CONCORD, N.C. — Only one race really matters to Tony Stewart, and he’ll be more than 600 miles from it today.
He accepted long ago that his chances of winning the Indianapolis 500 are slim-to-none, but that doesn’t mean he has nothing to race for on Memorial Day weekend.
For Stewart, a win in the Coca-Cola 600 could soften the sting of not racing at Indy.
“It’s a huge weekend in racing, no matter where you’re at,” said Stewart, who starts 31st today. “It’s Memorial Day weekend, it’s the Coca-Cola 600 and this is all the teams’ home track. This is a place you want to win at. This is bragging rights for all of us.”
In nine previous Coca-Cola 600s, Stewart has five top-10s. His best finish was third in 2001, the second and final time he ran “The Double” by racing in Indianapolis — he finished sixth there — then flying back to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for NASCAR’s longest race of the year.
A later start time in Indy makes it impossible for Stewart to attempt the feat again, at least not as long as he’s running for a championship in the Sprint Cup Series. So he has to settle for the 600. He thought he finally had a win here last year when he led 55 laps late but was two laps short of the finish on fuel.
A late pit stop cost him the win when Casey Mears and a handful of others had enough gas in their tanks to race to the checkered flag.
“We should have won it and lost it on fuel mileage,” Stewart said. “I remember being so mad for the whole week because I lost the Coke 600. I didn’t lose it because I got outraced, I lost it on fuel mileage. Just losing it in that fashion was hard to take.”
• Joe Gibbs Racing superstar Kyle Busch drove a Toyota fielded by Braun Racing to victory Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, snapping a six-race winning streak for Gibbs’ cars in the Nationwide Series.
It was Busch’s fourth Nationwide victory this season and eighth overall spanning NASCAR’s top three series. It was also Toyota’s ninth win in 13 Nationwide events this season.
As Busch celebrated his win on the frontstretch with his trademark sarcastic bow to the crowd, the crews for Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski scuffled on pit road over contact the drivers had on the track. NASCAR officials needed several minutes to control the scene.
Rookie wins truck race
MANSFIELD, Ohio — Donny Lia became the first rookie in five years to win a Craftsman Truck Series race, using a last-lap pass to take the Ohio 250.
Lia got by leader David Starr in the second turn of the 250th lap around the half- mile oval. He, Starr and 2006 series champion Todd Bodine ran side-by-side down the backstretch before Lia pulled his Chevrolet ahead to edge Starr by 0.241 seconds.
Lia, NASCAR’s 2007 Whelen Modified Tour champion, became the first rookie to win on the circuit since August 2003, when current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitor Carl Edwards won in Nashville, Tenn.
Massa takes Monaco pole
MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Felipe Massa will start today’s Monaco Grand Prix from the pole position after leading a Ferrari 1-2 finish in qualifying.
The Brazilian, who has won two of the last three Formula One races, gave Ferrari its first pole in Monaco in eight years after setting a best lap time of 1 minute, 15.787 seconds around the famous street circuit.
Kimi Raikkonen will also start on the front row.
Today’s lineups
INDIANAPOLIS 500
(Car numbers in parentheses; r-rookie; all engines Honda)Row 1
1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara, 226.366 mph.
2. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara, 226.110.
3. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara, 226.080.
Row 2 4. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara, 225.733.
5. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara, 225.197.
6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara, 224.794.
Row 3
7. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara, 224.417.
8. (4) Vitor Meira, Dallara, 224.346.
9. (27) r-Hideki Mutoh, Dallara, 223.887.
Row 4
10. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara, 223.835.
11. (12) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara, 223.496.
12. (99) Townsend Bell, Dallara, 222.539.
Row 5
13. (06) r-Graham Rahal, Dallara, 222.531.
14. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara, 222.430.
15. (18) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara, 222.330.
Row 6
16. (02) r-Justin Wilson, Dallara, 222.267.
17. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara, 222.101.
18. (22) Davey Hamilton, Dallara, 222.017.
Row 7
19. (16) r-Alex Lloyd, Dallara, 221.788.
20. (17) r-R. Hunter-Reay, Dallara, 221.579.
21. (24) John Andretti, Dallara, 221.550.
Row 8
22. (67) Sarah Fisher, Dallara, 221.246.
23. (8) r-Will Power, Dallara, 221.136.
24. (41) Jeff Simmons, Dallara, 221.103.
Row 9
25. (5) r-Oriol Servia, Dallara, 220.767.
26. (33) r-E.J. Viso, Dallara, 220.356.
27. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara, 220.305.
Row 10
28. (19) r-Mario Moraes, Dallara, 219.716.
29. (36) r-Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara, 219.422.
30. (34) r-Jaime Camara, Dallara, 219.345.
Row 11
31. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara, 219.184.
32. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara, 219.015.
33. (25) Marty Roth, Dallara, 218.965.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600
(Car number in parentheses)
1. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 185.433 mph.
2. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 185.300.
3. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 185.249.
4. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 184.970.
5. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 184.470.
6. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 184.439.
7. (8) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 184.181.
8. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 184.106.
9. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 183.974.
10. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 183.924.
11. (22) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 183.842.
12. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 183.780.
13. (66) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 183.673.
14. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 183.617.
15. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 183.580.
16. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 183.455.
17. (41) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 183.443.
18. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 183.436.
19. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 183.430.
20. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 183.349.
21. (5) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 183.275.
22. (7) Robby Gordon, Dodge, 183.212.
23. (43) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 183.200.
24. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 183.169.
25. (15) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 183.132.
26. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 183.057.
27. (84) AJ Allmendinger, Toyota, 182.852.
28. (44) David Reutimann, Toyota, 182.729.
29. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 182.692.
30. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 182.168.
31. (20) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 182.113.
32. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 182.020.
33. (33) Ken Schrader, Chevrolet, 181.984.
34. (10) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, 181.867.
35. (96) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 181.726.
36. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 181.714.
37. (01) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 181.702.
38. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 181.531.
39. (07) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 181.482.
40. (00) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 181.464.
41. (28) Travis Kvapil, Ford, owner points.
42. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, owner points.
43. (70) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 181.446.
Failed to qualify
44. (34) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 181.366.
45. (50) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 180.108.
46. (21) Jon Wood, Ford, 180.054.
47. (78) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 179.635.
48. (08) Tony Raines, Dodge, 175.673.
