Tony Stewart won at Chicagoland in July, but his win was controversial -- he got into Kasey Kahne on a restart. Credit: Autostock

Stewart sure to be strong at Kansas Speedway

Win at Chicago makes him favorite at 1.5-miler

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- They're both 1.5-mile tracks. They're both in the shape of a D. They're both three years old.

Kansas Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway are as close to each other as twins. At least that's what Tony Stewart hopes.

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Stewart dominated the race at Chicagoland earlier this year, leading 160 of the 267 laps. This weekend, he'll drive the same car at Kansas Speedway in the Banquet 400, looking for similar results.

"They're about as close as you can get to being the same," said Stewart, who has been a vocal opponent of "cookie-cutter" tracks in the past. "You aren't going to find any two tracks that are more identical than Kansas and Chicago.

"The only difference between the two tracks (is) the backstretch at Chicago is a little bit rounded while Kansas' is straight.

"When we pull in there to go to the bus lot it's just like pulling into Chicagoland. I think the same guy designed and built both of them just by the way the two tracks look."

Stewart in victory lane at Chicagoland Credit: Autostock

The tracks' similarities don't automatically translate into equal results, but that doesn't stop Stewart from being optimistic this weekend.

"I believe so and I'm hoping that it's going to," Stewart said. "I'm real excited to go to Kansas. It's a track that we like anyway because we've got a lot of fans in that area. ... Hopefully we'll have another good run out there."

Stewart's winning run at Chicago was made in a backup car after he crashed the primary No. 20 Chevrolet in practice. But the backup was obviously potent, and Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing team is using it as the primary car at Kansas.

Kansas and Chicago aren't exactly the same, for Kansas Speedway's 15 degrees of banking is three degrees lower than Chicagoland. But both tracks' asphalt has improved with age, so much that two grooves of racing exist at both.

"It's been impressive to see how much the groove has matured, to where it's moved up, giving us more racing room and more options," Stewart said. "At some tracks it takes years for the groove to move up, but Kansas and Chicagoland have been very similar in the way the groove has moved up the racetrack. It's made the racing better."

One could argue that Stewart's showing at Chicagoland didn't make for much of a race.

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If not for his run-in with Kasey Kahne - Stewart accidentally bumped Kahne from the lead on a restart, prompting an outcry from Kahne's team - the Tropicana 400 wouldn't have been that memorable.

But that can happen at the newer D-shaped ovals.

"If a guy gets going and gets his car balanced, then he'll tend to run away," Stewart said. "That's just the characteristic of that kind of track. It's fast, it's flat and momentum is so important there, that if a guy is off just a little, he's off a lot.

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"The drivers like it from the standpoint that if you can find a way to get around it a little better, then it'll help them in the long run. You end up racing the racetrack instead of each other."

Stewart could use a repeat of his Chicagoland performance, for he's sixth in the points standings, 139 behind leader Kurt Busch.

A solid run last weekend at Talladega helped, but Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin are threatening to make it a four-man race for the championship.

"We take each race one week at a time just like we've done every other season," Stewart said. "You can't be worrying about the points. If you do your job each week and try to win the race, it's like I've always said, the points will take care of themselves, no matter what the format is.

"If you change what you're doing just to adjust to the new points system, I think you're going to run into trouble. If you always try to win, then that means you're always trying to get as many points as possible. I don't know why anyone would go away from that."