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Never one to mince (or soften) words, Tony Stewart had plenty to say after his win Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, a victory that saw him move Denny Hamlin in Turn 11 of the final lap.
His victory in the Toyota-Save Mart 350 put the Stewart-Haas Racing driver and co-owner on the verge of qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
After missing the first eight races of the season with a broken back, Stewart faced a difficult post-season path. Sunday’s win was the crucial first step to getting there. Since Stewart has a win, he just needs to finish the regular season in the top 30 in the points standings. He is nine points behind 30th-place Brian Scott with 10 regular-season races remaining.
Here’s what Stewart said in a wide-ranging post-race interview.
On the last lap
You can’t crack the door open with me on the last corner of the last lap and expect me to not take it. I’ll kick the door in or drive a bulldozer through it to keep it open. When you’re in a scenario like that, I don’t know if I’m going to get another scenario or opportunity to win another race the rest of the year. We’re going to try, but knowing that that could be the difference between making the Chase or not making the Chase, I wasn’t going to be cordial in the exit of the corner and I roughed him up pretty good. If it has been a street fight, he’d have had two black eyes after that.
On his post-race talk with Hamlin
Probably one of the best parts and one of the parts I’ll probably remember most about this race was before I got to Victory Lane and Denny leaning in there and the first thing he says is ‘I’m so damned proud of you.’ That meant the world to me. I mean, I told him right after that, and I said, ‘You know I had to do that,’ and he goes, ‘I know.’
On crew chief Mike Bugarewicz
I’ve had some awesome crew chiefs, but that’s something I’m really proud of, that Mike, he will sit there the night before the race, he won’t go out, he won’t go with me to dirt races and he won’t go play when we took crew guys to Six Flags last night and he stayed home and did homework. He’s so detail-oriented on that, and all my crew chiefs have been, but they all have their own different style, and that’s something about Mike that I really respect and appreciate.
On the nature of the race
Normally by the time you leave here you’re so mad at everybody, and all I do, I go back and I sit in the transporter and take a shower in there and sit for a half hour because I don’t want to see them at the helicopter pad because I’m so mad at a dozen guys, and I’m like, ‘I can’t whip them all at once.’ … Normally we have five cautions in the last 10, 15 laps. We had one, and it was for a car that was stopped off the side. It wasn’t even for a wreck. I would say it was probably a pretty good race.
On his team
My guys have been through this whole disastrous roller coaster the last three or four years and never backed down. They’ve never quit on me. There’s days I’ve quit on myself and they’re the guys that send you text messages and call you when you get home like hey, this isn’t over. I’m proud for them, and it meant more for me to get it for them than for myself.”
On NASCAR’s future
You see Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott, there’s two guys right there that are filling seats that got this under control. I got in trouble enough one day that I got invited to fly down to Daytona Beach, Florida, and go to (NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France’s) office … and I was only in there for 10 minutes and then I got to drive back and fly home. But I remember him telling me, and I’m only saying this because it’s the truth, he was right, and it was something that resonated. He was like, you’re not bigger than the sport. You’re a star in the sport, but there were stars before you and there’s stars coming after you. With Jeff (Gordon) and I leaving, Chase Elliott is going to win a championship, and if the Wood Brothers keep going the way they are, Ryan Blaney is going to win a lot of races, too, and potentially win championships. … The sport is healthy, trust me.
On the emotional nature of Sunday’s win
This place has meant a lot to me. If I don’t win another one, it’s cool to win the last one here. If it doesn’t happen again, it’s cool. I’ll be all right if this is the last place I win one. I’m going for more, just for the record. I’m not saying I’m laying down, I’m saying if that’s the only one I get this year, then I’ll be content. But I don’t think ‑‑ I think you’ve known me long enough, you guys know that I don’t lay down for anything. All you’ve got to do is just give me that little bit of hope, and I’ll run with it.
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