Summertime’s The Right Time For ‘Smoke’

Summertime’s The Right Time For ‘Smoke’

Ah, summer. Heat, steamy humidity, slick asphalt and yes, it’s Tony Stewart time.
That’s one way to explain why the three-time and defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion won his fourth Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola on July 7. Or that 24 of Smoke’s 47 career wins have come between June 1 and the close of NASCAR’s regular season in early September at Richmond International Raceway.
Put another way, Stewart has the competition where he wants it.
His third win of the 2012 season would give him the No. 1 seed were the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ to start this week. The win total matches that of Brad Keselowski, giving each nine Chase bonus points although Stewart has the tiebreaker on second-place finishes.
And if that isn’t enough, Stewart, teammate Ryan Newman and Stewart-Haas Racing returns Sunday to a track where they stampeded their rivals, to say the least.
•    Newman won the Coors Light Pole for the LENOX Tools 301 then finished where he started with Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet running second. He won the pole again – his most recent, No. 49 – when the series returned in September for race No. 2 of the Chase. Newman looks to become the ninth driver to 50 career NSCS poles.
•    Stewart threw down the gauntlet, winning NHMS’ fall race, the first of a record five victories during the Chase that gave him his third title.
•    Stewart and Newman each have won three times at the 1.058-mile track outside Loudon, N.H., Newman has six poles and is the only driver to have won twice from a No. 1 start.
Ironically, Stewart failed to win at all last summer. Even he was mystified, suggesting that perhaps he didn’t even belong in the Chase. We saw how that worked out.
Eight tracks remain on the schedule prior to the Sept. 8 cut down to the top 10 in the points standings and two "Wild Card" qualifiers. Stewart has won at all eight with a total of 15 victories.
New Hampshire could be crucial for Newman’s Chase hopes. He finished fifth in Daytona, joining his teammate in the top five for the first time since Las Vegas in early March, a race Stewart also won.
Newman, 15th in the standings, needs every point he can collect – and perhaps a win to go along with his Martinsville victory. He’s 70 points outside the top 10 and locked in a four-way battle for the two "Wild Cards."