Tony Stewart has already accomplished the unthinkable in going 2-for-2 to open the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, winning at both Chicagoland Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
In capturing his first two victories of 2011 in such a fashion, Stewart became only the second driver to start the Chase with two consecutive wins. The first was in 2008 by Greg Biffle, who went on to finish third in that season’s championship points.
Now, can he do the seemingly impossible? For one, he’d be the first to open the Chase with three consecutive wins. Two, it’d be the first time in his career he has ever won three straight. Three, you have to go all the way back to the 2007 Chase for the last time anyone won three straight in the Chase (Jimmie Johnson won four consecutive Chase races that season). And four, he’d have to win at Dover, something that hasn’t happened for Stewart in more than a decade.
Stewart enjoys-loathes a love-hate relationship with Dover. His career at the one-mile concrete oval, a series of peaks and valleys, includes two victories – but none since his Dover sweep of 2000.
There has been the good – that 2000 sweep at Dover, the only track sweep in his illustrious career. There has been the bad – a Driver Rating of 71.4, making Dover his worst track (by a good bit) in terms of the Loop Data statistic. Driver Rating includes all Dover races since 2005, a span of 13 events. His second-worst track in terms of Driver Rating is Charlotte Motor Speedway (82.2).
And there has been the bizarre – the Dover race in June of 2006, when he opted to hop out of the car after he injured his shoulder a week earlier. Ricky Rudd relieved Stewart after 38 laps, finishing the race in what was then Stewart’s No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet.
Stewart’s cushion going into Sunday’s race is a small one – seven points ahead of Kevin Harvick. The last time Stewart led the points during the Chase: In 2005, when he won his second NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
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