Tony “Smoke” Stewart Wins at Atlanta | Pole sitter goes up in smoke

Hampton, GA (Sept 5) — Tony Stewart driving the number 14 Chevrolet made it look easy leading 176 of the 325 laps to win his first race of the season.  Carl Edwards in the number 99 Ford failed to win his first season victory losing to Tony by 1.316 seconds.  His response after the race, “Tony had such a fast car at the end.”

Tony gained more points in the last 12 races than anyone else did.  He clinched a spot in the Chase.  Tony gave lots of credit to his pit crew getting him out of the pits fast but he said “I struggled on restarts all night, “I was trying to get the grip on the restart I needed, “I’ve never been so happy with a win in my life” said Tony.”

Jimmie Johnson driving the number 48 Chevrolet finished third  not having the perfect season he would like,  but going into the chase he will be the one to watch with his eye on a fifth straight Sprint Cup Championship.

Jeff Burton finished fourth driving the number 31 Chevrolet.  Kyle Busch in the number 18 Toyota rounded out the fifth spot getting back on the lead lap after being almost two laps down following a drive through penalty.  Both Jeff and Kyle have clinched a spot in the chase.

Denny Hamlin, the pole sitter with a strong up front run,  leading 74 laps, blew his engine sending his number 11 Toyota up in smoke and  to the garage.  Out of 43 drivers, Denny finished last. 

Tony Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman in the number 39 US Army Reserve Chevrolet, finished eighth in the race and 13^th in the points standings.  He lost two spots in the final three laps during contact with Kasey Kahne’s number 9 Ford.  Mathematically Ryan has a chance for a spot in the chase.  Clint Boyer finishing 6^th holding the 12^th position in the points standing.  Next Sprint cup race will be at Richmond international Speedway Saturday September 11.  This will be the last race before the beginning of the 10 races for the chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

Brenda Hyatt – WorldNewsVine, Las Vegas

Posted by bhyatt on September 6, 2010. Filed under Breaking News,NASCAR,National News,News and Opinions by Brenda Hyatt,Sports,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.