Back-to-back victories may have spoiled Tony Stewart and his crew just a bit.
Stewart probably would have gladly taken a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500, especially given a sub-par qualifying run that placed him 24th in the field to start. Derek Levarse, TimesLeader.com
Aug 05, 2007
Tony Stewart is NASCAR’s version of former New York Yankees’ slugger Reggie Jackson.
He gets hot when it’s crunch time, taking more checkered flags late in the season in much the same fashion as Jackson used to belt home runs in October.
Stewart, 36, has won 17 races from June through August in his career. Andre D. Williams | Of The Morning Call
Aug 04
As the NASCAR Nextel Cup heads into the critical prelude stage of the Chase for the Championship, Stewart is in the midst of his annual surge.
On the other hand, Johnson, the defending Nextel Cup champion, is on a slide as the series comes to Pocono Raceway for its second visit of the summer for Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500.
By Chuck Givler, PennLive
July 31, 2007
The Hoosier native had the strongest car and provided plenty of comic relief, although his “here, kitty kitty” comment as he was closing in on race leader Kevin Harvick would have been funnier had he been chasing down Dave Blaney in the CAT (Caterpillar) car.
The closing laps provided some of the best drama we’ve seen at in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. When Stewart passed Harvick, his Busch Series boss, it wasn’t cleanly. Unhappy Harvick faded to seventh.
MARSHA HOFFMAN, The Daily Nonpareil
“We felt so good after Chicago breaking the ice,” he said. “We pay attention to history. It seems once we get that first win, they come right after the other.”
Stewart has notched consecutive victories seven times in his career, but the more significant trend is when those checkered flags tend to fall. When the weather gets sweltering, so do the results of the No. 20 Chevrolet.
July 30, 2007
At the end, it was Tony Stewart vs. Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick for the win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with hard-charging Kyle Busch coming up fast right behind, in NASCAR’s second-biggest race.
July 30, 2007
Tony Stewart won the Allstate 400 for the second time, outdueled Kevin Harvick, held off Juan Pablo Montoya and cheerfully assaulted the sensitive ears of America with a word that can’t be said on TV.
Monte Dutton, GastonGazette.com
Sunday, Stewart held off the challenges of NASCAR’s best drivers and won the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard before a pro-Stewart crowd of some 200,000 fans.
Stewart is from Indiana and lives in Indiana and Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been on his mind since he was a kid growing up.
July 30, 2007
Indy always has been hallowed ground for Stewart, who grew up and resides in nearby Columbus, but it’s also been a house of horrors for a two-time Nextel Cup champion with five Indy 500 starts. Parts failures and pit calls have knocked him out of contention, and he nearly was fired for striking a photographer after the 2002 NASCAR race.
He broke through at the Brickyard in 2005 and said he’d enjoy this win, his 31st and second in a row, even more.
July 30, 2007
Looks like the formula’s in place for Tony Stewart and Indianapolis.
As Stewart stamped his name on his second Brickyard 400 title in three years, halfway to Jeff Gordon’s record of four, the aura around the Speedway Sunday felt as if the track was paying homage to the winner of the 14th annual Allstate 400 at the Brickyard…not the other way around. As the No. 20 Home Depot team climbed the fence in unity, Stewart’s face told you all you needed to know about the way in which the Indiana native respects this track – and the utter exhilaration a victory here brings him above any other. Thomas Bowles, FrontStretch.com
July 30, 2007
With sunburned necks and beer on their breath they craned and stretched and chanted his name – Tony Stewart’s orange-clad, blue collar fan base waiting 10 deep near victory lane for a glimpse of their man.
Stewart won the Brickyard 400 again Sunday, and here was the heart of his hard core fans who flooded Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch their irascible, irrepressible hero deliver on the track they all cherish most.
Stewart dedicated his victory to all of them, all the folks in all the stands around the country who find themselves on the receiving end of “all the (expletive)” from the backers of some other more polished, more politically correct driver.
July 30, 2007
“This is what I’ve spent the last 20 years working for - winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This one is for every one of those fans in the stands that pulls for me, and has to put up with all the bull from everybody else,” a jubilant Stewart said after his second straight tour win, this in front of some 270,000 fans according to the track. Not a sellout by any means but the biggest crowd of the season still.
“Our fans are a one-of-a-kind breed, for sure. So this is for them.”
Stewart started 14th but reached fifth position by the 10th lap. He reached the lead on lap 17 and led the most laps (65).
The victory was Stewart’s 31st, leaving him 20th all-time and one shy of Dale Jarrett.
Stewart has won consecutive races for the seventh time in his career. Monte Dutton, GastonGazette
July 30, 2007
The Home Depot Chevrolet driver battled with good friend Kevin Harvick over the final ten laps, but eventually pulled away from the field while Harvick fell to seventh.
“That’s a hard guy to race with, “ Stewart said of Harvick. “He’s a clean guy. He’s one of my best friends and I can’t think of another guy I’d want to race with for the lead. “
July 30, 2007
“We were about the only car that could stay with anybody that was leading the race,’’ Stewart said. “I felt good in the car today. I was confident we could get back what we lost.”
Gaining back what he lost is what Stewart does best when he really needs it.
July 30, 2007
Tony Stewart had a spirited battle with Kevin Harvick today at The Brickyard and bested him in turn two with ten laps to go to post his second win at his historic home-state oval.
Tony’s win in the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard was his second in a row, the 31st of his NEXTEL Cup career (he’s solo in 20th on the all-time win list), and the 57th for Joe Gibbs Racing. Tony wins a mere $488,111 from the paltry $9.5M+ in posted awards.
July 30, 2007
“This one is for everyone in the stands who pull for me and have to take all the bulls—t from everyone else,” a jubilant Stewart said after he led his entire JGR pit crew up – but not all the way to the top of – the fence on the Brickyard frontstretch.
Stewart won’t want to stop his climb to a third championship short like he did his fence climb. And it should be a bare-knuckle brawl from here on out as the two-time series title holder and four-time champ Gordon are clearly in a class by themselves at the moment, which should make for an interesting finish to an already wild season.
July 30, 2007
Although the big story of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was Tony Stewart’s second victory in the Hoosier classic, Juan Pablo Montoya drove a dazzling race of his own to finish second on one of the toughest courses on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit. Granted, Montoya has experience here, winning the Indy 500 in 2000, but his performance was still one of the day’s high points. And his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammate, Reed Sorenson, had a stellar day as well, starting from the pole and finishing fifth.
July 30, 2007
Stewart, whose quest to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway once turned this into a week he dreaded, no longer tortures himself. His first victory two years ago shed his anxiety.
“Today, we’re just happy,” he said.
Not everyone was, including the driver nicknamed “Happy.” Stewart shoved Kevin Harvick out of the lead with 10 laps left, angering his friend. Harvick nursed his damaged car to a seventh-place finish.
Dustin Long, The Roanoke Times
July 30
“The first one was just like taking the weight of the world off your shoulders,” Stewart said after winning Sunday. “We talked about it two years ago. When you grow up 45 miles from here, a period of my life when I was driving a wrecker for a living, I was driving down 16th Street and Georgetown Road, thinking, Man, what would it be like to be 150 yards inside that fence, running 200 miles an hour? Shawn Courchesne, Courant.com
July 30, 2007
“This one is for everyone of those fans in the stands who pull for me and take the bull——for it every week,” Stewart said in his post-race comments on national television that will surely draw a fine and penalty from NASCAR later this week.
Stewart passed Harvick on lap 151 after the duo put on a torrid duel for the lead and eventually then win.
July 30, 2007
Defiant even after dominating a long race and then scaling the catch fence with his crew, Tony Stewart had enough energy Sunday to mention he was dedicating his second Allstate 400 at the Brickyard victory to his fans.
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