Motorsports

Stewart's troubles: from lead to in need

By BRANT JAMES
Published September 27, 2005

The knowing smirk that etched Tony Stewart 's face for 12 weeks has been replaced by an agitated, bewildered gaze. And with good reason. After winning five times and finishing no worse than eighth since June 19, the 2002 Nextel Cup champion entered the Chase for the Championship with the points lead and a full sail of momentum.

Then Ryan Newman nipped him on the final lap to win the Chase opener Sept.18 at New Hampshire.

Then Stewart - and Greg Biffle - crashed two cars testing on the devilish racing surface at Lowe's Motor Speedway last week.

Then Stewart was a nonfactor all weekend with a poor-handling car and finished 18th at Dover, a place where he and his No.20 Chevrolet team had won twice and had 11 top 10s in 13 starts.

"Nobody saw this coming, for sure," Stewart said. "There's something wrong there, but we'll be fine. We'll wait until we get to the shop to find out."

Now fifth in points (but just 23 behind new leader Jimmie Johnson ) with eight races remaining, Stewart remains firmly in contention for a second NASCAR title.

Not so with defending series champion Kurt Busch . Despite leading a race-high 192 of 402 laps and apparently rebounding from an early crash and 35th-place finish at New Hampshire, Busch was relegated to 23rd place Sunday at Dover after a series of unfortunate circumstances. First he was caught on pit road late in the race when a caution was issued, trapping him a lap down. Then a flat tire sent him back to pit road and a speeding penalty leaving the stop brought him back for a drive-through penalty.

Busch is 10th in points, 170 behind Johnson and in trouble.

TEAM WOES: A Roush Racing team that qualified all five cars in the Chase, which is half the field, struggled as a unit Sunday. As the cars share information and technology, the initial thought would be they got something very wrong, but the group - with the exception of fourth-place finisher Mark Martin and ninth-place Carl Edwards - was hobbled by bad luck.

Adding to the Busch misery for team owner Jack Roush , Matt Kenseth finished 35th when he twice had flat tires, the second sending him hard into the wall and out of the race as he ran in the top 10 with 32 laps remaining. Biffle, winner of the summer race at Dover, battled handling problems and finished 13th.

After finishing 19th at New Hampshire, Edwards, a second-year Nextel Cup driver, thought good fortune owed him one.

"We didn't deserve to run ninth, but we've had days where we didn't deserve to run as bad as we did," he said. "That's how racing goes, but you can't count on that very often."

HAPPY MOMENT: Most racing fans, no matter their driver of choice, would love to see Kyle Petty in Victory Lane one more time. The 45-year-old, one of NASCAR'S most visible and positive personalities, has struggled mightily in recent years and is winless since the Dover spring race of 1995. On Sunday, however, Petty finished eighth for his second top 10, his best in a season since 1999, when he had nine. Petty also finished second on April 3 at Bristol.

NICE JOB, NOW DO BETTER: Danica Patrick 's 16th-place finish Sunday at Watkins Glen insured her the Indy Racing League rookie of the year award, and the 23-year-old can expect even more pressure next season after being anointed the standard-bearer for female racers even before finishing fourth in the Indianapolis 500. She has six top 10s in 16 races and is 11th in driver points.

"She's been doing a good job," said series champion Dan Wheldon , the 2003 IRL rookie of the year. "This year I certainly agree that you can't expect her to win in the first year. It's difficult among the people you're racing against. They've all been around a long time and no matter how good you are, no matter what team you're on, it's difficult to win in that situation. But I think certainly they're going to expect a lot of her next year, and next year it will be a good gauge. I think she'll win a race. I don't doubt the facts. She's a good driver, she really is."

[Last modified September 27, 2005, 02:45:31]