Stewart Wins Infineon, Biffle Takes Point Lead
Written by John Davison · June 26, 2005
Who needs a “Road Course Ringer?” Obviously, not Joe Gibbs Racing and NASCAR Nextel Cup. Tony Stewart proved that even a refugee from dirt open-wheelers can pick up the (totally different) skill set for road courses, executing a textbook late-brake crossover and dive inside move on leader Ricky Rudd, then went on to hold the lead until the checkered flag.
Stewart now has won four of the last nine NASCAR NEXTEL Cup road course races and led the most laps in Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350. Ricky Rudd placed second with Kurt Busch, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett in the top five finishing slots. The top finishing road racing ringer was Ron Fellows, who placed eighth, just ahead of Ryan Newman and Brian Simo, another road race expert. Boris Said, in the No. 36 Chevrolet, was only able to muster a 17th place finish.
Dale Earnhardt Jr continued his slide in the point standings, falling a slot to 18th after he spun on the third lap, smashed the rear of the car and spent several laps in the pits with the car being repaired. He wound up finishing only 42nd, finishing 22 laps back of the leaders. Only one car fell out of the race, Tom Hubert’s No. 99 Ford, after 33 laps completed.
Pole winning Jeff Gordon finished 33rd after suffering early race transmission woes that were echoed by several other drivers, including eventual winner Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson lost the point lead to Greg Biffle after Johnson finished one lap down in 36th and Biffle finished 14th, on the lead lap.
Unofficial Finish, Dodge/Save Mart 350:
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, Pts/Bonus, Status
1, 7, Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet, 110 laps, 190/10 pts, Running
2, 20, Ricky Rudd, No. 21 U.S. Air Force/Motorcraft Ford, 110, 175/5, Running
3, 6, Kurt Busch, No. 97 Crown Royal Ford, 110, 165/0, Running
4, 14, Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Snap-On 85th Anniversary/Miller Lite Dodge, 110, 165/5, Running
5, 30, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS/Herbie: Fully Loaded Ford, 110, 155/0, Running
6, 42, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 110, 150/0, Running
7, 32, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 110, 146/0, Running
8, 43, Ron Fellows, No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, 110, 142/0, Running
9, 11, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 110, 138/0, Running
10, 22, Brian Simo, No. 33 Korbel California Champagnes Chevrolet, 110, 134/0, Running
11, 24, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford, 110, 130/0, Running
12, 8, Terry Labonte, No. 11 FedEx Freight Chevrolet, 110, 127/0, Running
13, 17, Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline “Shine On” Dodge, 110, 124/0, Running
14, 41, Greg Biffle, No. 16 Post-it/National Guard Ford, 110, 126/5, Running
15, 3, Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford, 110, 118/0, Running
16, 5, Robby Gordon, No. 7 Harrah’s Chevrolet, 110, 115/0, Running
17, 4, Boris Said, No. 136 CENTRIX Financial Chevrolet, 110, 112/0, Running
18, 33, Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 110, 109/0, Running
19, 29, Dave Blaney, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet, 110, 106/0, Running
20, 36, Casey Mears, No. 41 Target Dodge, 110, 103/0, Running
21, 39, Travis Kvapil *, No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Engines Dodge, 110, 100/0, Running
22, 34, Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 110, 97/0, Running
23, 12, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 110, 94/0, Running
24, 16, Scott Riggs, No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet, 110, 91/0, Running
25, 27, Scott Wimmer, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 110, 88/0, Running
26, 37, Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, 110, 85/0, Running
27, 25, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Brawny/Georgia-Pacific Dodge, 110, 87/5, Running
28, 28, Chris Cook, No. 87 christinemariemotorsports.com Chevrolet, 110, 79/0, Running
29, 38, Jeff Green, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, 110, 76/0, Running
30, 15, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 110, 73/0, Running
31, 9, Scott Pruett, No. 39 Texaco/Havoline “Shine On” Dodge, 110, 70/0, Running
32, 43, P.J. Jones, No. 4 Lucas Oil Products Chevrolet, 110, 67/0, Running
33, 1, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 110, 69/5, Running
34, 18, Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC/ditech.com Chevrolet, 110, 61/0, Running
35, 19, Ken Schrader, No. 49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, 109, 58/0, Running
36, 2, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 109, 55/0, Running
37, 21, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 109, 52/0, Running
38, 23, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Office Depot Ford, 107, 49/0, Running
39, 31, Mike Bliss, No. 0 NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet, 102, 46/0, Running
40, 13, Kyle Busch *, No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, 97, 43/0, Running
41, 26, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 92, 40/0, Running
42, 10, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 88, 37/0, Running
43, 35, Tom Hubert, No. 99 Office Depot Ford, 33, 34/0, Out of Race
*: Rookie
Unofficial NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Point Standings:
Rank +/- Driver Points Behind Starts Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10
1 +1 Greg Biffle 2250 Leader 16 0 5 6 10
2 -1 Jimmie Johnson 2228 -22 16 0 2 7 11
3 – Elliott Sadler 2073 -177 16 1 0 1 9
4 +2 Tony Stewart 2052 -198 16 0 1 5 8
5 – Mark Martin 2022 -228 16 0 0 5 8
6 +2 Rusty Wallace 2013 -237 16 0 0 3 8
7 – Ryan Newman 1994 -256 16 5 0 4 8
8 +1 Kurt Busch 1978 -272 16 0 1 5 8
9 -5 Carl Edwards 1963 -287 16 0 2 5 7
10 +1 Jamie McMurray 1923 -327 16 0 0 3 6
11 +2 Jeremy Mayfield 1902 -348 16 0 0 2 3
12 +3 Dale Jarrett 1870 -380 16 1 0 2 4
13 -3 Kevin Harvick 1855 -395 16 1 1 3 5
14 -2 Jeff Gordon 1836 -414 16 2 3 5 6
15 -1 Michael Waltrip 1827 -423 16 1 0 3 7
16 – Jeff Burton 1761 -489 16 0 0 1 2
17 +2 Joe Nemechek 1722 -528 16 0 0 1 4
18 -1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1707 -543 16 0 0 3 5
19 -1 Kyle Busch* 1695 -555 16 1 0 4 6
20 +1 Matt Kenseth 1652 -598 16 0 0 1 3
21 -1 Kasey Kahne 1640 -610 16 2 1 4 4
22 +1 Scott Riggs 1547 -703 16 1 0 1 3
23 -1 Brian Vickers 1545 -705 16 0 0 2 4
24 – Sterling Marlin 1524 -726 16 0 0 1 3
25 – Casey Mears 1511 -739 16 0 0 1 2
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.