Stewart uses Happy Hour to tune his backup car

LONG POND, Pa. -- It took less than two minutes -- and not even one hot lap -- to knock the swagger out of Tony Stewart on Saturday morning at Pocono Raceway.

Pennsylvania 500

Practice 2 Speeds

Pos.	Driver	Speed
1.	Jimmie Johnson	167.292
2.	Clint Bowyer	166.334
3.	Carl Edwards	165.911
4.	Jeff Gordon	165.908
5.	Kevin Harvick	165.810

Practice 3 Speeds

Pos.	Driver	Speed
1	Jimmie Johnson	165.795
2	Kevin Harvick	165.417
3	Mark Martin	165.189
4	A.J. Allmendinger	164.932
5	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	164.893

• Practice 2 | Practice 3

Stewart, who won the Pocono 500 in a backup car eight weeks ago at the three-cornered 2.5-mile tri-oval, gets the chance to do it again in Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 after he ironically crashed June's winning car when he entered Turn 3 on his first hot lap.

Stewart's crew chief, Darian Grubb, opted to wait until after Happy Hour to replace the backup's engine with a spare off the truck that Hendrick engine tuner Scott Maxim said was "a newer build." In the backup, Stewart ran 26 laps between the two Saturday practices. Stewart will still have to drop from the pole to the back of the inside line of the grid on Sunday's pace laps.

On his second lap on the race track Saturday, Stewart turned his No. 14 Chevrolet into the corner on the dark strip of newest asphalt that marks the primary groove, but it slipped and hooked the right-rear corner into the outside wall, which snapped the right-front fender into the fence.

Stewart's car bounced off the wall and continued toward the exit of the corner before it looped through a spin directly in front of the oncoming cars of Jeff Gordon, who was in the middle of the race track and Kurt Busch, who was on the inside.

Friday had also repeated June's rainout of qualifying. And with the pole once again his, Sprint Cup point leader Stewart was very optimistic. But when he exited the infield care center after his accident Saturday, he looked as if he'd just been told of a close friend's death.

"I just -- I screwed up, got in too deep and got loose and couldn't save it," Stewart said. "Yeah [I'm just mad at myself]."

Stewart's own Stewart-Haas Racing team, which has led the points for the last eight races, immediately proved why when it unloaded its backup car, another chassis used last year by the former Haas CNC Racing that was rebuilt over the winter and had finished eighth at California and third at Darlington in its two races this season. (Continued)