Tony Stewart, the two-time Cup champion who is considered one of the world’s best stock-car drivers, remains winless this season. That’s 27 races, including one playoff event, and no checkered flags.
He has led 556 laps, but none after the white flag was waved.
So how can he be within 73 points of winning a third championship? It’s true: Stewart could become the first driver to win the title without winning a race.
He is seventh in the Chase playoff standings and is the only driver among the top nine without a win.
“I don’t even know,” Stewart said when asked to explain his winless season. “I mean, there were five or six that we could have won and had the opportunity and were at least a threat to win at the end.
“The coulda, woulda, shoulda — if we all did that, then there would be about 90 or 100 race winners this year in 27 races. There are always ones that you think got away from you.”
Stewart has 32 career wins, including five apiece in 2005 and 2006 and three last year. Based on his nine top-five finishes, tied for fourth-best, he knows he belongs in this year’s playoff race. He has four second-place results.
“My approach to the Chase is the same way it’s been any other time I’ve been in a point race,” he said. “You go out there, you lead laps, you try to win races and the points take care of themselves. I know that sounds like a simple formula, but the reason we got to this point is by following that theory.
“Every week, we go out and we try to lead laps and we try to win races. That’s what got us here. There’s no reason to change that. Now is not the time to reinvent the wheel.”
CNS adjusts schedule.
The action at Colorado National Speedway on Saturday and the season finale Sept. 27 will begin earlier than it did in past years. Gates will open at 2 p.m., select qualifying will begin at 4 p.m., and the first race will be at 5 p.m.
The championship battle in late models, CNS’s premier division, is between veterans Bruce Yackey of Greeley and Roger Avants of Littleton. Yackey leads by 70 points (918-848) heading into the Sept. 27 Challenge Cup, the traditional season ender.
The division is idle this weekend, although Avants will participate in Saturday’s U.S. Late Models Association feature. That card includes pro trucks, legends, modifieds and figure-8s.
Footnotes.
In the past nine Cup races at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, host of Sunday’s second playoff race, nine different drivers have won. . . . Craftsman Truck Series driver Ron Hornaday Jr. won his fifth race of the season last weekend, and his second in a row. The spotter for Hornaday, who is second in the standings, is Denver native Rick Carelli. The team is owned by Cup driver DeLana Harvick, Kevin’s wife.
