Tony Stewart once said he would trade all his wins and trophies for just one victory at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Now he has two.
Stewart scored his second victory in three years at the Brickyard in Indianapolis on Sunday, beating buddy Kevin Harvick in a classic duel to the finish. Stewart showed he has mastered the track that caused him a decade of heartache.
“I’ll enjoy this one more than the first one,” he said. “The first one (in 2005) was like taking the weight of the world off your shoulders. When you grow up 45 miles from here, and driving down 16th and Georgetown in a wrecker and thinking ‘Man, what would it feel like to be 150 yards inside that fence running 200 mph?”‘
He made his second victory look downright easy.
Stewart led a race-high 66 of the 160 laps, but was passed by 2003 race winner Harvick on a restart with 20 to go.
The two-time series champion closed onto Harvick’s bumper and made at least two attempts to pass, only to be rebuffed as Harvick held tight. Stewart finally powered alongside of him with 10 to go, but Harvick wouldn’t relent and the two Chevrolets touched as they drag-raced around the historic 2 1/2-mile oval.
Stewart said the contact between the two cars was his mistake.
“Would I, with 10 laps to go, crash somebody just to win the Brickyard? No. It’s not worth it,” Stewart said. “If I would have done it the wrong way, it would have ruined winning.”
The pass completed, Stewart held steady and cruised the final 25 miles. With six to go, his in-car camera caught him casually drinking from a water bottle with no hands on his steering wheel as he headed down the straightaway at more than 200 mph.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished second, his best showing on an oval since leaving Formula One last summer.
Jeff Gordon, the series points leader and four-time Brickyard winner, was third. Harvick faded to seventh after Stewart’s race-winning pass.
Champ Car: Robert Doornbos survived a mishap on the first lap that dropped him into last place, recovering to win the San Jose Grand Prix in San Jose, Calif., and close in on points leader Sebastien Bourdais.
Doornbos, in his first season in the Champ Car series, finished 6.145 seconds ahead of runner-up Neel Jani. Oriol Servia, who led for 42 laps, was third.
Bourdais finished fifth and his lead over Doornbos in the championship race dwindled to 10 points (216-206).
NHRA: John Force earned a victory in funny car at the NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
Greg Anderson earned his 50th pro stock victory. He became the sixth professional and the 10th driver in history to win 50 NHRA races.
Top-fuel ace Tony Schumacher dropped Bob Vandergriff to 0-10 lifetime in final rounds.
Pro stock motorcycle winner Matt Smith padded his series lead with his third victory of the season, beating first-time finalist Eddie Krawiec.
