Winston Cup race: Stewart gets all excited
Tony Stewart bounced back to winning ways by taking victory in the Pontiac Excitement 400, which lived up to its name by ending up as a frantic shoot-out after a late stoppage
Stewart (Joe Gibbs Pontiac) appeared to be cruising to victory lane, after hitting the front with 43 laps remaining and pulling clear of the pack, but the race was red flagged when Dave Blaney (Dodge) smacked the Turn 4 wall with five laps to go.
"I thought this one was gonna get taken away from us because of it," said Stewart. "A caution is the last thing you want to see with a full straightaway lead."
But he clung on to victory by 0.441secs at the restart, with Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) finishing second after a bruising battle with Rusty Wallace's Ford which resulted in a post-race shouting match. Steve Park (Chevrolet) finished fourth, ahead of Ricky Rudd's Ford.
Wallace dominated much of the event, leading 276 of the 400 laps, but he had no answer to Stewart in the final stages.
"Tony had a great car," he admitted. "On long runs his car was hooked up better than mine was. But I already got a victory last week and I've got a lot of top-fives. This was a good night for me."
Second placed Gordon has closed on Winston Cup leader Dale Jarrett, who was running seventh when the red flag flew, but limped home 15th after his Ford ran out of fuel.
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