cup victory
Marcos Ambrose passed Brad Keselowski on the first lap of a green-white-checkered finish at Watkins Glen and won Monday’s rain-delayed Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen under caution when a violent multi-car wreck exploded behind him on the final circuit.
Ambrose, who charged through the bus stop (inner loop) and powered past Keselowski to the inside, became the fifth first-time winner in the Sprint Cup Series this year.
Ambrose avoids violent wrecks for first Cup victory
Keselowski guts out big victory at Pocono
Brad Keselowski’s challenge to the rest of the Sprint Cup field: “I can beat you with a broken leg.” And he did.
Staying out on the track on old tires under a caution with 21 laps left in Sunday’s rain-interrupted Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway, Keselowski pulled away from Kyle Busch after a restart on Lap 185 of 200 to secure his second victory of the season — despite driving with a broken left ankle.
Keselowski guts out big victory at Pocono
Menard stretches fuel to win Brickyard 400
Years ago, as a garage rat at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Paul Menard dreamed of winning a race at the vaunted Brickyard. On Sunday, the dream came true. In a season full of improbable first-time winners in NASCAR’s foremost races, Menard, 30, stretched his fuel mileage and held off a charging Jeff Gordon to win Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at the 2.5-mile track.
The victory was Menard’s first as a Sprint Cup driver, and it catapulted him into the conversation for a wild-card berth in the Chase. Gordon, who closed rapidly in the final five laps, crossed the finish line .725 seconds behind the season’s fourth first-time winner.