Stewart wins 4th Chase race, trims Edwards’ lead to 3 points

(November 6, 2011)

Stewart wins 4th Chase race, trims Edwards’ lead to 3 points

 FORT WORTH, Texas—Tony Stewart backed up his smack talk with a convincing victory in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

 With his fourth victory in the Chase and the 43rd of his career, Stewart put a dent in runner-up Carl Edwards’ series lead, scoring maximum points (48) to trim Edwards’ advantage from eight to three points with two races left in the season.

 Kasey Kahne ran third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

 Stewart had led 142 laps by the time Joey Logano’s Toyota dropped oil on the backstretch on Lap 261 of 334, causing the fourth caution of the race. Edwards, Stewart and the five cars behind took right-side tires only on Lap 263.

 Edwards got a huge jump on the restart on Lap 267 and pulled away to a lead of more than one second before NASCAR called the fifth caution on Lap 270 for debris in Turn 3. The first 13 cars stayed out under the yellow, and Stewart stayed with Edwards on a restart on Lap 275, moving around the No. 99 Ford to the outside.

 Notes: Subbing for Kyle Busch, who was parked by NASCAR for wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution in Friday's truck race at Texas, Michael McDowell finished 33rd, three laps down. ... Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were eliminated from title contention.
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service