Tony Stewart Surprises Pack at Martinsville

Racin’ with Russ- How do you get Tony Stewart to win a race? Just get him upset enough to want to eat the steering wheel and he’ll get up on the wheel enough to make a last lap pass on the likes of Jimmie Johnson, like he did on Sunday afternoon when he won a tough Sprint Cup race in Martinsville.

It started with Tony being shoved around in an unusually brutal event; he nearly went a lap down, then cut down a tire late in the race, putting the two-time champion back to 15th. From there, he drove like a man possessed to get among the top three.

With just a few laps remaining in the show, Stewart started on the outside of Johnson and managed to pass Mr. Five Time on the outside and went on to capture his third Chase win of the season.

The race started with a weather related starting lineup as Carl Edwards took the point. He and Matt Kenseth took turns out front until Edwards distanced himself from the pack.

The first time Edwards pit however found him deep in the pack in the mid-20’s for most of the day, while Kyle Busch, A. J. Allmendinger and Jeff Gordon led the majority of laps until late in the race.

During the closing stages, Johnson and Denny Hamlin led until the final laps when Johnson had a decent lead over the pack, until Brian Vickers spun, bringing out the final yellow and bunching up the field.

The final green flew and Stewart made the outside pass for the his 42nd career win and moved within eight points of Chase leader Edwards.Those drivers rounding out the top five included Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Hamlin.

Note: There were certainly several drivers with tough days at the Virginia paperclip. They include Kenseth, who certainly appeared poised for a top five run and probable points lead over Edwards and Keselowski. Instead, the Roush-Fenway driver tangled with Vickers and Harvick, resulting in a flat tire and a hard impact with the turn three wall resulting in a 31st place finish well out of the points.

Brad Keselowski ran very well all day and also appeared ready to accept congrats for a solid top 10, only to be spun out during the final few laps and wound up 17th and 27 points out of first place.

Truckin’ - The trucks usually put on a great show at Martinsville, and Saturday afternoon was no exception. After 200 laps of fender bending, finger pointing and numerous hurt feelings, Denny Hamlin took advantage of a slight error made by race leader Austin Dillon when he charged into the first turn, and went slightly wide, taking second place Ron Hornaday with him, as Hamlin scooted by the pair and on for the win, his first among the truck ranks.

Hornaday took second followed by Dillon, Johnny Sauter and Joey Coulter. With only two races left on the 2011 schedule, Dillon remains on top but only 11 over James Buescher and 15 over Sauter and Hornaday. This should come down to quite a battle.

Across the Pond - The first F-1 race in India went game, set and match to guess who? That’s right 2011 champion Sebastien Vettel took the pole, fastest laps and the win. The young German driver led from the first turn and went on to best Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

From Rumorville - It’s looking more and more like David Ragan is out of a ride for next season as Roush-Fenway reps have not landed a sponsor suitable for a full seasons backing. Ragan is said to be open to a decent Cup ride and does not rule out a Nationwide gig.

No one seems happy about the two-car drafting situation at the plates tracks, Daytona and Talladega. Don’t be surprised if a smaller spoiler is implemented for next season. Whatever the solution is, I agree that an aerodynamic change is needed.

That’s it for this week. Next week, RWR will review the Cup, Nationwide and truck results from Texas along with more racing news from around the globe.