When the green flag drops for the Capital City 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, it will have been 230 days since the last time the stars of the Sprint Cup Series raced at the .75-mile oval in eastern Virginia.
And what a 230 days it has been for Tony Stewart, diver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).
Entering the Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond on Sept. 10, 2011, there was a legitimate question as to whether Stewart would make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as only the top-10 drivers in points, as well as two additional drivers between 11th and 20th in points who had the most wins, would be eligible to compete for the championship.
Stewart was 10th in points with a 23-point cushion over 11th-place Brad Keselowski, and had the ability to lock himself into the Chase by simply finishing 18th or better. However, a surging Keselowski – who in the last five races leading into the Chase cutoff race at Richmond had scored two wins and notched other finishes of second, third and sixth to climb from 21st to 11th in points – was a threat to bounce Stewart out of Chase contention.
A seventh-place result in the 400-lap event put Stewart in the Chase, but he was about as much of a favorite to win the title as Cale Yarborough, who last competed in the Sprint Cup Series in 1988. Stewart hadn’t won a race all season and despite being a two-time champion, was almost an afterthought as the 10-race Chase began.
Then something strange happened.
Stewart won the first two races of the Chase at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. Three more wins at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway gave Stewart an unlikely third title after an incredible battle with runner-up Carl Edwards.
Two wins in 2012 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., means Stewart has won seven of the 18 races conducted since the checkered flag flew last September at Richmond. He’s also won his fair share of open-wheel races around the country, including the Rumble in Fort Wayne (Ind.) on Dec. 31 at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center, the All-Star Circuit of Champions 410 Winged Sprint Car race on Feb. 11 at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., and a 25-lap feature in the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) Midwest Region event last Saturday night at Eagle Raceway in Bennington, Neb.
Stewart was honored as the 2011 “Driver of the Year” by more publications and organizations than anyone cares to count, including yet another “Driver of the Year” award which will be presented to him next week at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.
Before that ceremony, however, Stewart will return to the Commonwealth in hopes of scoring his fourth Sprint Cup victory at Richmond.
In addition to his wins in September 1999, May 2001 and May 2002, Stewart has nine top-fives and 17 top-10s to give him an average finish of 10.9 in 26 career Sprint Cup starts. He has also led a total of 817 laps with a lap completion rate of 98.3 percent. And outside of Sprint Cup, Stewart has two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins at Richmond.
After that September night in Richmond last year, things began escalating quickly for Stewart, and he’s hoping the trend continues with another victory at the track he considers his favorite.
TSC
- Dover Weekend Schedule - April 21, 2024
- Kaulig Racing Race Recap | Ag-Pro 300 - April 20, 2024
- Odd Tony Stewart Talladega Post Race Q&A - May 7, 2012