The sun finally shined on Tony Stewart’s dreams of a possible third Sprint Cup championship to go with his first two on Sunday afternoon as he came from behind to beat the field to the finish line and win the Pocono 500 in front of thousands of unbelieving fans. This victory along with his recent win in the All-Star Race last month certainly validates Stewart’s belief that he can still compete against the best and maybe even hang-in long enough to sneak around the corner at the end of the year and steal his third title.

Tony Stewart wins the Pocono 500

Stewart had to start at the back of the grid due to a practice accident that forced him to jump into his backup ride for the Pocono 500. He seemed to sense his situation and decided to drive safe and conservative until the final 40 laps, when he decided to take a chance that paid off for the veteran. Driving past the scheduled pit stop he gambled that he could manage his car and speed well enough to complete the final laps without the pit stop, and he won the bet.

Deciding that he doesn’t need a pit stop is a decision he can make as team owner but it’s certainly one he’s glad paid off. He still has to be accountable to himself and his team if his gamble doesn’t pay-off and thoughts of doubt must have been dancing through his mind at the time he made his decision.

Stewart is the first owner/driver to emerge victorious in a Sprint Cup race since Ricky Rudd did it at Martinsville in 1998; Stewart’s joy at his triumph was evident in his celebrations. Carl Edwards managed to drive clean and finished second, just ahead of David Reutimann in third, and Jeff Gordon, who battled through out the race. Ryan Newman didn’t have the fastest car of the day but he kept his line clean and finished fifth despite his problems. Marcos Ambrose had a pretty good showing and finished sixth, Jimmie Johnson had a frustrating day but still managed seventh, Juan Montoya grabbed eighth, Jeff Burton finished in ninth, and the top ten in the Pocono 500 was rounded out by Sam Hornish Jr.

The next venue for the Sprint Cup series is the LifeLock 400 being held at the Michigan International Speedway. If you want to watch or listen to the play-by-play of the LifeLock 400 tune into TNT at 12:30 or Radio MNR at 1:15 on Sunday afternoon, June 14^th.

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Patience and consistency allowed Jimmie Johnson to stay close enough to the front runners to have a chance to win, but a great car and excellent driving skills allowed him to finally get his second win of the 2009 Sprint Cup season in the Autism Speaks 400 held at Dover International Speedway on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson achieves 42nd career win in Autism Speaks 400

Jimmie Johnson started eighth after the tenth caution of the race due to a difficult crash by David Stemme but was able to overcome a slow pit stop and race to the front of the of the pack. On the way he was able to pass Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart, who started ahead of Johnson, but weren’t able to stay in front of the hard-charging racer. This win was Jimmie Johnson’s fourth victory at Dover International Speedway and the 42^nd victory-lap of his NASCAR career.

The majority of the laps belonged to Johnson, he led an amazing 298 laps of the Autism Speaks 400, and therefore it’s not a surprise that he won the race. Still you have to cross the finish line first and the driver who leads the majority of the laps doesn’t always win. Johnson scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.00 during the race, with the best score in Average Running Position (2.0), Fastest Laps Run (127), and he spent all but five laps of the race in the top 15.

Johnson was able to get in front of Tony Stewart through Turns 3 and 4 of Lap 398 and then slowly pull away from him to beat him to the line by .861 seconds. Stewart knew he lacked rubber; he had only taken two tires to Johnson’s four during the pit stop, so he made sure to stay near the top of the track to block Johnson’s line through the corners and so stayed in front of him. Johnson was able to finally pass Stewart on the outside of the final two corners and stay in front to take the win.

This win vaults Jimmie Johnson, who led 298 laps of the scheduled 400, into third on the Sprint Cup series driver points’ standings.

Greg Biffle finished third, Matt Kenseth took fourth place, Kurt Busch finished in fifth, and Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears, and Mark Martin rounded out the top ten places.

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Confidence is everything in sports, the feeling an athlete gets from success is one of the most important aspects, other than raw talent, for determining whether a racer or any athlete is successful, and on a roll. If this statement is correct? David Reutimann is on one of the best rolls of his NASCAR career because four days after his first victory in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race he took the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. Only the second pole of the season and the third of his career, Reutimann took the first spot in the Monster Mile by posting his best lap in a time of 22.960 seconds in his No. 00 Toyota.

The 11^th racer to run a qualifying lap, Reutimann ran his qualifying lap with an

Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday at 1:30 PM on FOX

average speed of 156.794 mph to just beat the 156.542 mph mark of Kasey Kahne for the pole position. Reutimann surprised the field with this result, especially since he was the 11^th racer to try to beat Kahne’s time, and Kahne was using the Dodge R6 powerplant in his car for the first time this season.

Juan Montoya will start third on the grid of the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday, Montoya qualified with an average speed of 156.020 on a day when his car didn’t seem to be running its best. Kasey Kahne’s teammate at Richard Petty Motorsports Reed Sorenson had a good run, Sorenson qualified fourth on the grid with an average speed of 155.952. The last winner at Dover Greg Biffle had problems in the corners with traction but still managed to finish fifth on the grid with an average speed of 155.932.

Kyle Busch will start sixth, which shouldn’t matter much if he’s up to form, so expect him to be in front after a few laps. A.J. Allmendinger will start seventh, eighth will be filled by Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers starts ninth, and the tenth position on the grid is held by Elliot Sadler. This result means that all four RPM racers, Kahne, Sorenson, Allmendinger and Sadler are starting Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 in one of the top ten starting positions.

You can watch the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday, May 31 at 1:30 PM on FOX or listen to it on MRN Radio starting at 1:15 PM.

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50-year-old Mark Martin did it again Saturday night, taking his second victors cup in the last four races of the Sprint Cup Series Championship by outlasting Jimmie Johnson in a crash-heavy race at Darlington Raceway. Only his second win at Darlington in the last sixteen years, he last won at Darlington in 1993 in the Southern 500, if he keeps up his winning pace he might even start thinking the Sprint Car Championship is within his reach.

Mark Martin wins at Darlington to take two of four last Sprint Cup Series races of season

Pretty good showing for a driver who contemplated hanging up his driving gloves a few years ago, before signing up for the 2010 Sprint Cup season with Hendrick Motorsports this week. The day before the race he had told interested people that he had signed up for the extra year because of the joy he still feels when he steps on the gas and not because for the chance to win a title. This might possibly be part of the reason for his success, no pressure, just the joy of action and doing what you love and he’s racing as good as he ever did.

Mark Martin ended a 97-race streak of frustration last month in Phoenix by leading for the last 46 laps to take his 37^th career Sprint Cup victory and seems to have rejuvenated his race-vitality and pure thrill of racing. In addition, he’s thrown a wrench into the idea that age is a barrier to winning in NASCAR and maybe shown that patience is definitely a benefit on the race track as he had to work his way through 17 cautions on Darlington’s two year old pavement.

The 17 wrecks surpassed the previous Darlington record for crashes in a race of 15 that was set in Darlington’s 14 years ago and more then doubled last years 8 crashes during the race at Darlington, which was after Darlington had just been paved the year before.

Clint Bowyer had an unfortunate day, as he ended an 83 race streak of finishing the race when he and A.J. Allmendinger collided and ended his day, which leaves him one race short of tying Herman Beam for the record for consecutive races finished.

Jimmie Johnson finished second at Darlington, Tony Stewart took third in a long and arduous affair, Ryan Newman fourth, with Jeff Gordon fifth.

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Practice and patience breeds success in life and NASCAR, it seems as a team that often talked a big game during the preseason, hasn’t been exactly the new kids on the block and has recently achieved a level of success that many thought they would be hard pressed to achieve. Stewart-Haas racing struggled to stay competitive last year, but Saturday night at the Richmond International Raceway it took a big step toward making this level of success a reality.

Stewart-Haas racing has it way through the pack to pull up behind the leaders, now can they take the next step

Tony Stewart combined fresh tires with great driving skills, crossed the finish line in second place, while his teammate Ryan Newman bounced back from an early encounter with Mark Martin to finish fourth for Stewart-Haas racing on a short .75 mile oval track. This marks the dawning of a new day for Stewart-Haas racing and is the first time since becoming teammates, the two have both finished in the top five in the same race. This result also places both Stewart-Haas drivers in the top 12 in championship points, with only 15 Sprint Cup races before NASCAR’s premier series pulls into Richmond again to determine this year’s championship field. Not bad for an organization that often had difficulty being organized, until Tony Stewart took the reigns in his hands and tightened-up the team’s technical relationship with Hendrick Motorsports.

Stewart and Newman have both shown obvious progress since the beginning of the season.  Newman moving from failed to finish better than 2oth place in the first four races of the season, but has steadily climbed since then and currently sits 10^th in the standings. Stewart has been more consistent since the start and has had his issues, but despite his problems, sits in third in points.

Stewart-Haas racing’s relationship with Hendrick Motorsports has supplied the team with chassis and engines, obviously two important aspects of any NASCAR team. The lack of success last year lead to Stewart being given a half-share in the team, who went to work and hired a group of top-notch industry professionals and attracted top sponsors, where the team would have been laughed at in previous years. Months later, the results of Stewart’s magic are becoming more and more visible on the race track, it will be fun, engaging and entertaining to watch and see what tricks he can pull off, both on and off the race track, to move his team up in the Sprint Cup series.

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Fort Worth, Texas was just the remedy Jeff Gordon needed to put him back in the winners circle as he finally won another race after being off the top of the podium for 47 straight races by beating team mate Jimmie Johnson to the checkered flag by a .378 second gap in Sunday’s Samsung 500.

Jeff Gordon finally celebrates after 47 losses in a row

The win allowed Gordon to increase his points gap in the Sprint Cup to 162 points over the second place driver, who just happens to be Johnson, and gave him his 82^nd career victory in Sprint Cup, which puts him in sixth place on the list for career victories in the popular series.

Gordon will probably be buying his crew a drink or two after the race, it was their efficiency and skill that allowed him to get out of the pit first under caution on lap 305 to take the lead. The race restarted on lap 309 of 334 with Gordon pulling away from the field, but around lap 319 Johnson started to pull Gordon back in by about two seconds, but he was only able to get as close as three or four car lengths by the time Gordon crossed the line.

The pit stop turned out to be the achilles heel for Carl Edwards, who was in the lead when he pitted, but restarted 11^th on lap 309 after spending an unusual amount of time in the pit and eventually finished 10^th. Edward’s teammate, Greg Biffle, also fell to pit problems, despite having one of the faster cars, when he had problems with lug nuts on his tires during his pit stop, but managed to finish third. The third Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth, also had a slow pit stop due to lug nut problems, and ended up in fifth place.

Tony Stewart once again had a strong race driving for Stewart-Haas, running fast for the majority of the race, without any real pit problems and finished fourth in the grid. The sixth through tenth places were taken by Mark Martin, Juan Montoya, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, and the before mentioned Carl Edwards.

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Marcos Ambrose is making history in NASCAR. Ambrose will be joining JTG Daugherty Racing in 2009, becoming the first Australian to race full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Ambrose will drive the No. 47 Toyota Camry, co-owned by Tad and Jodi Geschickter and former NBA All-Star Brad Daugherty.

Ambrose won his first NASCAR victory earlier this season at Watkins Glen.

With the laps dwindling down and the middle of the pack getting a little antsy, the field turned to complete mayhem with just 8 laps to go in the Centurion Boats at the Glen on Sunday afternoon. Michael McDowell spun David Gilliland as the two raced for position, setting off a chain reaction that left several cars crippled near the pit road entrance. Michael Waltrip, Bobby Labonte, Sam Hornish Jr, Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, Dave Blaney, and Joe Nemechek were also involved.

As seen in the video footage of the accident, Bobby LaBonte was left limping his way over to the infield care center. It was then learned that LaBonte was taken to the hospital in Elmira, NY with what Petty Enterprises VP Robbie Loomis described as discomfort in his rib and abdominal area, but NASCAR officials later stated that Bobby was released from the hospital and cleared to resume competition.

Marcos Ambrose took the lead with just three laps to go in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen to secure his first career Nationwide Series victory in 59 starts. He received the lead by virtue of Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson running out of fuel in the closing laps in an episode of bitter-sweet redemption after all the tough luck he’s suffered in NASCAR road course racing in 2008. He came close, but eventually took a back seat to Kyle Busch in Mexico City … mechanical issues ended his day in Sonoma when he made his Sprint Cup debut … and, a pit road speeding penalty robbed him in Montreal. But, none of that mattered on Saturday when Ambrose finally stood in a NASCAR victory lane for the first time in his life.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I literally could not believe it. I was just praying the car was gonna hold together and I wasn’t gonna get a late caution. But, we got the job done. I feel really good about it, and it’s just a big lift for our team and it feels like everything’s worth it today.”

Marcos didn’t have much time for celebration, though, because the following day served an even much taller task for the Australian native. He was to return once again to Watkins Glen and step behind the wheel of the Wood Brothers Racing no. 21 Ford to make his third Cup Series start, but after qualifying was washed out on Friday, Ambrose would have to start all the way in the back of the field in 43rd at a track where no driver had ever come from deeper than a 16th starting position to win.

Ambrose quickly made people forget that the team he was driving for on Sunday was a team on the verge of obscurity as he climbed his way into the top-15 by the halfway point. Then, with one of the fastest cars on the track, he dashed up inside the top-5 and was sitting in 3rd after Ryan Newman spun with just 13 laps to go. Even with two restarts to try and get it done, though, Ambrose was never able to get around the 2nd place car of Tony Stewart to try and press Kyle Busch for the lead, but if you ask Marcos, he’ll take his top-five Cup finish anyday of the week.

“It’s a big, bad world out here in NASCAR world, and I’m just pleased that I’m able to have a weekend like this to remember,” said Ambrose. “When it’s all said and done, I’ll be able to go home back to Tasmania and tell them how good I was at Watkins Glen on one year.”

It was certainly a well deserved weekend for Ambrose and his team(s). Ambrose has 5 more races remaining on his schedule driving the no. 21 Wood Bros. car before he competes full-time in the Cup Series next year with JTG Dougherty Racing.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the no. 88 team on Sunday as Earnhardt was in search of his first Cup victory at Watkins Glen International, and his first win at the track since winning the 1999 Nationwide Series race there. He started the day with the outside pole position after rain canceled out qualifying on Friday, and then he went onto lead 28 of the first 29 laps in the race.

Earnhardt gave up the lead during the first round of green flag stops after being one of the last cars to make their stop. Running several laps on the older tires while the rest of the field came in for some fresh rubber immediately proved to work against the team as he came out of the pits in 6th place, so one can’t help but wonder why they would choose to replay this strategy later in the race.

Junior once again found himself with the lead on lap 58 after the rest of the leaders came in to make their final stops of the day. His lead opened up to more than 25 seconds over second place as he became the only driver in the field that had yet to come down pit road, but he was giving more than a second per lap. Aside from the time that they were losing on the track, it became quite evident that a caution anytime before Earnhardt made his stop would flat out ruin his day, so it’s a bit peculiar as to why crew chief, Tony Eury Jr, would elect to keep his driver out on the track.

On lap 64, the worst did in fact happen. NASCAR was forced to waive the yellow for loose gravel that Travis Kvapil had kicked up onto the track, and as if it weren’t bad enough that Earnhardt had to surrender the lead to pit, he was one of only a small handful of cars that made that loenely drive down pit road with about 25 laps to go. He restarted back in 37th and was able to climb his way back up to 22nd by the end of the race, but Earnhardt fans everywhere now can’t help but wonder what might have been … and, what was Tony Eury Jr. thinking? To make matters worse, this also isn’t the first time that Junior fans have felt that Tony Eury Jr. may have cost Dale a shot at victory.

The disappointing finish also dropped Earnhardt from 2nd to 4th in the points standings, getting passed by Carl Edwards and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Junior Nation has had plenty to cheer about this season, though, as his first season with Hendrick has been far and away better than his final season with DEI in 2007 as he snapped his winless streak with a win earlier in the year at Michigan and he’s been up inside the top-5 in points for most of the year.