Posted on 08/14/2005 6:13:08 PM PDT by Perdogg
Stewart wins at Watkins Glen
By DICK BRINSTER, AP Sports Writer
August 14, 2005
AP - Aug 14, 5:48 pm EDT More Photos
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- A broken alternator couldn't keep Tony Stewart from blowing away the field one more time.
Faced with a problem right at the end of a race he dominated, Stewart simply snookered the opposition on the final two restarts and cruised to his fifth victory in seven races. And his dominant performance Sunday at Watkins Glen International padded his lead in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings.
Still, he had to hope he had enough juice left after a late caution forced two extra laps. Stewart radioed in that he had an alternator problem, forcing him to shut off some systems and switch to a backup battery. Then he sprinted away from Robby Gordon on the final restart.
``The hard thing is Robby Gordon is really good getting into turn one,'' Stewart said. ``The big thing was to get a good restart and not be concerned with him.''
Stewart did just that, leaving Gordon as nothing more than a valiant competitor who charged from his 39th starting spot all the way to Stewart's rear bumper with two laps to go. But Stewart made him slow down just before the restart.
``He got away because he stabbed the brakes then took off,'' Gordon said. ``He's a great racer, but second is just first loser.''
Stewart used the same tactic to get away from Boris Said on the 76th lap.
``I had great restarts all day, but Tony got me and I got bogged down,'' explained Said, who quickly lost the second spot to Gordon.
Scott Pruett, who finished fourth, was even more impressed.
``They could have taken 10 more restarts,'' he said. ``We weren't going to catch him.''
Stewart has become a master of restarts, resembling the late Dale Earnhardt when he has the lead.
``The only time anybody could get close to us was on the restarts,'' Stewart said. ``But this thing really went fast today. We had an absolutely flawless day other than the alternator.
``I don't know what we need to do to keep this thing going, but we've got to.''
Crew chief Greg Zipadelli said hard work and a lack of complacency has the team on its incredible roll. He said he has been reminding the team not to let up.
``This is like a fantasy. I hope it lasts,'' Zipadelli said. ``Smoke has been just fired up. I haven't seen him this focused in the seven years I've been around him.''
The 24th victory of the Indiana driver's career came a week after he won for the first time at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first-place finish here gave Stewart a 105-point lead over Jimmie Johnson, who finished fifth.
After winning, Stewart stopped at the flagstand, took the checker and drove around the track to the cheers of the crowd. But he didn't climb the catch fencing as he had after his three most recent wins.
``This place really isn't conducive to fence climbing,'' he said. ``I'm convinced that I'm going to fall off one day and crack my head open.''
Now he heads back to his hometown, Columbus, Ind., where the Hoosiers are honoring his Indianapolis victory with a parade Monday. Stewart, always looking to utter a good quip, had one for the celebration.
``I'm just scared that the kids are going be to throwing darts at me,'' said Stewart, who for most of his career has been booed but now is a fan favorite. ``I'm feeling the love now. It's a lot better than dodging grenades.''
Stewart won the $4.6 million Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen for the second year in a row. It was the fifth road-course win for Stewart in five years. He won in June on the only other NASCAR road course -- the serpentine layout in Sonoma, Calif.
It was his third win on this 2.45-mile track known as New York's Thunder Road. He started on the pole because rain Saturday prevented the completion of qualifying and forced NASCAR to set most of the 43-car field on car-owner points. Stewart was easily the fastest driver of those who took qualifying laps before the rain came.
In the race, his Chevrolet led a record 83 of 92 laps and beat the Chevy of Gordon by 1.927 seconds on the 11-turn track that snakes through the hills south of Seneca Lake.
Stewart is virtually assured of being no worse than third when NASCAR resets the standings at five-point intervals for the top-10 drivers after four more races. Then the 10-race Chase for the Championship begins Sept. 18 at New Hampshire International Speedway, where the 2002 Cup series champion won last month.
He and 38th-place finisher Greg Biffle share the series lead with five wins apiece.
Road-racing specialist Said finished third in a Chevy, followed by the Dodge of road racer Scott Pruett and Johnson's Chevy.
The winner averaged 86.804 mph in a race slowed seven times by 14 caution laps. There were nine lead changes among seven drivers.
Rusty Wallace was sixth, followed by Mark Martin. Brian Vickers, Joe Nemechek and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed the top 10.
Sharp breaks long drought with win at Kentucky
By MURRAY EVANS, Associated Press Writer
August 14, 2005
SPARTA, Ky. (AP) -- Scott Sharp walked into his post-race interview session and summed up his feelings with the first word out of his mouth.
``Yeah!'' he screamed upon entering the room.
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The former Indy Racing League champion felt as much relief as elation after he won for the first time in more than two years, holding off Vitor Meira on Sunday to win the Amber Alert Portal Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
Sharp, driving a Honda for Delphi Fernandez Racing, became the second driver of that car to win the Kentucky IRL race in as many years, following Adrian Fernandez.
Sharp's win was his ninth on the series, but his first since Japan in 2003, a streak of 40 winless races. He'd won at least once every year from 1997 until last year. On Sunday, he averaged 175.981 mph on the 1 1/2 -mile tri-oval Kentucky track and had a winning margin of 0.0779 second.
``Where do I begin,'' Sharp said. ``It's been a long time.
``I've had so many people who helped me spiritually. I'm just a real spiritual person. Sure, you doubt yourself when you have people telling you that you can't drive the car anymore. I just feel when I get in the car I try to go 100 percent. I just can't thank everybody enough.''
The 37-year-old Sharp took the lead on lap 134 of the 200-lap race, passing Dan Wheldon. Wheldon regained the lead twice, but Sharp passed him for good on lap 169 and never was headed. Sharp's crew had a flawless pit stop during a caution on lap 172, and he blocked every subsequent attempt by Meira to pass him after that.
Sharp said the key was staying low on the track, even though at times it was bumpy. He said he wanted to force Meira to try to pass him on the outside.
``He did a good job of holding his line and protecting his position,'' said Meira, who led for 11 laps earlier in the race.
Meira, driving a Honda for Rahal Letterman Racing, moved into second during that final pit stop, when he beat Wheldon out of the pits. It was the fourth career second-place finish for Meira, a Brazilian who never has won an IRL race. He was the runner-up to Wheldon in this year's Indianapolis 500.
Wheldon, also in a Honda, led 104 of the 200 laps and finished third, the 11th time in 12 races this year he's finished in the top six. Alex Barron and Helio Castroneves rounded out the top five.
Wheldon extended his lead in the series standings to 90 points over second-place Sam Hornish Jr., who finished seventh Sunday. Wheldon's Andretti Green Racing teammates, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti, remained third and fourth, and Sharp vaulted from seventh to fifth with the win.
Sharp shared the IRL series' inaugural title in 1996 with Buzz Calkins. But this season, Sharp's previous best finish was second, in Japan in April, and he hadn't even led a lap in any race, even though he'd had three other top-five finishes before Sunday.
Leading a lap ``has been an itch I couldn't scratch this year,'' Sharp said. ``When I popped into the lead, I said, 'Wow. I wonder how long this one is going to last.'''
Sharp's previous best finish at Kentucky Speedway was second in 2001.
Rookie Danica Patrick, making her 12th career start and seeking her first series win, started on the pole for the second time this season. But she surrendered the lead to Kanaan on the first lap, soon fell out of the top five and never led again.
As she did in the Indianapolis 500, Patrick stalled her car during a pit stop, on lap 71. Six laps later, after a restart, Patrick had to return to the pits because of a problem with her Honda's gearbox. She finished 16th, 16 laps behind the leaders.
Patrick did record the fastest lap of the race, turning lap 183 at 216.882 mph.
``It's really frustrating ... when you're not up there dicing with the leaders like I should have been,'' she said.
She wasn't the only contender with problems. Tomas Scheckter, who had raced as high as third, had electronic problems with his Chevrolet and exited on lap 82. Kanaan, the defending series champion, led 25 laps and was second behind Wheldon when a faulty wheel bearing on his Honda forced him to exit the race on lap 99.
Kanaan, who completed every lap of every race last year, did not finish for the third time in 12 races this year.
``I don't think we can blame the track,'' Kanaan said. ``It's bumpy for everybody and not everybody is having the same problem.''
Franchitti lost a tire following a pit stop on lap 30 and fell to 22nd in the 23-car field. He rallied to move into second by lap 124, but a problem with his suspension ended his race after 170 laps.
I just read (didn't crunch the numbers myself) that since Michigan on June 19th, the maximum points a driver could have possibly accumulated - all lead lap points, all most lap led points, and finishing 1st every single race is 1520. Stewart is only 89 points off that mark during this stint.
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