Monday, March 12, 2012

Stewart Finally Gets a Win in Las Vegas

Tony Stewart knew he should have won last year's race in Las Vegas, but a pit stop gone wrong kept him winless here.

On Sunday, winning and losing was in his control, and Stewart used a series of outstanding restarts to put 13 frustrating trips to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his rearview mirror.

Stewart's final restart advantage came with four laps remaining, and he sped away from Jimmie Johnson to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400.

Now Stewart has only Darlington and Kentucky left on his list of racetracks where he hasn't claimed victory. "Smoke" has won a Nationwide Series race at Darlington, but not a Cup event. Kentucky was added to the Cup schedule last year, so Stewart has had only one shot at that race.

Stewart should have broken his Las Vegas hex last year, opening as much as a four-second lead. But an air hose got stuck in the fender, causing him to drag the hose out of his pit box to incur a stop-and-go penalty.

"I'm just glad to finally win one here," Stewart said. "We were so close last year and had a dominant car. I'm not sure we had a dominant car (Sunday), but we had an awful fast (one)."

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