Price Chopper 400 Race Report
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Price Chopper 400 Race Report
Date: Oct. 4, 2009
Event: Price Chopper 400 (Round 29 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile oval)
Winner: Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing (Chevrolet)
SHR Finish: Tony Stewart (Started 5th, Finished 1st / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Ryan Newman (Started 30th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala SS, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City by winning Sunday’s Price Chopper 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Stewart, who led five times for 37 laps, scored the 37th Sprint Cup Series victory of his career, his fourth of the season and his second at Kansas, as he also won at the 1.5-mile oval in 2006. His four wins thus far this season are the most for Stewart since he won five races in 2006.
Stewart is now tied with 1970 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Bobby Isaac for 18th on the all-time victory list in NASCAR’s top division.
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, finished 22nd.
Stewart beat four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon by .894 of a second to win the Price Chopper 400, while Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, David Reutimann, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were six caution periods for 23 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.
Both SHR drivers are represented in this year’s Chase for the Championship. Stewart moved from fifth to fourth, 67 points behind Chase leader Martin, while Newman dropped two spots to ninth, 164 markers out of first.
With seven races remaining before a champion is crowned following the season finale Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the top-12 drivers competing for the title rank as follows:
1. Mark Martin (5,551 points) +/-0
2. Jimmie Johnson (5,533 points, -18) +/-0
3. Juan Pablo Montoya (5,500 points, -51) +/-0
4. Tony Stewart (5,484 points, -67) +1
5. Kurt Busch (5,460 points, -91) -1
6. Denny Hamlin (5,452 points, -99) +/-0
7. Jeff Gordon (5,448 points, -103) +1
8. Greg Biffle (5,437 points, -114) +1
9. Ryan Newman (5,387 points, -164) -2
10. Carl Edwards (5,386 points, -165) +1
11. Kasey Kahne (5,361 points, -190) +1
12. Brian Vickers (5,301 points, -250) -2
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule – the fourth race of the 10-race Chase for the Championship – is the Oct. 11 Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The race begins at 3:15 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.