Red Hot Stewart Shaves Edwards' Point Lead by Winning Texas

FORT WORTH, TX – RIS –  Tony Stewart backed up all the tough talk from Martinsville last week.  Stewart had said that Carl Edwards, the Sprint Cup points leader had better watch his back over the last three races.  Well, Edwards found that he was in back of Stewart in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.  It was Stewart’s fourth win in the Chase and the second time in the last eight races that he was won two in a row.  Edwards finished second, but bonus points cut his lead over to Stewart to a mere three points with two races to go.

“Carl kept us honest,” Stewart said. “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 stayed ahead of Edwards all day, but he didn’t take the lead for the final time until Lap 330 (of 334), when he passed Jeff Burton who was trying to stretch his fuel and win on gas mileage.  It wasn’t to be as Burton ran short on fuel and both Stewarts and Edwards drove past.

"Although we would have loved to have won, to be three points ahead, and then to have the third- and fourth-place guys farther 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 Matt 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 1 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."

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were eliminated from Chase. contention.

Subbing for Busch, who was parked by NASCAR for wrecking Ron Hornaday under caution in Friday's Truck race at Texas, Michael McDowell finished 33rd, three laps down.

The drivers next head for Phoenix International Raceway and a track that has favored Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson more than the top two title contenders.  Of course Johnson and Harvick are not out of the race (Harvick is 33 points behind and Johnson is 55), but the fat lady is singing on their chances.  Today’s race finish insures that there will be a close race for the championship, which is exactly what NASCAR wanted when they changed the point system before the start of the season.

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


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