Stewart dominates Cup at Chicago

Stewart did his trademark victory celebration, climbing the fence beside the start-finish line for the first time since he last won at Texas last year. He led 108 of the 267 laps of racing around the 1.5-mile oval on the way to his second career victory at Chicagoland.

"It was good, it was really good all day," Stewart said. "[The car] was good enough in clean air even though it was free to stay up front. We just kept wanting the long run; we didn't want to see those cautions at the end. I was really good on restarts and I couldn't make a mistake. So, if I made one mistake I was going to have a tough time explaining how I was losing the race."

"What won us the race is Zippy [crew-chief Greg Zipadelli] and the guys in the pit-crew did an awesome job today. They kept us the track position at the end and that was what we needed. Track position was so important to let us run our pace and run the line that we wanted to run without having to worry about getting on dirty air."

Jimmie Johnson was Stewart's shadow for most of the second half of the race and looked as his main contender for victory, having led more than anybody else in the first 150 laps. However, he crashed heavily out of second place with only 43 laps to go, when the right rear tyre on his car blew in turn three.

"I'm ok, just hit my elbow on the seat," Johnson said after walking out of the care centre. "It's just disappointing that we had such a great race car and really had a great chance. It's amazing when the tyre blew how violent it was. I though the driveshaft came out of the car as it was so violent when I lost the tyre."

With Johnson out of contention, Matt Kenseth became Stewart's main opposition. He attacked in the restart following Johnson's crash, and actually led a lap by crossing the line a few inches ahead, only to be overtaken again by the No. 20 Home Depot car, which was never really challenged again from then on.

"We really had a shot in one restart," Kenseth said after finishing second. "I got a got run off of [turn] two and he kind of closed the door and I got underneath of him and made a big run into [turn] three. We ran side by side for a lap or two and I just couldn't finish the pass. We just had to try and wait and get him again later but he was too strong for us."

Carl Edwards finished third and just as Kenseth was unable to get by Stewart, the same happened to the Busch Series points leader with his Roush Fenway teammate. He closed on Kenseth in the last few laps and tried almost every possible line to try and get around him but in the end had to settle for third.

Kevin Harvick was also a contender for victory and led for the first time on lap 52 when the leaders pitted under caution and he stayed on the track. The move put him in contention for the win but his pace was not good enough in the closing stages. Polesitter Casey Mears led only five laps and finished a solid fifth behind Harvick.

Dave Blaney was as Johnson another victim of blown tyres, as was Jamie McMurray who also visited the wall while running in the top twenty. Blaney's impact with the SAFER barrier however looked the biggest and scariest, although he was able to walk away from the wreck, which also involved Ward Burton.

Juan Pablo Montoya made quick progress through the field early on from 30th on the grid, running in the top twenty for most of the day. He went a lap down fighting lack of front grip, got back on the lead lap later and came home in 15th to claim his best result on an oval since he was eighth at Texas back in April.

"We struggled tight all day," Montoya said. "We tried pretty hard to free up the car. When we stopped under green it was really good, I could run really strong, then every time we pit under yellow it was just too tight.

"We tried to free it up all day long, just didn't catch it up enough but we still had a good result. The car is in one piece so I'm pretty happy."

Jeff Gordon had a quiet race to ninth place, and continues to lead the Nextel Cup standings, increasing the gap to Denny Hamlin who finished 17th. Jimmie Johnson has been the biggest loser in the points race, falling from fourth to seventh due to his crash.

However the top twelve remain the same, with Dale Earnhardt Jr, who finished 19th today fighting power-steeering issues, as the last driver making the cut, only seven races away from the start of the Chase for the Nextel Cup title.

Pos   Driver              Car         Laps
 1.   Tony Stewart        Chevrolet    267
 2.   Matt Kenseth        Ford         267
 3.   Carl Edwards        Ford         267
 4.   Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet    267
 5.   Casey Mears         Chevrolet    267
 6.   Kurt Busch          Dodge        267
 7.   Jeff Burton         Chevrolet    267
 8.   Ryan Newman         Dodge        267
 9.   Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet    267
10.   Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet    267
11.   Greg Biffle         Ford         267
12.   Reed Sorenson       Dodge        267
13.   Kyle Busch          Chevrolet    267
14.   Mark Martin         Chevrolet    267
15.   Juan Montoya        Dodge        267
16.   David Gilliland     Ford         267
17.   Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet    267
18.   John Andretti       Dodge        267
19.   Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet    267
20.   Bobby Labonte       Dodge        266
21.   Ricky Rudd          Ford         266
22.   Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet    266
23.   Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet    266
24.   Tony Raines         Chevrolet    265
25.   David Ragan         Ford         265
26.   Jeremy Mayfield     Toyota       265
27.   Jeff Green          Chevrolet    265
28.   Bill Elliott        Ford         265
29.   Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet    264
30.   Michael Waltrip     Toyota       264
31.   Chad Chaffin        Dodge        263
32.   Kasey Kahne         Dodge        262
33.   Elliott Sadler      Dodge        260
34.   David Stremme       Dodge        257
35.   J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet    243
36.   Robby Gordon        Ford         225
37.   Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet    222
38.   Jamie McMurray      Ford         214
39.   Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet    211
40.   Dave Blaney         Toyota       199
41.   Ward Burton         Chevrolet    197
42.   Paul Menard         Chevrolet    132
43.   David Reutimann     Toyota        43