Chase field left hoping for Stewart 'off' days
By BRANT JAMES
Published October 11, 2005
Tony Stewart is destroying the myth of the mulligan.
With six races left in the Nextel Cup season, the 2002 series champion is showing the nine drivers chasing him just how much every race counts. Mark Martin 's Lap 18 crash and 41st-place finish Oct. 2 at Talladega could be his one horrific race of the Chase for the Championship.
But unlike in golf, he doesn't get to throw that one away. Forty-first counts, and although his win Sunday at Kansas would seemingly put him back in title contention, Martin gained just 25 points on leader Stewart, whose numbing consistency produced a third top five in four Chase races. Stewart, whose worse Chase result was 18th on Sept. 25 at Dover, finished fourth at Kansas despite an alternator belt problem.
"He's a tough customer. He runs really well. He's a smart race car driver. He thinks. He executes," said Greg Biffle , who finished second Sunday but gained just 10 points, 88 back of Stewart. "They're going to be very hard to beat. They're going to have to have another off day like they did at Dover and we're gonna have to not get a flat tire in order to close in on them.
"Just 10 points a race isn't gonna do it, and what are the chances of me finishing second for the next six races? ... So we can only do as good as we can do and can't really worry about the outcome. We're worried about it, but we really can't do anything about the outcome of the 20."
Even with six races remaining, it appears the other nine title hopefuls will need Stewart to shank multiple races into the tall grass. Every Chase driver except Stewart and Jeremy Mayfield has one Chase finish of 19th or worse, and not even Ryan Newman 's win and three top fives have been enough to stay close to the leader.
"If we can keep running in the top five like this, that's what we need to do," Stewart said. "I've always told people that there is no guarantee that everybody is going to score the top points every week."
Newman, who nipped Stewart on the last lap to win the Chase-opener Sept. 18 at New Hampshire, began Sunday four points behind Stewart. He finished 23rd and fell to 75 back, though still in second. Rusty Wallace started the race at Talladega in second and seven points back. He finished 25th and fell 76 back. He's 90 back despite finishing seventh on Sunday.
"(Stewart) has been very consistent through everything so far," said Jimmie Johnson , who is fifth in points, 92 behind Stewart. "Dover was a bad day for him, but all in all he's been very strong and up front. We'll just have to see how this thing shakes out."
It seems to be shaking out a lot like last year. Kurt Busch used his New Hampshire win to race with confidence and calculation - and a heaping measure of racing luck - before a blown motor relegated him to a 42nd-place finish at Atlanta with three races left. Still, he raced well enough - 10th at Phoenix, sixth at Darlington and fifth at Homestead - to hold off Johnson by eight points, the closest margin in NASCAR history.
RELISH IT: Zephyrhills native David Reutimann said although tests in Michael Waltrip Racing's No.00 Chevrolet at Charlotte and Atlanta were "kind of discouraging," he will attempt to qualify for his first Nextel Cup race this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Reutimann, a full-time Truck series driver who earned his first win this season, failed to qualify for the 2003 Brickyard 400 and had a second attempt rained out at New Hampshire that same year in a Morgan-McClure entry.
The Waltrip car, typically dubbed the "Dream Machine" because of its bedding sponsor, will be sponsored by a corn-dog manufacturer. Reutimann said he is awaiting the release of the 2006 Trucks schedule to move on discussions he has had with Waltrip about running some Busch races.