Tony Stewart Dominates Aaron's 312 For First Talladega Victory

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By Deb Williams

TALLADEGA, Ala. (April 26, 2008) – Pole winner Tony Stewart dominated Saturday's Aaron's 312, leading five times for 81 laps, then held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final circuit to claim his first-ever victory at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I finally won a race at Talladega,” a happy Stewart said. “Man, I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight. I wish I could put into words how excited I am, because this is not like winning just any Nationwide race. To me, this is the biggest one I've had. To finally win at Talladega is something I wish I could put in words right now, but it's more than I can figure out how to put in words at this point.”

The fifth victory in Stewart's Nationwide career came in an event that left Indy Racing League champion and NASCAR rookie Dario Franchitti with a broken left ankle. David Stremme was to substitute for Franchitti in Sunday's Aaron's 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Franchitti's accident occurred on lap 11 when he cut a tire and spun heading into turn three. The Scotsman's Dodge slid across the track and was then violently T-boned on the driver's side by Larry Gunselman.

Franchitti was taken to a local hospital after being checked at the infield care center. He was the only driver injured in the race that had eight caution flags for 27 laps, and a 15-car melee that halted the race for 25 minutes 26 seconds while the 2.66-mile track was cleared.

Stewart, who dominated the news this week with his possible departure from Joe Gibbs Racing at the season's end, has now won both restrictor-place races this season. He was victorious in the season opener at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

Saturday's 117-lap race was clearly a duel between Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. who led a total of 95 laps.

“Dave [Rogers, crew chief] told me when we had the two runs in a row where I led Junior and then after a pit stop on the restart Junior was in the lead and we were second, I think Dave said we were three-tenths faster when we were the lead car of the two,” said Stewart, who has won three of the five Nationwide races in which he has competed this year.

“Having Junior behind you three-quarters of the race, that's like having an insurance policy. There were times during the race when we were nose-to-tail with each other. There were dozens of times on both of our parts when we were behind that we had enough of a run to go on by, but we worked together so well here in the past that we knew that we both had two really, really good cars and just staying together was kind of insurance for both of us; that we were going to stay at the head of the pack.

"It didn't matter to either one of us who led. We both led laps and got our five bonus points for our teams. He came in victory lane and congratulated us and said they figured out the lap times and that we were running 202 mph when we were able to run a whole lap tied together like that, so that shows you what eight tires and 16 cylinders can run around here. It was pretty cool.

“I knew my job was to be real smooth with the wheel, not do anything abrupt and he would just follow suit. That's why when we got locked together we were able to get so far ahead of the field at times. That's just trust we have running together and doing that with each other here. It made the race fun today because of that. You know you're in good hands there for the first three-quarters of the race. But at the same time, as much as its an insurance policy knowing that you're going to have help for the duration of the race, when you get to the last 10 laps, that insurance policy turns bad real quick.”

Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. weren't able to keep the battle between them in the closing laps. With four laps remaining, the eighth yellow flag waved. When the race restarted with two laps to go, Earnhardt Jr. tucked in behind Stewart, but close on his bumper were Greg Biffle, Jason Leffler, Stremme and Bobby Hamilton Jr.

With the field thundering towards the white flag, Earnhardt Jr. backed off, allowing those behind him to latch onto his bumper in hopes of getting the push he needed to propel him into the lead. Earnhardt Jr.'s strategy appeared to be working as the pack streaked off turn two. A push from Greg Biffle on the outside as they exited turn two pushed Earnhardt Jr. even with Stewart, but before they reached the end of the 4,000-foot backstretch, Earnhardt Jr. was left in the middle. Biffle was switching lanes while Stremme slipped into second on the inside.

“I made a mistake in letting him [Earnhardt Jr.] get too far back,” Stewart said. “When we came off turn four to come down to the white flag I saw how far back he was and I saw the line behind him and I thought, 'There is nothing about this that's good.' So the whole time down the front straightaway and the whole time into (turns) one and two I was sitting there weighing my options. I tried to block and I knew as fast as he was coming if I had forced the issue, I was going to take out the rest of the field that didn't get wrecked the first time, so it wasn't worth it. At the same time, we had such a good car that we carried enough momentum down the backstretch that even when he went by us, we were able to stay with him and get the side draft. I looked up in the mirror and they were three wide behind us.

“We went off into (turn) three on the bottom and the favorite phrase of the whole race was, 'Here comes your help.' So when I heard that and got the push from Stremme and got ahead of the (No.) 5 car [Earnhardt Jr.], it was like the weight of the world was off our shoulders. I knew the lead we had off (turn) four, they were three wide and there was no way anybody was going to get a run on us. It was just a matter of driving to the finish line.”

By the time they reached the checkered flag, Earnhardt Jr., who led once for 14 laps, had slid to sixth. Stremme had taken charge of second and Hamilton Jr. third. Leffler and Mark Green rounded out the top five, respectively.

Stewart achieved the final 100 laps on a single set of tires. Rogers said he felt obligated to let Stewart know how long the tires had been on his Toyota even though he knew it might adversely affect Stewart psychologically.

For Stremme, it was his first finish better than 18th in three Nationwide races at Talladega. He also tied his career-best finish in the series, which he had done on two previous occasions – Milwaukee in 2004 and Nashville in April 2007.

Hamilton Jr.'s third-place finish was his first top 10 this season and his second in eight Talladega races.

Patrick Carpentier was the top rookie, taking eighth in the high speed chess game.

Veteran Morgan Shepherd brought a smile to long-time race fans with a 13th-place finish. The 66-year-old driver finished on the lead lap in a Nationwide Series race for the first time since Rockingham on Oct. 23, 1999. His last lead-lap finish in any of the three major NASCAR series was in the season opener for the Craftsman Truck race at Daytona on Feb. 16, 2001.

In the point standings, the top two remained unchanged, even though it appeared early in the race that wouldn't be the case. Entering the event, Clint Bowyer possessed a nine- point advantage over Carl Edwards. When Bowyer had to go to the garage following a single-car incident on lap 20, Edwards immediately took over the top position. Bowyer's crew quickly repaired his car and got him back into the race, more than 20 laps down. The team's unwillingness to give up paid dividends on lap 71. That's when Kevin Lepage pulled onto the track in the middle of the pack as he exited pit road. Edwards Ford slammed into the rear of Lepage's Ford and became airborne, triggering a 15-car crash.

Rounding out the top five in the standings, respectively, are Kyle Busch, David Reutimann and Mike Bliss.

The Nationwide Series now travels to Richmond, Va., for Friday night's Lipton Tea 250.

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