Despite lousy pit stalls, Tony Stewart's crew performs flawlessly every week. Credit: Autostock

Sunoco Pit Move: Loudon

Tony Stewart has qualified well this season, but he certainly doesn't have the best pit stalls week after week, and that is what makes his pit crew so remarkable.

Consider this: Stewart took four tires all day long at Loudon, and despite being mired in heavy pit traffic all afternoon, neither he nor his crew made one slipup.

Sunoco Pit MoveStewart cements his lead during the final pit stip at Loudon Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

The last pit stop was key. As usual, Stewart didn't lose a spot on pit road. In all, Stewart made five pit stops, and all of his stops were in the 14-second range.

All of Stewart's pit stops came when he needed them, and the balance of cautions was perfect for Stewart, who benefited greatly from the last 60 laps being run under green.

Two tires or four tires?

One of the key risks when you take two tires at a place like Loudon is you increase your risk of getting hit on pit road.

A lot of cars gambled on early track position by taking two tires early in the event. A key victim of that strategy was Robby Gordon, who took two tires on Lap 59.

Gordon got out of his box so early that he was met by an oncoming Sterling Marlin, who was trying to get in his pit. Gordon's car had a lot of damage on his right front fender, and his day was ruined.

Loudon can't be an easy adjustment for these teams. Its small pit road is a huge contrast to the large, forgiving pit roads that the series saw in Sonoma, Daytona and Chicagoland.

Jeff Gordon

Simply put, the one-mile tracks at Dover and Loudon are two of the toughest pit roads you'll see all year.

Qualifying means everything

Brian Vickers didn't have a car of Stewart's caliber, but he had the first pit stall, and that meant he was able to beat a lot of better cars off pit road.

Vickers gambled with a two-tire change on his first pit stop, but he quickly faded back in the pack. He got as low as 23rd.

On the final stop, Vickers came on pit road in 10th, but he left in fifth. Even though he eventually faded to an 11th-place spot, that pit stall helped him tremendously.

News of the weird

The Cubs curse even extends to pit road.

You think weird things aren't happening to Jeff Gordon? On the final stop, he had an air gun jam, and he lost 10 spots on pit road. Of course, it didn't matter -- he lost his brakes on the final run, and he wound up 25th.

Jason Leffler

"I can't say it can't get any worse because it's seems like it does," said Gordon.

Every little bit helps for these guys

It's been an interesting battle recently watching the cars of Scott Wimmer, Mike Wallace and Jason Leffler fight to remain in the top 35 in the points.

As a result, we are seeing some interesting strategy from these cars. Wimmer's team, for the second straight week, elected to stay out on old tires and lead some laps.

On the final pit stop, Leffler waited a lap to make his pit stop. He led a lap, got five bonus points, and wound up 24th. Leffler also stayed out and led a lap two weeks ago at Daytona.

The call to keep Leffler out a lap helped him move from 34th to 36th in the owners points, and he now leads Wimmer by just two points.

Quotable

"They were gaining five spots a stop and that's what it takes when you've got a car like ours." -- Robbie Reiser, whose driver, Matt Kenseth, finished 10th despite a balky car

"We had a couple of problems in pit lane, but that just means we'll be awesome next week." -- Ryan Newman, who lost 10 positions on his second pit stop