Tony Stewart News

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Homestead Yields a High and Low for Stewart

For Tony Stewart the driver, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway was forgettable. An overheating engine dropped him out of the race early, leaving Stewart with a 43rd-place finish.

But for the Tony Stewart who co-owns Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) with Haas Automation founder Gene Haas, Sunday at Homestead was unforgettable as SHR’s Kevin Harvick took the win and the series championship. 

With a damaged front grill from contact earlier in the 267-lap race around the 1.5-mile oval, Stewart’s No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS began to overheat. With the oil and water temperatures pegged, Stewart was forced to take his car off the racetrack and into the garage. After completing 182 laps, Stewart’s day was over, at least as a driver.

Stewart Labors to Top-20 at Phoenix

The Phoenix 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway was 312 laps, and from the beginning of the three-hour event on the 1-mile oval, Tony Stewart fought an ill-handling racecar.

After just 10 laps, Stewart radioed to crew chief Chad Johnston that his car was loose off turn four. Fifteen laps later, it was still loose off the corner but also tight in the center of turns three and four. When the caution flag waved for the first of 12 times on lap 32, Stewart explained that he needed more overall grip. 

Phoenix 500k Qualifying

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS, led the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent Friday at Phoenix International Raceway by setting the third-fastest lap in qualifying for the Phoenix 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday. Harvick turned a lap of 25.353 seconds at 141.995 mph on the 1-mile oval

“I got up the racetrack a little bit the first lap in turn one, and on the second lap I got up the track in turns three and four. So, I just missed it by a little bit,” said Harvick, who has a series-best five Sprint Cup wins at Phoenix (April 2006, November 2006, November 2012, November 2013 and March 2014). “Our Budweiser Chevrolet is really good in race trim and we’re really looking forward to the race.”

Stewart Hustles a Top-15 at Texas

Tony Stewart turned in a solid performance Sunday by finishing 11th in the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), scored his 14th top-15 result of 2014 after starting sixth in the 43-car field.

Stewart noted early in the race that his racecar was handling tight in the center of the track’s corners. The Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 machine had decent balance around the 1.5-mile oval, but lost grip as the race progressed.

AAA Texas 500 Qualifying

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, led the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent Friday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth by setting the fourth-fastest lap in qualifying for the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday. Busch turned a lap of 27.148 seconds at 198.910 mph on the 1.5-mile oval in the third qualifying round.

“Good runs all the way through,” said Busch, who won at Texas in November 2009. “We had to make some big changes going into qualifying with the car touching the racetrack due to the extra speed. The pace that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has been on for qualifying this year is track records everywhere we go. This time around was no different. But we were able to advance through all three rounds and really put up a good fight in the final round. We almost had a shot at the pole, we ended up a little tight in turn four, and that brought us home fourth. A great day all the way around for the first time with Tony Gibson, the engineers and everyone on this Haas Automation Chevy. It felt good to get that first day under our belt.”

‘Fourth Never Felt So Good’

Rare, if ever, has Tony Stewart considered a fourth-place finish a win. But after finishing fourth in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Stewart said, “Fourth never felt so good.” The effort equaled his season-best finish of fourth earned at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in March.

For a driver with three championships and 48 career Sprint Cup victories, this seems abnormal. But the last two seasons have been far from normal for Stewart, where consistency has been hard to find and his last victory came 57 races ago at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. A new car with a new rules package, along with a new crew chief and new teammates, have injected incessant change into Stewart’s routine since he won the 2011 Sprint Cup title.

Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Qualifying

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet SS, led the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent Friday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway by setting the fourth-fastest lap in qualifying for the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday. Stewart turned a lap of 19.070 seconds at 99.297 mph on the .526-mile oval.

“Qualifying up front here is really important. It means pit stall selection and that’s the biggest thing,” said Stewart, a three-time Sprint Cup winner at Martinsville (October 2000, April 2006 and October 2011). “That’s a good run for us. We haven’t qualified that well here in a while. I’m proud of Chad (Johnston, crew chief) and the whole Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats/Mobil 1 team. They did an awesome job.”

Stewart’s Race Doesn’t Go According to Plan

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), had a plan for the Geico 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway: Hang around the back of the 43-car field and be in position at the end of the race to contend for the win. It was a plan that he was playing to perfection until a midrace accident caused enough damage to put him in the unwanted position of limping to the checkered flag with a 34th-place finish. 

“I saw them wrecking and someone just hit me from out of nowhere – didn’t even see who it was,” said Stewart, the 2008 winner of the fall race at Talladega. “I thought our Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy was pretty good. We just never got a chance to show it.”

Geico 500 Qualifying

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, led the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent Saturday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway by setting the 18th -fastest lap in qualifying for Sunday’s Geico 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. 

Busch turned a lap of 49.850 seconds at 192.096 mph on the 2.66-mile oval.

“That was definitely an interesting qualifying format,” said Busch, who has six top-five finishes in 26 Sprint Cup starts at Talladega. “We qualified about half as fast as we needed to in the Haas Automation Chevrolet. We’ll go race tomorrow and see what happens.”

Stewart’s Strong Start Ebbs at Charlotte

A promising start for Tony Stewart Saturday night in the Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway ended with a 21st-place finish.

Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), started fourth in the 334-lap race around the 1.5-mile oval and nabbed third place from Denny Hamlin after only one lap.

Stewart held steady among the top-five for the race’s first 50 laps before slowly drifting back with a racecar that was tight in the center of the track’s corners and too loose back to the gas.