Stewart can't seem to shake his hard luck

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Boy, could Tony Stewart use a little fun right now.

The two-time NASCAR champion was caught in an accident at Dover International Raceway on Sunday, ruining his race after 17 laps. He finished 41st for his fourth poor finish in five races.
Now he's perilously close to the Chase cutoff point.

Some relief comes Wednesday night when Stewart swings open the gates at Eldora Speedway for his annual charity event at his Ohio dirt track.

"You get to do something different that's no stress and it's all about having fun," he said, referring to the Prelude to the Dream race.

Stewart is 11th in the standings, just 35 points from slipping out of championship contention. He's been there once before, in 2006 when he failed to qualify for the Chase and was ineligible to defend his Cup title.

It's far too early to predict the same thing will happen to Stewart this year. But if his luck doesn't change soon, Stewart and his No. 20 team will be in for a long summer.

Of course, the summer is usually when Stewart heats up. In his nine previous seasons, he's scored his first victory before the 14th race of the year only four times. In 2003, his first win of the year came in the 14th event, at Pocono Raceway, where Stewart heads this weekend.

He'll go there trying to shake the hex he's seemingly been under since Talladega, where he revealed he's exploring opportunities away from Joe Gibbs Racing. Since then, a fourth-place finish at Richmond in early May is about the only thing that's gone right for Stewart.

He led 61 laps at Talladega, only to be caught in a wreck 14 laps from the finish and wound up 38th. Two races later, he was wrecked by Elliott Sadler two laps into the Darlington event and finished 21st.

A flat tire with three laps to go -- and the lead -- snatched the Coca-Cola 600 win away from him at Charlotte, and he again was involved in an accident with Sadler just 17 laps into Sunday's race at Dover.

"I take 100 percent responsibility. It's my fault for being even anywhere close to Elliott," a sarcastic Stewart offered. "If I'm within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen."

But staying away from Sadler might not be the solution Stewart needs to save his season.

Rather, Stewart needs to shore up his future plans so everyone around him can focus on finally getting into Victory Lane this season.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli has acknowledged that Stewart's situation is a distraction based on the daily questions he receives about the team's future. The core group that started that team in 1999 is still intact, and when the driver is considering leaving, everyone gets a little unsettled.

"Every guy on my team, everybody at the shop wants to know who is what and where, and what's going on," Zipadelli said. "Everybody in the media wants to know what's going on. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do, somebody wants to ask you something about it.

"As tough as you think you are, as cool as you think you can be, when it gets brought up every day, it's a distraction."

Zipadelli knows how tough it is to beat the best in the business, and right now the top competition is under the same JGR roof. Kyle Busch on Sunday won for the fourth time this season -- a series best -- and Denny Hamlin has been to Victory Lane once already.

To win their third title together, Stewart must settle his team and help put the focus back on winning.

"I can't control this," Zipadelli said. "I didn't start it, but it's certainly a little bit of a distraction and that's just the way it is. The teams that don't have distractions and are focused 110 percent, those are the teams that are tough to beat."

In fairness to Stewart, there's little he can do to control this rash of bad luck. It won't matter if he signs a contract extension with Gibbs tomorrow or announces his intention to leave the team. If he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, he's going to crash.

But it's also not a reach to wonder if this sudden slide is at all related to his off-track negotiating. Team president J.D. Gibbs doesn't think so, noting that Stewart and the No. 20 team usually perform at their highest when the chaos around them is greatest.

Yet Gibbs admits the waiting game can be agonizing.

"There's something sitting there. How long is it going to sit there? That's frustrating and those guys want direction for the future," Gibbs said.

So Stewart needs to get through his event at Eldora, where he hopes to raise $1 million to give to Kyle Petty toward construction on a new camp in Kansas City for chronically ill children. Then he needs to sort out his plans because dragging this out much longer might certainly sink his season.


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Busch wins fourth Cup race at Dover

Early crash knocks out Chase drivers

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Tony Stewart stood with a hand on his hip, looking grim faced as his crew worked on the No. 20. Kevin Harvick folded his arms and could only watch the rest of the field speed around the track.

Both drivers were helpless in the garage after a massive wreck only 17 laps into the race at Dover International Speedway wiped out five of the top-12 cars in the points standings.
Danny Hamlin was knocked out of the race, and Stewart, Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer all had their cars towed to the garage and missed laps.

"I can't really says it's anybody's fault right there," Hamlin said on Sunday. "It's just tough racing."

Kasey Kahne's car also was damaged in the accident and he finished 31st.

Elliott Sadler was turned into the wall and went spinning down the concrete track after he made contact with David Gilliland. There was no where for the other cars to go.

"We just tried to survive," Kahne said. "It's very tough to go fast when these cars are perfect and impossible if you have any type of damage to them."

The race was red flagged on lap 22. The Monster Mile became a Monster Mess.

"It was just a complete road block," Hamlin said. "I had to just choose who I was going to hit."

Stewart got the No. 20 Toyota back on the track 113 laps later and finished 41st. Harvick also returned -- without the hood and the set up entirely out of whack -- and finished 34th.

The damage continued in the points standings. Hamlin fell four spots from fourth to ninth, and Bowyer, Harvick and Stewart all dropped three spots. Kahne remained stuck in the 12th and final position to make the Chase for the Cup title.

Harvick and Stewart had their cars repaired side-by-side in the garage and Earnhardt huddled with his crew a few stalls down, the garage humming with activity like it was a qualifying day.

"It's critical any time you fall out of the race this early," said Harvick's car owner, Richard Childress.

Greg Biffle cringed when he watched the replay in the media room after the race, letting out a big "ooooh!"

Sadler said he tried to go under and pass Sam Hornish Jr. until Gilliland sped by to make it three wide. Stewart, though, took full responsibility for the wreck for driving too close to Sadler.

"When I hit him, it caused all the guys behind me to wreck," he said.

This was the second straight race Stewart was the victim of bad luck. He had victory in sight in the Coca-Cola 600 until a flat tire with three laps left cost him his shot at the victory.

"Unfortunately, adversity is our motto here at Joe Gibbs Racing," Stewart said.

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COULTHARD VISITS: Formula One driver David Coulthard visited the garage before the race and chatted with Sprint Cup's Red Bull drivers Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger. Coulthard, who drives for Red Bull, said top NASCAR drivers could probably adapt to an F-1 car easier than an F-1 driver switching to NASCAR.

Coulthard said he was surprised with open the NASCAR garages are compared to the more private ones in F-1.

"Shocking is maybe too strong a word, but it's eye-opening to see how close the competitors are," he said. "Nobody can get away with anything because everybody's watching them."

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ALLISON HONORED: Former Cup champion Bobby Allison was honored this weekend at Dover International Speedway for overall career success at the concrete track. He was the first driver to receive a special recognition plaque on the new Monster Monument at Victory Plaza.

Richard Petty will be honored at the September race. Both drivers won seven times at Dover.

Allison said he wished he could have drove on the track both after the surface was changed to concrete and the length was shaved from 500 miles to 400.

"There were a few times at this racetrack where I was going along somewhere just past halfway, been racing seemed like half a day and my tongue would be hanging out like a red necktie," he said. "I'd look up at the scoreboard and there were still 200 laps to go."

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NEW LOOK: The traditional black-and-white checkered finish was turned into paint scheme featuring the Autism Speaks blue puzzle pieces. The new look gave drivers a "goal line" for the weekend and symbolizes Autism Speaks and the missing piece of the autism puzzle. The official name of the race was the Best Buy 400 Benefiting Students Clubs for Autism Speaks. Fans were urged to make a donation to Autism Speaks each time their favorite driver crossed the line.


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Tough day for IndyCar youngsters

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) -- A day that began with so much promise for Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal ended abruptly against the Milwaukee Mile's concrete walls.

The 21-year-old Andretti, who started from the pole on Sunday for the first time in his IndyCar career, and 19-year-old rookie Rahal, starting from the outside of the front row in only the fourth oval race of his career, crashed in separate incidents during the ABC Supply A.J. Foyt 225.
Rahal stayed among the top four from the start. He was third on lap 130 of the 225-lap event when he slowed abruptly to avoid hitting the lapped car of Darren Manning, slid up the track and slammed into the outside wall.

"He previously had kind of been all over the track anyway, so I was struggling to get by him," Rahal said, referring to Manning. "I don't think the officials were doing enough to help the leaders with the traffic. It was definitely tough."

He added, "I was going to hit him if I didn't move. I didn't think I was too wide. Once I was in the marbles, I was fully off the throttle and the brakes, but I couldn't get it to turn. It's unfortunate."

Andretti led the first 40 laps of the race, but struggled with handling after that, falling out of contention.

Four laps from the end, he collided with Ed Carpenter and the two slammed into the wall. Vitor Meira than ran over Andretti's car, flying through the air before he too hit the wall.

"We were racing and things like this happen," Andretti said. "It's just a real shame because we could have had some decent points today."

Carpenter echoed Andretti, saying, "It was nothing but hard racing there at the end of the race. I was running seventh, I think, and trying to pass (Oriol) Servia for sixth. ... I kind of let Marco get up on me and then started racing Marco for my position. ... It's a tough track and he pushed up into me. He apologized. We are all good."

Meira also crashed in Saturday's qualifying and had to start last in the 26-car field.

"Everyone was racing hard behind me and I was waiting," last week's Indy 500 runner-up said. "Marco and Carpenter got together and I couldn't see anything in front of me, so I stepped on the brake and hoped for the best."

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MAKING UP GROUND: Three of the nine drivers making the transition from the defunct Champ Car World Series to the newly unified IndyCar Series wound up with top-10 finishes Sunday.

Oriol Servia had the best day, finishing sixth, the last car on the lead lap. Justin Wilson and E.J. Viso were seventh and eighth, both a lap down to the leaders.

It was a particularly good performance by Servia, the most experienced oval driver among the newcomers. After having to replace the most of his car and losing a lap early in the race, the Spaniard charged back, regaining the lost lap and moving into contention.

"My last two or three times in this place (with Champ Car) I had been on the podium," Servia said. "So I was hoping it was going to happen again. But this sixth today, coming from last, feels like (a podium finish) for sure.

"It was really tough, but the whole race was just keeping fighting, keep fighting," the Spaniard added. "Every pit stop we gained spots. After the restarts we gained spots."

He said the 225-mile race was more tiring than usual because of the circumstances.

"Usually, I don't get tired on the ovals, but because of the type of racing I had to do every lap, and because when we changed the wing, for some reason we lost water. I was really struggling there at the end."

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HAT MAN: Roger Penske celebrated his team's 300th race victory Sunday, thanks to the first IndyCar win by Ryan Briscoe.

The Captain showed up at the postrace press conference wearing a white hat with the red-stitched inscription "300th."

"It must be a big deal because we've got a hat made," Penske said, grinning. "I guess they have been carrying these around on the haulers. They told me today."

It was the third victory for Penske this season. Ryan Newman gave him his first Daytona 500 win in February's NASCAR Sprint Cup event, and the trio of Romain Dumas, Timo Bernard and Emmanuel Collard won the 12 Hours of Sebring ALMS sports car race for the team.

"I really think it shows the amount of work that has been done by so many people on the team, so many good drivers, so many good crews, all the way back," Penske said.

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SPARK PLUGS: Briscoe's average speed in winning Sunday was 133.428 mph. ... The victory came in his 26th IndyCar start, dating to 2005. ... Despite a 26-car field that produced heavy traffic on the one-mile oval Sunday, 21 cars were running at the finish. ... Runner-up Scott Dixon, the Indy 500 winner, heads to Texas next week leading the IRL IndyCar Series standings by 28 points over Helio Castroneves, who finished fifth on Sunday.


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Hamlin gives JGR another Nationwide win

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Joey Logano wanted a top-five. The 18-year-old rookie had to settle for sixth.

"It ain't much on my book," he said.
Don't worry, kid. There's plenty of time to drive your way into Victory Lane.

The next NASCAR star has arrived and Logano delivered in his national-level debut with the kind of finish that showed why he was one of the most hyped prospects in years.

But it was another Joe Gibbs Racing driver that claimed the win.

Hamlin made it a whopping nine victories for JGR in the Nationwide Series this season, leading all but 69 laps to crush the field and win Saturday night in the 200-mile race at Dover International Speedway.

"Fairly uneventful," Hamlin said.

About the only suspense for Hamlin came at the end, when he peeked at the scoreboard to see if Logano would score a top-seven finish. Hamlin made a pair of side bets with Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip that Logano could finish that high in his Nationwide debut. He won $200 off his fellow drivers to go along with the trophy.

"By the finish, it looked like he did great," Hamlin said.

Logano shook off a pit stop fender bender early that dropped him to 28th to run near the front with veterans such as Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and JGR teammate Hamlin. Logano had few nerves and described his demeanor as his "normal, goofy self," during an extended wait for the green flag because of a three-hour rain delay.

"I never really worried about it too much," he said.

Logano drove the No. 20 Toyota that entered leading the Nationwide Series in owner points and has won seven races in 14 starts this season with Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Tony Stewart behind the wheel.

"He proved he's worth the hype that's been given him," Hamlin said. "It's just going to be a matter of time before that 20 team is back in Victory Lane with the fourth driver."

Edwards, who started on the pole, was second. David Stremme was third and David Reutimann fourth. Clint Bowyer kept his points lead and was ninth.

Logano was eligible to drive once he turned 18 last week, and JGR immediately put him to work. He's scheduled to run about 18 Nationwide races this year and might be positioned to make the move to the Sprint Cup Series if JGR expands to a four-car team as early as next season.

Logano expected better than sixth in his Nationwide debut.

"I'm not going to be happy unless I win," he said.

The Heluva Good! 200 looked like a replay of last September's race on the 1-mile concrete track when Hamlin dominated in that win. He led in the No. 18 Toyota for 131 laps, including the last 95 on the Monster Mile.

He earned his second Nationwide win this season.

"It definitely means a lot to come here in different cars," Hamlin said.

Veteran Mark Martin raved about Logano years ago and stated "he can be one of the greatest that ever raced in NASCAR."

Logano has been on the fast track ever since, winning races at every level and beating some of NASCAR's top developmental drivers along the way. His nickname around the garage is "Sliced Bread," as in, "the greatest thing since ..." Logano said he tries to ignore the hype and just concentrate on winning races.

"Everyone's going to be here for the same reason," Logano said.

No one has won more this season than Busch, who has dominated in Nationwide, Craftsman Trucks and is the points leader in the Sprint Cup Series. But he was knocked out in a late-race collision with Braun Racing teammate Jason Leffler. Leffler got loose in the No. 38 Toyota and blindsided Busch from behind. Both drivers were fighting for top-10 finishes, but they spun and smacked into the wall and their race was over.

"I just have a teammate that can't stand to be No. 2," Busch said. "I don't know what Leffler was thinking there."

Leffler apologized for the accident and for owner Todd Braun now needing repairs on two cars.

Dario Franchitti finished 15th in his first race since breaking his left ankle in a race last month. He'll return to the Cup series next week at Pocono Raceway.


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Truex looks to rediscover winning ways at Dover

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Martin Truex Jr. remembered it all. Every minor race, all the hard work tinkering with cars, even the failures were on his mind as drove toward the finish line with the lead.

Truex spent a lifetime imagining the feeling of winning a Cup race. Now, he was about to live it for real at Dover.
"It's a sweet feeling, man," Truex said.

One year after his first career Cup victory, Truex still thinks often about how much it meant to take the checkered flag so close to his hometown. Right now, the enthusiasm of recalling the win is tempered by a cruel reality for the DEI driver now that he's back this weekend at Dover International Speedway.

"It's been a long year since," Truex said on Saturday. "We need to get back into Victory Lane."

Truex has failed to build on last season when he earned a spot in the Chase and appeared on the brink of becoming one of the next elite drivers. Truex, of nearby Mayetta, N.J., has slumped this season with only three top 10s and holds 15th place in the Sprint Cup Series points standings. He's 163 points out of 12th, the cutoff for the Chase, and knows he needs to get the No. 1 Chevrolet going strong soon to turn the season around.

Career victory No. 1 is stuck as his only Cup win.

"I feel like we should be" in the Chase, Truex said. "We're good enough to be right now."

The results tell a different story. He finished 34th last week at Charlotte after a multi-car wreck knocked him out. Truex had two other finishes in the 30s in the previous five races, with a blown engine in Texas and another late-race accident at Talladega spoiling what had been solid runs.

"My luck is terrible," he said. "Every time we run good, something bad happens. We had a shot at winning a couple of races last year and things would happen. It's hard to be the leader at the end of 500 miles."

Truex qualified 20th for Sunday's 400-mile race at Dover and hopes the mile-long concrete track can spark his season: He also has two Nationwide Series wins here and another top 10 in the Cup Series.

There must be something about the concrete that suits his driving style.

"It seems like one of those places where it changes a lot throughout the weekend and we always hit on something that works for us," Truex said.

Last year's victory at Dover propelled him into the Chase. He finished third the next week at Pocono Raceway, then second at Michigan. He had eight more top-10 finishes and placed a career best 11th in the final standings.

He hoped to keep that success rolling this year as the No. 1 driver at Dale Earnhardt Inc. Truex assumed the role when Dale Earnhardt Jr. defected for Hendrick Motorsports, leaving a prime spot open to position himself as the face of the organization.

"It's been different without Dale Junior, but things have really not changed that much," he said. "I don't feel like I took over his spot or I'm in a special position now. I don't think I'm anything special there."

Truex is DEI teammates with veteran Mark Martin, who believes a break or two can give him some momentum.

"I think if you haven't seen that Martin has been fast everywhere this year, you haven't been looking," Truex said.

Truex said he's happy at DEI and wants to stay with the team long term. The company exercised an option on his contract for 2009 that took him off the free-agent market and Truex said Saturday they're working on an extension.

DEI didn't want to let its promising driver get away. Truex wants to make sure many more shots at another win don't slip away over the next few races, especially if he expects to make the Chase.

"It's really tough, really hard to deal with mentally," he said. "It's hard to think about all those points that go away that you could have had."


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Jeff Gordon’s DuPont deal extended

Busch wins fourth Cup race at Dover

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- As is the case at most NASCAR tracks, Kyle Busch heard the boos at Dover International Speedway.

The driver NASCAR fans love to hate no doubt had them even more exasperated when he arrived in Victory Lane -- again.
Jeers and victories, they're pretty much routine for the tempestuous Busch these days.

"I just want to win everything, man," the series points leader said. "That's all I'm here for."

Busch was simply sensational again, dominating the second half of the 400-mile race Sunday and charging to his Sprint Cup series-best fourth win of the season.

"We were able to get to the right place at the right time when it mattered most," Busch said.

Busch made it 10 victories total this season, including two in the Craftsman Truck Series and four in the Nationwide Series. He won for the third time in the last five Cup races.

And when the Joe Gibbs Racing driver doesn't find himself taking the checkered flag at the end of a Cup race, he's pretty close: Busch earned his fifth straight top-three finish and hasn't finished outside of the top 10 in any of the last seven races.

"I've found something that's worked for me recently," said Busch, rattling off his list of successes.

Team owner Joe Gibbs was in the middle of the celebration on pit road while Busch took a bow from his No. 18 Toyota and saluted his crew.

Busch increased his points lead from 94 to 142 over second-place Jeff Burton after a race where the standings underwent a shake up because an early race wreck took out several contenders.

Busch heard the familiar boos during pre-race introductions, which have cemented his status as NASCAR's least-popular driver. He has some fun in the role and seems to have accepted the fact he's NASCAR's latest "Bad Boy."

"I want to thank all the fans even if they're not Kyle Busch fans," he said.

Gibbs, though, thought Busch had been humbled since making the move from Hendrick Motorsports. The Redskins coach and NASCAR owner talked about Busch spending time recently with underprivileged kids at a theme park and trying to be a positive role model.

"I thought that was an awesome day where these little guys were following him around," Gibbs said.

Gibbs sure didn't paint the picture of Busch as a villain.

Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle were second and third in the Best Buy 400. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five.

"No good," said Edwards, who won the race here in September. "Not what we came here to do.

Busch gave all the credit to his pit crew, winning with what he called a third-place car.

"I think Kyle's being modest," Edwards said. "I think that last run, his car was the best car."

Busch, Biffle and Edwards were lucky to be out front early and miss the 10-car wreck early in the race that wiped out five of the top-eight in the points standings. Elliott Sadler was turned into the wall and his No. 19 Dodge was smashed into by Tony Stewart's No. 20 car, triggering a massive pile up that put several cars in the garage and ended all hope of contention.

Danny Hamlin was knocked out of the race, and Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer all returned later with their cars either missing a hood, a fender or running 100-plus laps behind. But they didn't want to quit and give up a shot at earning needed points, even if all the best drivers could do was run slow and try and stay out of the way of the leaders.

Kasey Kahne also had his car damaged in the accident and finished 31st after winning last week.

Hamlin suffered the most in the standings, dropping from fourth to ninth. Boyer, Harvick and Stewart all fell three spots. Biffle rocketed from 11th -- one spot away from the Chase cutoff -- to fifth in the standings.

Stewart took the blame for running too close to Sadler. Stewart lost his chance at victory last week at Charlotte after the No. 20 Toyota got a flat tire with three laps left.

"Unfortunately, adversity is our motto here at Joe Gibbs Racing," Stewart said.

Well, unless you're on Kyle Busch's team.

Biffle, the pole sitter, led 99 of the first 100 laps and was cruising on the concrete until his car had some issues that quickly dropped him off the pace. Busch didn't take the lead for the first time until the 150th lap on the 1-mile concrete track. He led 158 laps.

"In the end, he got his car right and was able to drive off," Biffle said.

Busch even got his race helmet back after a fan sneaked in the garage area Friday night and tried to steal the piece of equipment. Someone saw the act, security caught the man and returned the helmet to Busch.

"It's not a lucky helmet or any of that," Busch said.

Gibbs interjected. "On second thought, it might be a lucky helmet," he said, laughing.


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Jeff Gordon's DuPont deal extended

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports agreed to two-year contract extension with Dupont on Thursday that keeps the four-time Cup champion with the only primary sponsor he's had through 2010.

The extension keeps together the long-time active driver/owner/sponsor combination in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series.
"I started my career with DuPont and I hope to end my career with them as my primary sponsor," Gordon said.

DuPont teamed up with Gordon and Hendrick for the final race of the 1992 season with the newly formed No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports race team and have since competed in every NASCAR Cup Series race.

Gordon is a four-time Cup champion and has 81 career victories and 65 poles.

He toured DuPont's global headquarters Thursday in Wilmington, Del., and visited with workers during their annual employee appreciation day. Gordon will drive Sunday in the Cup race at nearby Dover International Speedway.

"We come out here before the spring Dover race each year and spend time with the people who lend their support and make our success possible," Gordon said. "And it was special to be able to announce to the many loyal DuPont employees that we're all going to remain a part of the same team for several more years."


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