Stewart Wins 4th Chase Race, Trims Edwards' Lead to 3

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after he won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 6, 2011, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)Photo Gallery from the NASCAR® Events at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, November 6th, 2011

by Reid Spencer (Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
Tony Stewart backed up his smack talk with a convincing victory in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

With his fourth victory in the Chase and the 43rd of his career, Stewart put a dent in runner-up Carl Edwards’ series lead, scoring maximum points (48) to trim Edwards’ advantage from eight to three points with two races left in the season.

After winning last week at Martinsville, Stewart promised Edwards a sleepless three weeks during the stretch run for the title. On Sunday afternoon, Stewart let his car do the talking, taking the lead from Edwards on a Lap 275 restart and coming back to the front through a cycle of green-flag pit stops late in the race.

"I don’t think we have to say anything," Stewart said in victory lane. "I think our performance today spoke for itself. He knows we’re there—trust me. … Carl kept us honest today. We got all the bonus points we could get and we got the win, so we gained more than we needed to gain on the average for the week.

"It doesn’t take much right now. It’s one spot, if a guy wins the race. We’re doing exactly what we need to do. I’m really confident right now."

Stewart didn’t regain the lead until Lap 330 of 334, when Jeff Burton lost his fuel-mileage gamble and ran out of gas with just over four laps left.

Edwards, whose lone win this year came at Las Vegas in March, found consolation in retaining the points lead and in putting distance between himself and third-place Kevin Harvick (33 points back) and fourth-place Matt Kenseth (38 points back).

"Although we would have loved to have won today, to be three points ahead, and then to have the third- and fourth-place guys father behind, it looks like it’s truly going to come down to Tony and I, and that’s going to be a lot of fun," Edwards said.

Kasey Kahne ran third, followed by Kenseth and Greg Biffle. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

Stewart had led 142 laps by the time Joey Logano’s Toyota dropped oil on the backstretch on Lap 261, causing the fourth caution of the race. Edwards, Stewart and the five cars behind took right-side tires only on Lap 263.

Edwards got a huge jump on the restart on Lap 267 and pulled away to a lead of more than one second before NASCAR called the fifth caution on Lap 270 for debris in Turn 3. The first 13 cars stayed out under the yellow, and Stewart stayed with Edwards on a restart on Lap 275, moving around the No. 99 Ford to the outside.

"I think if I could have stayed in front of him, I’d have been able to get him," Edwards said. "The restart before that, he spun his tires, and I felt really good about that one, (but) he timed it just right on that last restart and hung on my door.

"I give those guys credit. They’ve done a good job, but now we get to pull out all the stops here. We’ve been hanging on, we’re leading these points, we get to pull out all the stops these last two races, and there couldn’t be a better place to finish it than Homestead. I think folks ought to stay tuned. It’s going to get pretty exciting, and I’m just glad Tony and I are out there, and we can race for this thing."

Notes: Subbing for Kyle Busch, who was parked by NASCAR for wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution in Friday's truck race at Texas, Michael McDowell finished 33rd, three laps down. ... Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were eliminated from title contention.

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 34
Unofficial Race Results for the 7Th Annual Aaa Texas 500 - Sunday, November 6, 2011
Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 334 Laps - 501 Miles - Purse: $6,857,822

Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 5 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 334 48 5 144.0 $484,783 Running 7 173
2 7 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 334 43 1 120.9 $361,566 Running 3 14
3 9 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 334 42 1 113.5 $231,883 Running 2 5
4 3 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford 334 41 1 124.1 $227,461 Running 5 87
5 1 16 Greg Biffle Scotch Blue Ford 334 40 1 107.1 $196,125 Running 1 23
6 23 24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet 334 38 104.8 $190,661 Running
7 16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard by Tradition/AMP Chevrolet 334 37 88.3 $144,475 Running
8 19 56 Martin Truex, Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 334 36 89.7 $134,325 Running
9 18 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 334 35 88.3 $164,433 Running
10 26 43 AJ Allmendinger Immortals/Best Buy Ford 334 34 91.6 $157,736 Running
11 12 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 334 33 103.3 $140,366 Running
12 2 6 David Ragan UPS My Choice Ford 334 32 105.2 $116,625 Running
13 21 29 Kevin Harvick Rheem Chevrolet 334 31 89.7 $150,511 Running
14 11 48 Jimmie Johnson mylowes Chevrolet 334 31 1 94.0 $151,011 Running 1 1
15 4 27 Paul Menard Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet 334 30 1 79.6 $108,200 Running 1 1
16 24 39 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans/Carrier Classic Chevrolet 334 29 1 73.5 $140,100 Running 1 4
17 13 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 334 0 73.6 $98,550 Running
18 15 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 334 26 71.4 $135,533 Running
19 30 5 Mark Martin CARQUEST/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 334 25 67.9 $105,725 Running
20 28 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 333 24 64.1 $143,075 Running
21 20 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 333 23 67.5 $124,364 Running
22 6 00 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 333 22 64.4 $124,683 Running
23 10 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 333 21 77.1 $122,820 Running
24 8 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge 333 21 1 80.9 $121,633 Running 1 2
25 33 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota 333 19 54.7 $96,400 Running
26 29 51 Landon Cassill(i) Security Benefit/Thank A Teacher Chevrolet 332 0 57.3 $110,083 Running
27 31 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 332 18 1 69.8 $104,375 Running 2 24
28 32 47 Bobby Labonte Wounded Warrior Project Toyota 332 16 50.2 $121,020 Running
29 43 71 Andy Lally # TRG Motorsports Ford 332 15 37.5 $101,475 Running
30 14 22 Kurt Busch AAA Dodge 331 14 59.2 $137,340 Running
31 41 38 Travis Kvapil(i) Long John Silver's Ford 331 0 40.2 $103,708 Running
32 34 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 331 12 42.7 $100,872 Running
33 17 18 Michael McDowell M&M's Toyota 331 11 45.3 $139,916 Running
34 37 32 Mike Bliss(i) Street King Ford 329 0 35.7 $90,925 Running
35 36 35 Dave Blaney Big Red Chevrolet 316 9 41.6 $90,725 Running
36 22 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops/Arctic Cat Chevrolet 295 8 51.9 $129,114 Running
37 25 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota 258 7 47.4 $98,300 Engine
38 42 36 Geoffrey Bodine Luke & Associates, Inc. Chevrolet 215 6 31.0 $90,100 Vibration
39 39 46 Scott Speed(i) Green Stuff Absorbent Ford 30 0 31.5 $89,900 Rear Gear
40 35 66 Josh Wise(i) HP Racing LLC Toyota 23 0 32.7 $89,700 Rear Gear
41 38 37 Mike Skinner(i) MaxQ Motorsports Ford 19 0 29.9 $89,475 Brakes
42 40 87 Joe Nemechek(i) AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota 14 0 27.4 $89,275 Clutch
43 27 55 JJ Yeley Ingersoll Rand Ford 10 1 27.6 $89,561 Fuel Pressure

Race Comments: Before an estimated attendance of 151,000 Tony Stewart won the AAA Texas 500, his 43rd NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 18,66 (driver changes), No. 00 (engine change).

Failed to Qualify: (3) 30 David Stremme, 95 David Starr(i), 7 Reed Sorenson(i).

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 16 Mins, 51 Secs. Average Speed: 152.705 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.092 Seconds

Caution Flags: 5 for 21 laps: Laps: 113-116 (Debris on track [11]); 202-206 (#36,42 accident backstretch [29]); 241-244 (#48 spin Turn 4 [21]); 263-266 (Fluid on track [33]); 271-274 (Debris on track [00]).

Lead Changes: 23 among 10 drivers: G. Biffle 1-23; M. Kenseth 24-42; T. Stewart 43-45; M. Kenseth 46-88; C. Edwards 89-90; M. Kenseth 91-112; C. Edwards 113; P. Menard 114; M. Kenseth 115-116; T. Stewart 117; M. Kenseth 118; T. Stewart 119-158; J. Johnson 159; B. Keselowski 160-161; T. Stewart 162-202; K. Kahne 203-206; T. Stewart 207-263; C. Edwards 264-274; T. Stewart 275-300; K. Kahne 301; J. Burton 302-319; R. Newman 320-323; J. Burton 324-329; T. Stewart 330-334.