Gamble pays off for Stewart in NCTS victory

RICHMOND, Va. -- Tony Stewart has always prided himself on being able to race just about anything -- and he proved that again Thursday night by winning the Virginia is for Lovers 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond International Raceway.

	Tony Stewart celebrates his frist NCTS victory. Credit: Nate Mecha

Starting 25th in the No. 33 Chevrolet Truck owned by Andy Petree Racing, Stewart went without a pit stop for the final 104 laps of the 200-lap race and held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick in the closing laps for the victory.

This was Stewart's second career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start. His first came in 1996 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

The battle's final act was the result of a five-lap shootout after Adam Clarke spun in the No. 45 Dodge to bring out a caution. Harvick, who was on fresher tires than Stewart, was running fourth and tried to chase down Stewart.

It was to no avail as Stewart's gamble paid off and he took the win from Harvick, who had been leading before the lap 168 caution. After pulling into Victory Lane, Stewart jumped up on the bed of the truck and into the arms of his crew.

VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS 200  •  Results  •  Standings

"I feel great," Stewart said. "I told the guys I always wanted to get on the back of this truck and see what Mike Bliss thought was so cool about dancing on there. So, I decided to get up on there in Victory Lane

"The decision to stay out was all Jimmy Elledge (Stewart's crew chief, and the crew chief for the No. 55 Chevy Winston Cup car for APR). He was thinking about that the whole time. We had a really bad pit stop the first time and got blocked.

"We just kept getting bad track position and kept having to try and fight back," Stewart continued. "We knew we had a good truck, it was just a matter of getting that track position and we could have made it the rest of the way."

HAMILTON HOSPITALIZED AFTER ACCIDENT  RICHMOND, Va. -- Bobby Hamilton was hospitalized Thursday for injuries suffered in a multi-car accident on the last lap of the Virginia is for Lovers 200 at Richmond International Raceway.  The accident occurred in Turn 1 and continued through the exit of Turn 2. Hamilton was struck several times and was complaining of pain in his right shoulder, left collarbone and left wrist at the infield care center.  Hamilton was taken to nearby Memorial Regional Medical Center for precautionary measures and X-rays. No other drivers were injured in the accident.  •  --Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive

This was Stewart's fourth victory at RIR, with the other three coming in his No. 20 Pontiac in the Winston Cup Series.

Harvick, another Winston Cup regular, felt he had the truck to take the victory. After taking the lead from Rick Crawford on lap 144, Harvick opened up a commanding lead before pitting 24 laps later.

"I'm just a little disappointed," Harvick said. "That's twice in a row we've come really close to winning a truck race here at Richmond. That's the reason I built the truck team was to win. It's just frustrating to finish second as many times as we have.

"My hat is off to Tony Stewart and we came close," Harvick continued. "We had fresher tires, we just had a tough time getting by the No. 16 (Bliss) and No. 75 (David Starr)"

Finishing behind Harvick was NCTS point leader Mike Bliss with Rick Crawford, Terry Cook, Coy Gibbs, Ted Musgrave, Stacy Compton, Bobby Dotter and Ken Schrader.

Bliss is the unofficial points leader after the 16th of 22 races. Bliss leads Terry Cook by 44 markers. The only change in the top 10 was Rick Crawford moving into third as Ted Musgrave dropped one spot to fourth.