Tony Stewart still needs help to catch NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson, but he jump-started his climb back into contention for the series championship Sunday at Auto Club Speedway.
Stewart beat resilient Clint Bowyer to the finish line by .466 seconds In Sunday’s Pepsi Max 400 to win his first race at the 2-mile track, his second of the year and the 39th of his career.
In sharp contrast to Stewart’s win, which left him 107 points behind third-place finisher and Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, a handful of Chase drivers took big hits in the championship battle.
Down for the count are Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle, both of whom suffered blown engines. An ignition rotor failure KO’d Carl Edwards, and a late-race wreck with David Ragan all but dashed Kurt Busch’s chances for a second title.
Johnson, on the other hand, leaves his home track 36 points ahead of second-place Denny Hamlin, who came home eighth Sunday. With the Chase field spreading out four races into the series’ postseason, only Hamlin, Kevin Harvick (54 points back) and Jeff Gordon (85 back) are within 100 points of the four-time defending champion with six races left.
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Tony Stewart Edges Clint Bowyer to Win Pepsi Max 400 NASCAR Cup Race at Fontana
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Pepsi Max 400 at Auto Club Speedway - Race Results
Interview With Fontana NASCAR Cup Race Winner - Tony Stewart
RANK DRIVER POINTS BEHIND 1 Jimmie Johnson 5673 Leader 2 Denny Hamlin 5637 -36 3 Kevin Harvick 5619 -54 4 Jeff Gordon 5588 -85 5 Tony Stewart 5566 -107 6 Kurt Busch 5533 -140 7 Carl Edwards 5511 -162 8 Jeff Burton 5496 -177 9 Kyle Busch 5486 -187 10 Greg Biffle 5458 -215 11 Matt Kenseth 5432 -241 12 Clint Bowyer 5426 -247 13 Ryan Newman 3656 -2017 14 Jamie McMurray 3596 -2077 15 Mark Martin 3506 -2167 16 Juan Montoya 3455 -2218 17 David Reutimann 3382 -2291 18 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3379 -2294 19 Kasey Kahne 3349 -2324 20 Joey Logano 3348 -2325 21 A.J. Allmendinger 3326 -2347 22 Martin Truex Jr. 3265 -2408 23 Paul Menard 3116 -2557 24 David Ragan 2920 -2753 25 Brad Keselowski 2905 -2768 26 Marcos Ambrose 2866 -2807 27 Sam Hornish Jr. 2693 -2980 28 Elliott Sadler 2692 -2981 29 Scott Speed 2668 -3005 30 Regan Smith 2605 -3068 31 Travis Kvapil 2136 -3537 32 Bobby Labonte 2125 -3548 33 David Gilliland 2027 -3646 34 Kevin Conway* 1757 -3916 35 Robby Gordon 1626 -4047 36 Reed Sorenson 1241 -4432 37 Casey Mears 1189 -4484 38 Joe Nemechek 1160 -4513 39 Brian Vickers 1158 -4515 40 Dave Blaney 1113 -4560
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