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In his fifth road-course start, Tony Stewart slips by Robby Gordon and ends Jeff Gordon's Sears Point win streak.
©Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 25, 2001
SONOMA, Calif. -- Though Tony Stewart wasn't sure he had the Dodge-Save Mart 350 in the bag, he offered his crew some encouraging words with a few laps to go.
"I said, 'We're gonna win this thing,' " Stewart said.
He went on to grab his second win of the year and 11th of his career under partly cloudy skies on the hilly road course at Sears Point Raceway.
In the process, he spoiled Robby Gordon's bid for a first NASCAR win and Jeff Gordon's push for a Winston Cup record.
With 11 laps to go, leader Robby Gordon (no relation to Jeff) was fighting off rookie Kevin Harvick, who was trying to get back on the lead lap. Stewart deftly passed both on Turn 7 to take the top spot.
Robby Gordon, who started seventh, was subbing for Ultra Motorsports driver Mike Wallace in a Ford. He finished second, 1.746 seconds behind Stewart.
"Kevin knocked me sideways and I honestly didn't anticipate Tony to get by both of us," Robby Gordon said. "I thought he would be on the inside."
Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon was vying for his record-setting seventh career road-course victory and his fourth straight at Sears Point. He finished third after leading 55 of 112 laps in his Chevy, and remains the Winston Cup points leader.
"All good streaks have to come to an end, eventually," Jeff Gordon shrugged.
Stewart, whose Pontiac started third, also won this year in Richmond, Va. His first road came in just his fifth start.
"I never ran a road race in anything other than go-carts," he said.
The former Rookie of the Year banged on the top of his car as he got out, then embraced his crew.
"This was a big win for us today, especially being able to beat Jeff Gordon," he said.
Jeff Gordon leads the circuit with 11 top-five finishes and increased his points lead over Dale Jarrett to 126.
"We got a solid finish, and that's all I was asking for," he said. "I know you guys had me winning the race before it started, but I didn't expect that. ... I think Tony had the best car there at the end."
Ricky Rudd drove his Ford to fourth, finish, followed by Rusty Wallace, who started in the front row. Wallace, Gordon, Richard Petty and Bobby Allison have six road-course victories apiece.
Ron Fellows, a road-course specialist driving for NEMCO Motorsports, led for 20 laps after a caution on the 32nd lap. It was the first time he had led a Winston Cup race since August 1999 at the series' other road course race in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Harvick finished 14th in his Chevy. He was unhappy afterward about Robby Gordon's efforts to hold him off.
"You're leading the race, what do you do?" he asked. "You let the guy behind you go. He's a lap down and it doesn't mean anything to you. You protect your spot from the guy in second."
Robby Gordon was unapologetic.
"I think when you're a race car driver and you can put a lapped car between you and second place, you do it," he said.
Robby Gordon led a handful of road racing veterans hired for one-off drives.
After his time in the lead, Fellows spun then faded to a 38th-place finish with mechanical problems. Boris Said took over Robert Pressley's ride and finished 11th. Dorsey Schroeder started 36th and finished 25th. Brian Simo lasted 30 laps and was 42nd.
SKINNER'S FUTURE: Car owner Richard Childress can't say enough about Harvick. But his virtual silence about journeyman Mike Skinner speaks volumes.
Harvick was elevated from the Busch Grand National series to fill Dale Earnhardt's seat after his death in the season-opening Daytona 500. Harvick won in his third Winston Cup start.
"I think the thing that's surprised us is how quick he's come around under the pressure," Childress said. "Just coming out was going to be tough enough. Under the circumstances and under the pressure, he's done really well."
Skinner's job evaluation wasn't so good, and very brief.
"We both discussed that if we're not both completely happy here in another few weeks, we'll sit down and talk about the direction we're going to go," Childress said.
Skinner finished 34th Sunday and has no Winston Cup wins in 159 starts. He is 22nd in points while Harvick is ninth with one fewer race.
The 43-year-old Skinner has made public his disappointment about being passed over for Earnhardt's ride in favor of the 25-year-old rookie.
KYLE'S RIDE: Kyle Petty's annual Charity Ride Across America started like the endurance race it is, with a relay team of people at the helm.
The ride left nearby Folsom hours before the race. Petty's father, racing icon Richard, left Sears Point before the start of the race to join the ride in Reno, Nev.
"It's the Kyle Petty charity ride but Kyle's busy racing, so they just felt like they needed somebody to represent the family," Richard Petty said. "Everybody meets in Elko and they go from there."
The seventh cross-country motorcycle caravan ends next Sunday at the Petty farm in Trinity, N.C.
About 200 bikers are expected to take part in the unique fundraising effort for children's hospitals and the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The camp will serve as a retreat for children with chronic or life-threatening illness in memory of Kyle and Pattie Petty's son Adam, killed in a racing accident last year.