Tony Stewart is sixth in the Nextel Cup Series standings. Credit: Autostock

Stewart strong again, but still without win in '05

After leading most laps at MIS, former Cup champ comes in second

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Tony Stewart made an accurate forecast Saturday when he said his Chevrolet might challenge for the win Sunday at Michigan.

But for the third time this season, Stewart led the most laps and came up frustrated in the end -- this time 1.675 seconds behind Greg Biffle's Ford, which was dominant when it counted.

	Credit: Autostock
	Chase for the Cup Drivers eligible for the Chase No. Driver Pts. Behind 1. J. Johnson 2,173 -- 2. G. Biffle 2,124 -49 3. E. Sadler 1,923 -250 4. C. Edwards 1,914 -259 5. M. Martin 1,904 -269 6. T. Stewart 1,862 -311 7. R. Newman 1,856 -317 8. R. Wallace 1,848 -325 9. K. Busch 1,813 -360 10. K. Harvick 1,803 -370 11. J. McMurray 1,799 -374

Stewart's loss extended his winless streak to 29 races -- last August at Watkins Glen. The Nextel Cup Series' next stop is Infineon Raceway, another road course at which Stewart has won.

Despite the fact that he gained four spots in the standings -- from 10th to sixth, 311 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson -- Stewart found little solace.

"We had a good car [Sunday] -- I guess we need to figure out how to lead the right lap," Stewart said. "It's frustrating for us as a team. We had a really good car all day and it's like, what do we have to do to get in Victory Lane this season?

"It's a good points day. It's like Zippy [crew chief Greg Zipadelli] said, we got to crawl before we walk, walk before we jog and jog before we run.

"So, you know, I'm sure in 10 minutes I'll feel a lot better about it -- it's just that when you run that good all day and lead that many laps that you can't finish it off."

Stewart led 97 of 200 laps Sunday.

He gave up the lead to Biffle when the final caution flew with 32 laps remaining, then pitted for four tires while Biffle and his Roush Racing teammates Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards did not.

Stewart felt like he had no choice but to pit and felt the number of laps that would remain when the race restarted -- 28 -- would play in his favor as well.

BATMAN BEGINS 400 •   Results •   Standings •   Lap-by-Lap Coverage Final lapsGreg Biffle stays out late and it pays off with fifth victory Marlin's day ends earlySterling Marlin's car expires in a spin on Lap 168 Batman Begins 400Check out all the highlights from the 15th race Sign up for TrackPass now and earn Fan Miles BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"All I knew is that we weren't fast enough to beat Biffle the way we were at," Stewart said. "I felt like if we took tires, we had enough laps to get back [to the front].

"We should have been able to get up to the front. It just amazes me that four tires can't beat a car that's got 12 laps on [its tires]."

Stewart restarted in eighth and made quick use of his new tires, passing Elliott Sadler and Michael Waltrip for sixth on Lap 174.

On the next lap, Stewart passed Joe Nemechek and Busch for fourth. On Lap 177, Stewart nipped Edwards for third. While he passed Kenseth for second with two laps to go, it was too little, too late.

"I probably just overdrove the car trying to get to the lead again," Stewart said. "But all in all it was a good day for The Home Depot and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing.

"Every week we've been either destroying a car or tearing a car up and everybody at the shop has had to work really hard to get everything put back together [so] I'm glad we came home without a scratch.

"Bobby's [Labonte, Gibbs Racing teammate] car didn't have a scratch on it and I don't think Jason's [Leffler, Gibbs teammate] car had a scratch on it either. Hopefully, everybody will have a chance to make some progress and not have to play catch-up this week.

"I'm really proud of everybody at the shop as hard as they've been working all year to get us caught up. We're just working to get that first win."

Stewart, along with everyone else in Nextel Cup, has been hard-pressed to keep Roush Racing and Hendrick Motorsports out of Victory Lane, as the two organizations have combined to win 13 of 15 races to date.

"They [Roush and Hendrick] have been dominant and we've been hit or miss," Zipadelli said. "And when we've run halfway decent, we haven't closed the deal.

But still, there were positives.

"Today should be a big confidence booster to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing," Zipadelli said." Everybody did a good job today -- everybody did what they were supposed to do.

"Tony stayed in the game all day and our pit stops were good. We've done a lot of things in the past four or five weeks to take us out of contention of having a good finish -- [Sunday] we didn't.

"What we did here [Sunday] was significantly different than what we've done in the past. If we can start applying it at other places, I think we'll be in a lot better shape."