| | | | | |  | | CIA Stock Photo | Stewart was part of a four- and five-wide pack when the accident occurred. | | | | A BAD ENDING | Crash ends Stewart's bid for first Talladega Cup victory | |
| | SceneDaily Staff Tony Stewart finally earned a victory at Talladega Superspeedway with his performance in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, but he remains without a win in NASCAR’s top series.
Stewart led the most laps in the Aaron’s 499 – 61 – marking the second time in 2008 he’s done so without winning. Stewart also dominated at Bristol but was involved in a late-race crash with Kevin Harvick.
At Talladega, Stewart was felled by a late-race crash as he was trying to maneuver back to the front. Stewart had a right front tire go flat on lap 144, and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scraped the wall in Turn 1.
Stewart pitted to change tires, and his crew fixed the minimal damage. But later, as Stewart was moving through the field, the track got very crowded, and the No. 20 bounced off a couple of cars and slammed the outside wall. His day was done with a 38th-place finish.
“I just went to the second lane there and was there for a short amount of time,” Stewart said. “I thought we were all right, and the closer we got to Turn 1 the smaller that hole got. I was as close to Bobby [Labonte] as I could get right there, and the hole closed up.
“It’s just what happens late in these races. If it was my fault, I’m sorry. By looking at the video, though, I don’t feel like I did anything wrong, really.”
The racing was furious at that point as drivers tried to be in the right position in the final laps. Stewart was part of a four- and five-wide pack when the accident occurred.
Before that, however, Stewart was the class of the field.
“The majority of the day we had a great day going,” Stewart said. “We were really in good shape with this car until I had the right front go down and then I got us in the back. As late as it is in the race, with 15 laps to go you’ve got to sit there and do what you can to get those spots back.”
| | Posted April 28, 2008 , 1:44 am EST
| | | | | | | | | | |
