Three-time champion scores best finish of season in Auto Club 400
RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings
FONTANA, Calif. — A 14th-place finish for the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet wouldn’t normally feel good or elicit smiles. But it’s the best showing for Tony Stewart this year, and the three-time champ was at least feeling encouraged when he climbed out his car following Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
A late-race gamble not to pit during a caution period that came out on the last scheduled lap put him in second place just behind another race gambler, Jeff Gordon. And while they were both promptly passed on that start and again on a second green-white-checkered overtime a couple laps later — the end result for Stewart was progress.
“We just had to do the opposite of what everyone else did,” Stewart said. “It wasn’t the best-case scenario for us, but we had to take a chance.”
Two of Stewart’s teammates, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, were challenging for the win Sunday, ultimately finishing second and third, respectively. It’s the eighth consecutive time Harvick has finished first or second — dating back to the final three races of his 2014 Sprint Cup Series championship season.
Harvick leads the standings by a hefty 28 points over Joey Logano, giving Stewart the official lead in the owner standings.
But when it comes to his own results behind the wheel, Stewart has struggled this year. The 14th-place finish is only the second top-30 effort of the season and moves him up four positions in the standings to 32nd. He still trails Busch, despite having five starts to Busch’s two.
Stewart’s previous best finish of the year was 30th at Atlanta three weeks ago. He finished 33rd and 39th in the last two races at Las Vegas and Phoenix, respectively.
On Sunday, however, Stewart’s No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet ran among the top-15 for nearly half of the race (95 of the 209 laps). And Stewart thought it would have been a legitimate top-10 car before a brush with the No. 78 Chevy driven by Martin Truex Jr.
“He (Truex) had a problem with someone else and I paid the price for it,” Stewart said motioning toward the middle of his front hood which sported a large area of black duct tape.
“I wasn’t delusional that we were going to win the race or anything but if he’s got a problem with someone else and got his hand out the window changing three lanes and (he) drives back across punching a hole in my nose.”
But, Stewart added with a slight smile, “we’re gaining on it. We got to where we were sniffing the edge of the top-10 anyway all day. We’re gaining on it a little chunk at a time. We didn’t need to get it all today anyway.
“But this is a big gain for us for sure.”
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