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The Hot Pass: Only the beginning for Stewart-Haas

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Lee Spencer

Lee Spencer is the senior NASCAR writer for FOXSports.com. She has provided award-winning coverage of auto racing over the last 15 years. Spencer has lent her expertise to both television and radio and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM Radio and the Performance Racing Network.

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Updated May 17, 2009 1:44 AM ET
     
 

CONCORD, N.C.

For Tony Stewart, it was just a matter of time. With finishes of fourth or better in five of the last six races, Stewart crept closer to winning each week. On Saturday night, Stewart finally pulled off the win in the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
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No, it wasn't a points race. No, he wasn't battling against the class of the field — his Hendrick allies Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were for all intents and purposes out of contention after both spun in unrelated accidents in the final 10 laps. Still, Stewart's ability to pressure Matt Kenseth, pass the No. 17 for the lead with three laps remaining and extend his advantage at the finish line by 0.971 of a second is proof that the No. 14 Chevrolet can compete against the big boys. But Stewart wasn't alone. His teammate Ryan Newman started from 12th and made it to second, but was doomed when a tire rub ended his night with seven laps to go. Stewart very graciously admitted, "It should have been Ryan Newman here first." "We weren't that good until the last run," Stewart said. "(Crew chief) Darian Grubb made some awesome calls there at the end to get us where I could drive that thing the way I could. Man, it was fast." Both Stewart-Haas Racing cars were so stout in the final segment that it could have been a showdown between teammates — a scenario that will definitely be repeated in the future. Currently, Stewart and Newman are second and eighth in points, respectively. Stewart certainly caught Kenseth's attention. Kenseth, who finished second, wasn't surprised by Stewart's success at all. "If he went and did his own deal and built his own cars and if he went up to Bill Davis' shop and did his own deal, I don't think he would have won a race there," Kenseth said. "But when you go over there, get Hendrick's information and engines and chassis and everything with this car — it's almost a production car how you put it together when you have all that information to draw from. "As talented as Tony and Ryan are, I did not think they wouldn't be competitive. I thought they would be as competitive as the Hendrick cars every week. They have a lot of their personnel over there and it's kind of a spinoff of that team like the Yates teams over at Roush." Kenseth makes a good point. While Stewart became the second driver/owner to win the All-Star Race, he humbly spread the wealth, thanking his co-owner Gene Haas, GM Joe Custer and director of competition Bobby Hutchens, who he hugged enthusiastically in the victory celebration, and Rick Hendrick. "We couldn't do it without Rick Hendrick and his engine and chassis department," Stewart said. Haas CNC Racing had access to Hendrick Motorsports technology in the past but with little success. The ability for Stewart to persuade HMS veteran Darian Grubb to join SHR and open a fluid information highway has expedited the growth. "This is great, something that will never happen again," Haas said. "I'm very happy. I've been doing this for seven or eight years so it's been a long time coming. There's been a lot of disappointments. Going to a lot of races and not winning. So I have to give a lot of credit to the team and the people that put this together. "We've always struggled. We had the right equipment. We had great people. We were just missing that magical part. I think when Tony came along, he saw an opportunity. We offered him a great opportunity. We knew he was an integral part of NASCAR history. He's really the one that made the big decision because we've been here all along." If there's one driver who embodies the term "All-Star," it would be Stewart. His two NASCAR Cup championships combined with a triple-crown achievement in USAC competition and his Indy Racing League records qualify him for that category. But it's becoming increasingly clear that teams with powerhouse alignments will lead the wave of success in NASCAR. And although the No. 14 crew copied its driver's celebration by scurrying up the frontstretch fence for the first time on Saturday night, for Stewart-Haas Racing the climbing has just begun. Maybe there will be a repeat performance as early as next Sunday.
Tagged: Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson

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