Stewart takes Emory Healthcare 500
Down to just one race a year after Sunday night, 50-year-old Atlanta Motor Speedway delivered some racing for the ages as there were battles for the lead and drama aplenty even during several long stretches of green-flag racing at the Emory Healthcare 500.
But when it came down to the end, Tony Stewart, who had the fastest car for most of the race, motored away from Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson to get his first won of the season.
For a time, it looked as if Stewart might have lost his advantage, but after a caution period at Lap 295, the seventh of the night, Stewart and Edwards took advantage of quick pit stops to leap-frog past previous race leader Kasey Kahne to restart first and second, with Johnson fourth and Kurt Busch.
Edwards took the lead on the restart, but Stewart had the top spot by the time they reached the backstretch. Kahne and Busch collided, cutting Kahne’s tire and bringing out the eighth caution of the race.
On the restart, with 18 laps to go, Stewart led Edwards, Johnson, Ryan Newman and Busch.
Stewart pulled away and was unchallenged the rest of the way to the checkered flag, his first in the past 31 starts, while Edwards finished second ahead of Johnson, Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch.
It was Stewart’s 38th career Cup victory.
“You guys won this thing in the pits,” Stewart radioed to his crew.
The 500 wound up being unkind to several Chase contenders, but they were running strong when bad luck struck.
Points leader Kevin Harvick had a top-five car before a flat tire just past the 250-lap mark dropped him out of contention. Harvick radioed to his crew that he simply overshot his pits and blew the tire trying to slow his car.
Polesitter Denny Hamlin was one of the dominant drivers in the early going, leading 74 laps, but his night came to a premature end on Lap 144 when the engine blew in his No. 11 Toyota.
Hamlin said his car is capable of winning the season title, if it stays together.
“I know if we had the reliability that we could win the championship, and the odds would be pretty good to win the championship, if I can just keep it together for 10 weeks,” he said.
That caution for Hamlin was beneficial to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, who used the Lucky Dog free pass to rejoin the lead lap after falling back because of an unscheduled pit stop.
Then on the next restart, Greg Biffle wrecked his No. 16 Ford and spent nearly 80 laps in the garage while his team patched up his car. He salvaged a 36th-place finish.
Jamie McMurray, who entered the race 13th in points, just one shy of a Chase berth, was running sixth on Lap 178 when he had to make an unscheduled pit stop under green because of a flat tire. He dropped to 29th and raced his way back into the Lucky Dog position and was able to rejoin the lead lap, but he didn’t finish high enough to make up much ground on Clint Bowyer, who holds the 12th and final spot in the standings with just one race, at Richmond International Raceway next Saturday, remaining before the start of the 10-race, championship-deciding Chase for the Sprint Cup. The top 10 drivers in the standings clinched their Chase berths.