Tony Stewart Conquers the Brickyard
Written by John Davison · August 7, 2005
Tony Stewart fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard NASCAR NEXTEL Cup stock car race. In front of his hometown crowd, Stewart, already a winner on short tracks, superspeedway and road course this year, capped an emotional day for crew chief Greg Zippadelli with a $50,000 bonus. While Stewart took a victory lap and turned around, his crew climbed most of the way up the fence at Start/Finish in celebration.
The winner of four of the last six NASCAR races made a complete reverse lap of the historic old track ebfore stopping in front of a suite where many of his friends watched the race. He stopped his No. 20 Chevrolet, got out, clambered on top of the SAFER barrier and took a drink from a friend before getting back in the car and driving to the Start/Finish line where his crew and a mob of media awaited.
Stewart gave several interviews after the race prone on the SAFER barrier under the flag stand, too exhausted and aching to celebrate fully. “I’m dying right now. Too tired to chase fences. Give me five minutes, I’ll be ready,” laughed Stewart in a post-race TV interview.
“I wish I could put it into words,” said the race winner when asked what the race means to him.
Stewart led 44 of the 160 laps, just ahead of second finisher Kasey Kahne’s 39 laps. Elliott Sadler, starting from the pole, also led 39 laps but faded late in the race before finishing as the first car one lap down in 32nd place.
Dale Earnhardt Jr suffered a crash only 60 laps into the race and ended the race parked in the garage along with Martin Truex. Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte, Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte all were not running at the finish, with Johnson slamming the wall in Turn Four before his car slid to a stop in his pit stall. Johnson was taken to a local hospital for observation after the impact but gave interviews before leaving the track.
Stewart’s win and Johnson’s misfortunes left Sunday’s race winner 75 points up on Johnson in championship standings.
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, Pts/Bonus, Status
1, 22, Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet, 160, 190/10, Running
2, 4, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 160, 175/5, Running
3, 5, Brian Vickers, No. 25 Garnier Fructis Chevrolet, 160, 170/5, Running
4, 2, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 160, 160/0, Running
5, 20, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford, 160, 160/5, Running
6, 40, Casey Mears, No. 41 Target Dodge, 160, 155/5, Running
7, 10, Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford, 160, 146/0, Running
8, 7, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 160, 142/0, Running
9, 8, Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, 160, 138/0, Running
10, 16, Kyle Busch *, No. 5 Kellogg’s/Delphi Chevrolet, 160, 134/0, Running
11, 12, Mike Bliss, No. 0 NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet, 160, 130/0, Running
12, 38, Carl Edwards, No. 99 AAA Ford, 160, 127/0, Running
13, 28, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Georgia-Pacific/Marsh Stores Dodge, 160, 129/5, Running
14, 24, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, 160, 121/0, Running
15, 15, Jeff Green, No. 43 Boxtops for Education/Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, 160, 118/0, Running
16, 3, Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 160, 115/0, Running
17, 23, Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Texaco Havoline Dodge, 160, 112/0, Running
18, 37, Kurt Busch, No. 97 Crown Royal Ford, 160, 109/0, Running
19, 14, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 160, 106/0, Running
20, 29, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 160, 103/0, Running
21, 31, Greg Biffle, No. 16 National Guard Ford, 160, 100/0, Running
22, 11, Ken Schrader, No. 49 Red Baron Frozen Pizza Dodge, 160, 97/0, Running
23, 33, Bill Elliott, No. 91 Stanley Tools Dodge, 160, 94/0, Running
24, 13, Robby Gordon, No. 7 Fruit of the Loom Chevrolet, 160, 96/5, Running
25, 41, Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 160, 88/0, Running
26, 26, Scott Wimmer, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 160, 90/5, Running
27, 35, Bobby Hamilton, No. 04 BHR Dodge Dodge, 160, 82/0, Running
28, 19, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 160, 79/0, Running
29, 34, Mike Skinner, No. 23 History Channel AutoManiac Dodge, 160, 76/0, Running
30, 30, Dave Blaney, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet, 160, 73/0, Running
31, 32, Boris Said, No. 36 CENTRIX Financial Chevrolet, 160, 70/0, Running
32, 1, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 159, 72/5, Running
33, 18, Jason Leffler, No. 11 FedEx Express Chevrolet, 159, 64/0, Running
34, 6, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 158, 61/0, Running
35, 21, Scott Riggs, No. 10 Checkers/Rally’s Chevrolet, 152, 58/0, Running
36, 43, Terry Labonte, No. 44 ditech.com Chevrolet, 151, 60/5, Out of Race
37, 39, Travis Kvapil *, No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Engines Dodge, 146, 52/0, Running
38, 42, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 144, 49/0, Out of Race
39, 25, Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, 119, 46/0, Running
40, 36, Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 116, 43/0, Out of Race
41, 9, Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Ford, 73, 40/0, Out of Race
42, 17, Martin Truex Jr., No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Chevrolet, 62, 37/0, Out of Race
43, 27, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 62, 34/0, Out of Race
*: Rookie
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7 Responses to “Tony Stewart Conquers the Brickyard”
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Awesome race — Tony did great. I’m not sure if Stewart was blocking Kahne at the end or if he was breaking the draft. I think he was breaking the draft because Kahne was following him on the straights. It’s great to see races won by driving stategy rather equipment.
As for the move down from the outside wall, it is a tatic I have watched the teams use the last 13 years in INDY 500 practice and qualifing because they have proven the cars run faster down away from the wall on the straights. My guess is that Tony reverted back to this in a effort to get the most out of his car as possible. Im not a fan of tony in anyway but it has been great to see him lose his nasty attitude and act like an adult this year.
I think it’s great to watch a guy win a race he really cherishes. You could tell how truly happy Tony was. In the end that’s what it should all be about…billion dollar corporate sponsorships aside.
I think Tony had great equipment all day. But I think it came down to who wanted it the most — and Tony definetly wanted it the most.
Being a huge Tony fan it was awesome to see him finally win at the Brickyard but it was dang SWEET to hear the crowd chanting is name afterwards. His new attitude this year i think has gained him a ton of new fans.
I’M ENJOYING WATCHING TONY THIS YEAR. I HAVE BEEN A RUSTY FAN @ HAD NO IDEA WHO I WOULD ROOT FOR NEXT YEAR. AFTER THE PEPSI I KNEW WHO IT WOULD BE. WELL I NOW ROOT FOR BOTH. I WISH TONY THE BEST OF LUCK THIS YEAR.
I thing Tony turned the page this season on how he is regarded by fans. . .much like Earnhart, Waltrip, and Wallace did at certain points in their respective careers.
I still waiting for the Jr. fans to start showing Gordon some respect, but that’s another story.