Stewart wins wild Pontiac Excitement 400 at RIR

RICHMOND, Va. -- Tony Stewart successfully negotiated an accident-laden, rain-delayed Pontiac Excitement 400 Sunday to take the checkers for the third time in seven career starts at Richmond International Raceway.

Ricky Rudd exits his car after hitting the wall hard on lap 308.

Stewart nabbed the lead from young Ryan Newman with 28 laps remaining, then, after a bumper-to-bumper battle between the two for several laps, Dave Blaney blew his engine with 22 laps remaining. That forced the day's record-tying 14th caution.

On the restart with 18 laps remaining, Stewart quickly hopped out to a three car-length lead and never looked back, winning his second race of the 2002 campaign, and subsequently jumping up two slots from 10th to eighth in the championship point standings. He now stands 251 points behind leader Sterling Marlin.

"Greg Zipadelli and all these guys worked their guts out," Stewart said. "I gotta be honest, I was down last night, down the first 50 laps this morning. But these guys kept working hard, making my car better. If they put forth that effort, I had to do the same thing."

Robby Gordon slammed the water barrels that guard the outside pit wall. He finished 37th.

There's no doubt the entire Home Depot Pontiac contingent put forth a concerted effort. Stewart started dead last Saturday night after changing engines, and patiently worked his way all the way to the front. Stewart's car was superior to Newman's on short runs, so when Mike Skinner wrecked in Turn 2, Stewart got the break he needed.

"These guys just worked so hard today to get this car freed up," Stewart said. "When we got to second there, we couldn't really get by. But we were real strong those first four or five laps. I never thought I'd say that aero was a big deal on a three-quarter mile track, but it sure was today."

More than one-quarter of the 400-lap event was run under the yellow flag, as 103 total laps were run under caution. Several drivers complained about the new sealer put down on the racing surface, saying it allowed for just one racing groove and arduous racing conditions.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hits the frontstretch wall for his second crash in as many weeks. He finished 36th.

"They took a good racetrack and screwed it up," said Ricky Rudd, who led 90 laps Sunday. "It was such a great racetrack for so long, but it never did come in like it needed to (Sunday). There was something about the sealer process that they didn't do right."

The decisive Stewart/Newman duel was set up by a pair of those cautions, both involving a race leader. Newman grabbed the lead on lap 329 when leader Jimmy Spencer and second-place Jimmie Johnson got together while battling for the lead in Turn 3. Johnson had the inside line, and the two made contact entering the corner, forcing Johnson below the yellow line.

He subsequently lost control of his car and slid up into Spencer's Dodge. Johnson looped his car around and into the outside wall, handing Newman the lead.

Jeff Gordon never led a lap but finished seventh for his sixth top-10 of the year.

"I don't know what happened," said Johnson, who earned his first career win last week at California. "We touched a little bit in (Turn) three. We'd been racin' hard all day, and I hadn't had a problem getting loose. I hate that I hurt Spencer's day, and I definitely hurt our day. I thought we had a shot at our second win."

Moments later, yet another multicar accident occurred as Rusty Wallace got turned around on lap 334. Following that accident, just 19 cars remained on the lead lap. That wasn't the only incident Wallace was involved in Sunday.

Ricky Rudd had the best car on the track with 100 laps to go, and was the race leader when, on lap 308, he coursed through Turn 2 well ahead of Spencer.

Kevin Harvick made hard contact with the wall and finished 40th. He was in the top 10 for only two laps before the accident.

Then, as Rudd went high in preparation of lapping Wallace, Wallace's right rear tire went down and he hit Rudd in the left rear. That sent the race leader hard into the outside wall and eliminated him from competition.

"I don't know, something happened to the (Wallace)," Rudd said. "I think the lost a tire or something. I cleared him. I drove around him on the outside and he changed about three lanes on the racetrack. I know he didn't do it on purpose, but he knew he had a flat tire so he should have run it slow enough to where he didn't change there lanes. He hit us in the quarter panel and it was over with."

With Rudd out, Spencer was cycled back into the lead before the race was red-flagged to clean up a mess between Turns 3 and 4.

As Robby Gordon headed to pit road, he slammed into the water barrels protecting the pit wall, causing a large explosion of water that drenched the speedway. The red flag flew over the track for some 16 minutes, so that officials could replace the protective barrels.

Dale Jarrett led 14 laps before an accident with Bobby Labonte ended his hopes of winning. He finished 38th and dropped to 15th in the standings.

"I was slowed down, turning left right behind Blaney," Gordon said, "and the thing just darted to the right. I don't know if I hit oil or what. I was turning, turning, turning and all of the a sudden lost grip."

Newman tied his career-best effort with a second-place finish Sunday. He was followed by Roush Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Mark Martin in third and fourth, respectively. Jeremy Mayfield finished fifth.

"It was a good car, but we weren't really good on a short run, which hurt us. That's why Tony got me," Newman said. We tested with Rusty, and that was a great help. I want to thank him."

Burton's run is quite impressive, considering the fact that he cut a right rear tire and was forced to pit and fix it.

"Car's tore all to pieces," Burton said. "We caught a bad break, cut the right rear tire and had to pit. The guys never gave up, and really worked hard. That's what our team's about. It's not really what we've been doing this year, so today is much more indicative of what we're looking for."

Kurt Busch spins in Turn 2. Busch had to pit under green late in the event and saw a top-10 finish turn into a disappointing 27th-place run.

Unquestionably, Ward Burton had the most dominant car all weekend. He led 125 laps in the event, but was eliminated from contention on lap-230 when the transmission broke on his No. 22 Dodge. The Caterpillar team spent 35 laps fixing the problem, and Burton returned to the race 36 laps down in 36th position. He finished 30th.

"Looks like we broke a transmission," Burton said. "It's unfortunate for us. We've struggled a little bit the past month or so, but nobody gave up on this team. It's disappointing to know we had a shot at it, but not today."

Sixty-six laps into the Pontiac Excitement 400 Saturday night, the event was postponed due to inclement weather.

The race was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., ET Saturday, but was postponed for more than two hours. Once underway, Burton ran away with the event, leading the first 62 laps before the event was halted by rain for good.