Costly gamble puts Stewart in big hole

Notebook: Costly gamble puts Stewart in big hole


LOUDON, N.H.—Tony Stewart tried to get 82 laps out of his final tank of fuel in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
He got almost 81Stewart ran out of fuel off Turn 4 as he approached the white flag that signaled one lap remaining. Clint Bowyer, who pitted with Stewart for the last time on Lap 208 of 300, did a better job of saving fuel and won the race.
Stewart’s feckless attempt at fuel conservation dropped him to 24th at the finish—the last driver on the lead lap—and left him 11th in the standings, 124 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, the race runner-up, heading for the second Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race next Sunday at Dover.
“I'm not happy, that's for sure, but we went down swinging,” Stewart said after the race. “It's hard to lose one that way, but at the same time it was fun racing Clint like that. He was definitely the fastest car, and congratulations to those guys.
It's a tough way to start the Chase, but I'm proud of my guys. (Crew chief) Darian (Grubb) kept swinging at it all day and finally on that last set of tires we got it halfway decent.”
Asked to talk about the good that came out of Sunday’s race, a subdued Stewart said, “It’s hard to find some.”

Despite glitches, Earnhardt scores top five
How strong was Dale Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet at New HampshireStrong enough to drive from a 32nd-place starting position into the top 10, and strong enough to salvage a fourth-place finish after mistakes and misfortune on pit road.
“It felt like we had a top-10 car, and we had the jack stop break and had to go to the back, and then a miscommunication with the No. 78 (Regan Smith) that cost us half a lap under green—just battling back from that stuff,” Earnhardt said.
Battle he did, and the resulting fourth-place finish gave Earnhardt his third top five of the year, one more than he had all last year.
“The setbacks we had today hurt us a lot,” Earnhardt said. “We unloaded a great car—they did a good job preparing it at the shop. We worked on it all weekend. It was pretty good in practice, and we improved on it a little bit.
“We had an eighth-place finish last time (at New Hampshire) and felt like we were really fast and competitive all day long. We can’t qualify very good here, but once we get in race trim, we just kind of go to the front or get near the front.”
It was an encouraging run for Earnhardt, who needed a strong performance after finishing 34th in his last outing Sept. 11 at Richmond.

Loose wheel thwarts Johnson
Like Earnhardt, four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson drove to the front from a starting position deep in the field (25th).
Unlike Earnhardt, Johnson couldn’t stay there. An unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel on Lap 255 relegated Johnson to a 25th-place finish, worst among the 12 drivers in the Chase. Johnson ended the day seventh in the standings, 92 points behind Chase leader Denny Hamlin.
“It is the way it is,” said Johnson, who sustained damaged from a side-by-side spin with Kurt and Kyle Busch on Lap 223. “We showed up today; we did what we could. We had a decent car today and ran in the top five and top 10 but just didn’t end up finishing there.
We’ll go home and get back to work and go after it again next week.”

NASCAR will offer unprecedented access to the 12 Chase drivers during its NASCAR After the Lap fan interview session Dec. 2 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. The Q&A session is part of the Sprint Cup Champion’s Week celebration. NASCAR After the Lap launched its “Send Me 2 Vegas” sweepstakes on Wednesday; one fan will be eligible to win a 2011 Ford Taurus SHO and a VIP trip to Vegas during Champion’s Week. To find out the details, go to NASCARafterthelap.com.

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service