Race report

NASCAR Cup

Off night for Stewart in Atlanta

Published: Sep 3, 2012, 9:17 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Tony Stewart’s outlook Sunday night heading into the AdvoCare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was positive. Stewart, the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), started from the pole. And with three wins at the 1.54-mile oval, Atlanta historically had been a very good track for Stewart.

The start of the 325-lap race began well for three-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Stewart. After battling with series point leader Greg Biffle for the lead, Stewart took hold of first place on lap two and held it for the next eight circuits before surrendering the lead to Jeff Gordon.

Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

But Stewart began to drop back, and back and back. The handling of his Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy would not let him power through the corners like the rest of his counterparts. No matter what changes crew chief Steve Addington made to aid the car’s handling, little progress was made. When the checkered flag mercifully dropped, Stewart finished 22nd, one lap down.

“We just couldn’t get the handle on this thing tonight,” said Stewart, who won in March 2004, October 2006 and September 2010 at Atlanta. “We needed more side bite in the corners, and I was just too free. We chased it all night. We’ll go back to the shop, tear it apart and see what the deal is.”

Enduring a worse night was Stewart’s SHR teammate, Ryan Newman, who finished 35th. Newman, the driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army Medicine Chevrolet, was caught in a crash on lap 270, ending his night and putting a wild-card spot for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup further from his reach. Only one race remains before the Chase begins Sept. 16 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

SHR driver Danica Patrick, who is driving the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing via a collaborative agreement with SHR, finished 29th in her continuing Sprint Cup education. Atlanta marked Patrick’s fifth career Sprint Cup start and her first at Atlanta.

Denny Hamlin won the AdvoCare 500 to score his 21st career Sprint Cup victory, his series-leading fourth of the season and his first at Atlanta. It was Hamlin’s second consecutive victory, as he won last weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Gordon finished .378 of a second behind Hamlin in the runner-up spot, while Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 31 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish the 327-lap race, which was extended two laps beyond its scheduled distance by a green-white-checkered finish.

With round 25 of 36 complete, Stewart continues to lead the SHR duo in the championship point standings. He remained 10th and has 769 points, 110 back of Biffle and 18 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne. Newman fell two positions to 17th and has 697 points, 182 behind Biffle and 72 behind 10th-place Stewart.

Only the top-10 in points are locked into the 12-driver, 10-race Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11th and 20th in points with the most wins. In the event of multiple drivers having the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

Kahne holds the 11th-place wild-card spot thanks to his two victories, the most of any driver outside the top-10. Busch remained in the 12th-place wild-card spot by virtue of his victory April 28 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, combined with his 12th position in the point standings, which is higher than his fellow single-race winners in the top-20 in points – Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, Newman and Joey Logano.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday, Sept. 8 in the series’ return to Richmond.

Source: Stewart-Haas Racing

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Patrick’s learning curve continues at Atlanta 500

Next article Misfortune gets the better of Newman in Atlanta

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027

The lowdown on this year’s FIA F3 title protagonists

FIA F3

The lowdown on this year’s FIA F3 title protagonists

Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

2 h

Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26

The Kimi Antonelli you don't know: Inside the Mercedes garage with F1's new world champion

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

3 h

The Kimi Antonelli you don't know: Inside the Mercedes garage with F1's new world champion

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts