Tony Stewart Dominates Stater Bros. 300 For 2nd Consecutive Nationwide Win

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Deb Williams

FONTANA, Calif. (Feb. 25, 2008) – Tony Stewart dominated Monday's two-day, rain-delayed Stater Bros. 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway to stroll off with his second victory in as many events this season.

Stewart led three times for 136 laps in the 150-lap race to claim his fourth victory in the series. It was his first Nationwide Series win at a track other than Daytona.

“This car was unbelievably good today,” said Stewart, who averaged 141.769 mph in the race that was slowed by five caution flags for 19 laps. “We never lost the lead on green-flag runs. We just had an awesome car.

“The worst it was all day was the last run and that was after we had the caution and came out with tires. It was perfect then. We had a caution, then went back to green and it was a little bit tight. But it was unbelievably fast all day. Today was pretty much a flawless day. The pit stops were unreal. These guys had great pit stops all day and that's as critical as the way the car is driving. They did everything right in the pits today. It was flawless all the way around.”

Crew chief Dave Rogers made only minor adjustments to the car during the race that Stewart dedicated to the fans, who suffered through three days of rain in order to watch the event.

Rogers said he was “extremely excited” about the Toyota's performance.

“Everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing has worked so hard over the winter to make the transition to this Toyota Camry,” Rogers said. “To come out and have this early success just makes everything worth while.”

Not only did Stewart emerge victorious for the second straight week, but his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, also was the runner-up for the second consecutive week.

“Tony was pretty much in a league of his own, for some reason,” said Busch, who led once for two laps. “I got two second places to the guy who won the first two races, so what else can you do? I’m happy with it.”

Toyota, whose racing program is based nearby in Torrence, took three of the top-five positions in the rundown. In addition to Stewart and Busch claiming first and second, respectively, David Reutimann took fourth. Kevin Harvick led the Chevrolet effort in third, while Carl Edward was the top-performing Ford with a fifth-place finish.

Indy Racing League and Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti was the highest finishing rookie, placing 24th.

“I felt more comfortable out there today than I've felt in any of my other Nationwide starts,” Franchitti said. “We caught a break under caution and thought we'd sneak out a top 5 or a top 10, but I felt a real bad vibration, so we came in for four tires. Overall, a good day and it felt great to drive a car that well prepared.”

The Nationwide Series race moves to Las Vegas this weekend.

###