STEWART ENDS LONG DROUGHT
AT LONG POND
Pocono, PA: Tony Stewart had not been to Victory Lane in 27 races. In defending his 2002 Winston Cup Championship this year, Tony has already experienced 4 DNF's in 13 races. Although he has had good cars and has led in many races, he was not able to bring them together in order to grab the checkered flag. But, after his strong showing at Dover last week, it appears he has regained his Championship form as he seized the win at the Pocono 500 today.
The #20 Home Depot Chevrolet was fast "right off the truck". Even without practice, the car needed little in the way of adjustments all day. The only pit strategy was to get that car in and out as quickly as possible. Tony's crew was up to the task, which helped considerably at the end of the race. While other teams tried the "gas & go" or 2 tire quick pits throughout the race, Crew Chief, Greg Zipadelli stuck to his regular pit windows. Because the car was so strong, Tony was able to move forward with very little effort. This was Tony's 16th career victory, his first at Pocono.
The day was not without its woes for many drivers. Jeff Gordon cut a tire on the second lap in the #24 DuPont Chevrolet. He was able to stay on the lead lap and was lucky to get a caution that allowed him to come back around on pace with the rest of the field. After the caution, he picked his way back to the top 10, but was not able to maintain that position. He ended up in 13th.
Pole sitter Jimmie Johnson led the first lap, but he too lost momentum in the #48 Lowes Chevrolet. He finished 12th. Ryan Newman seemed strong in the middle of the race, but the #12 Alltel Dodge could not catch Tony and he came in 5th.
Two fiery crashes ended the race early for Ken Schrader in the #49 Bam Dodge and Dale Jarrett in the #88 UPS Ford. Both incidents occurred on the first turn at a time when the vehicles were fully loaded with gasoline. Both cars went into the wall, then caught on fire. Luckily Ken and DJ were able to get out of their cars quickly and they were not injured.
Elliott Sadler lead the race for a short time when he decided not to pit after DJ's crash. He stayed in the top 10 for the remainder of the race and was able to bring the #38 M&M's Ford in at 9th place. It appeared that Sterling Marlin might have the car to beat as he was leading the race with 100 laps left. The #40 Coors Light Dodge gave all it had, but could not stay ahead of Tony. Sterling finished 6th. Matt Kenseth was able to retain his 1st place position in the points standings as he finished 3rd in the #17 DeWalt Ford. Dale Earnhardt Jr tried to close the gap by finishing 4th in the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet.
Terry Labonte had another impressive day as well. The #5 Kellogg's Chevrolet stayed within the Top 15 throughout the entire race. However, at the end of the race on lap 197, an incident occurred as Terry tried to take a place from Jeff Green in the #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet. Jeff moved down to block Terry from passing. Terry got underneath Jeff's rear bumper and the car spun into the newly constructed dirt embankments on the inside of turn 1. The #4 Kodak Pontiac of Mike Skinner and the #16 Grainger Ford of Greg Biffle were also damaged. Terry Labonte finished the race 7th.
Ward Burton had a very good day in the #22 Caterpillar Dodge. When he elected to stay out during a caution, he gained much needed track position. The actually led a few laps and eventually finished 8th. Ricky Craven had started the #32 Tide Pontiac near the back of the field. He battled his way to the front and finished 10th.
Of course, the best news of the day was finding out that Jerry Nadeau had been released from a
Rehabilitation Hospital in North Carolina. We wish him a speedy recovery!
Article by S. Kipple
6/08/03
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