Tony Stewart versus Matt Kenseth? Who would have thunk.....

  
When it was time to go, Tony Stewart was just a blur (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   CONCORD, N.C.
   Kyle Busch may be the most dramatic, most daring, most flamboyant driver in NASCAR today, but sometimes he just needs a stronger car. And Saturday night, when it was time to count out that $1 million, Tony Stewart was feasting, rather than Busch.
    After the big crash, in a three-wide battle for the lead, that took out Jeff Gordon, Busch and Ryan Newman two laps into the 10-lap showdown, the race was Stewart challenging leader Matt Kenseth.
   Stewart got around Kenseth with two to go and pulled away.
  "I can't believe he gave me the bottom," Stewart said after his first win as owner-driver.
   Kenseth said he felt almost helpless at that point: "I felt stupid, because all night the very bottom for me was the slowest. 
   "The middle by far had the most grip. And once I took the lead, I ran around the middle.
   "Still Tony was so much faster than me, he almost went around me anyway. So I chose the bottom the next lap, just because I saw he was choosing that…just to get in front of him, because with these cars, if you get one in front of you, you usually can't pass them. 
    "So I got in front of him, and had a little room back off of turn four, so I was going to run back through the middle.
    "I had about a three-car length lead on him, and I went down there and the splitter (front bumper) hit the ground and it didn't turn.
    "I got in the gas real early, and real hard…and it just plowed.  It just wouldn't turn at all.
    "And he just rolled right by me like I was tied to a tree."
    Stewart himself had figured teammate Ryan Newman was the man to beat in the 10-lap sprint…until the big crash.
   "Ryan was probably the guy who should have been in victory lane, if not for that cut tire," Stewart said. "My plan was just to follow Ryan, and get by Matt.
   "I was thinking Ryan's going to win this thing and I just wanted to beat him to victory lane. But on the restart I could tell there was something wrong with his tire."
   Stewart just bought this team from Gene Haas over the winter, and this ironically was Haas' first day back at the track in nearly two years. And it was the first win for the team that Haas held for so long since 2002.
   "We wanted Gene to be proud of what we've built, and we just wanted to have a good night for him," Stewart said. "That in itself made it really special."
   This is also Indy month, and Stewart used to be a top Indy-car driver. Will he bop by the Speedway Sunday?
   "Nope, I'm not going to Indy…I don't know when this day is going to end….y'all can get up a pool on when I get up….and then another pool on when I actually get out of bed," Stewart said with a laugh.
    The 100-lap event, set in four legs, was uneventful until lap 81. Then, however, the driving turned wild, pretty much with Kyle Busch making things happen.
    "Three-wide for the lead off the fourth turn, I don't think it gets any wilder than that," Stewart said.
   "How many times did you see Jimmie Johnson spin out? How many times did you see Jeff Gordon get spun out? You just don't normally see that. That's what this race is all about.
   "And I don't know what (crew chief) Darian Grubb did to my car during that last 10-minute break, but he was like a magician, because that car the last 10 laps wasn't anything like what I had for the first 90 laps."

    Brother Kyle put on the show, but Kurt Busch wound up finishing better, third, while battered Kyle struggled in seventh.
    "The way our car took off on green flag runs, the car just took too long to get going," Kurt Busch said. "That's a big mystery to us…and it's not something you want in a 10-lap shootout.
    "Overall, I thought we had the best car on a 20-lap run, but that doesn't pay the big bucks.
    "Overall a good night for us. I was just hoping Matt and Tony would duke it up a little and we would be able to come sliding through the smoke and hoist up the trophy.
    "The 50 laps to start off the race separates who's going to be strong and who's just going to be hanging out. 
    "Once you get into the (two) 20-lap segments, pit strategy is involved.  Kyle decided he needed two tires; we decided to stay out the second 20-lap segment, just for track position…because I figured people would start to get a little dicey. 
    "But, yeah, the final 10 laps nobody is holding back.
    "It's really important with these cars to be out front. When we went to the car-of-tomorrow, whoever gets out front and takes off is really hard to catch."
   
   

   
Ouch! Jeff Gordon was leading one moment, and then the next.....(Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)