Tony Stewart ....... Will race the Indy 500
In a previous article I mentioned that Tony Stewart is being sued by his former IRL team owner John Manard. Manard filed a petition for an injunction to stop Stewart from racing in this year's Indy 500. On April 23rd the judge ruled against the injunction, allowing Stewart to continue with his plans to race in the Indy 500 and then fly to Charlotte, NC to race in the Coca-Cola 600 that night.
Looking into Tony Stewart's past racing experience, it is easy to see why he has adapted so well to the Busch and Winston Cup cars. In 1995 he raced ten different types of cars and won three USAC championships (the Triple Crown of auto racing), and two years later won the IRL championship. In 11 starts this year with Joe Gibbs Racing, he has placed two top five, and five top ten finishes. After his 15th place at Richmond, be dropped a position in the points standings, from sixth to seventh, getting edged out by Rusty Wallace. He also has a comfortable lead in the Rookie Of The Year points battle with 151 points, over Elliott Sadler's 117. Buckshot Jones is third, with 71 points.
Dale Jarrett won his first race this season, and the 19th of his career under the lights at Richmond International Raceway. He got around Mark Martin with just 37 laps remaining, and took control of the race, taking the checkered flag at least 7 car lengths ahead of Martin.
Jarrett was second in the championship points battle going into Richmond after ten races. His win puts him over 60 points ahead of last weeks points leader, Jeff Burton. Burton led the most laps, but his transmission gave out and he ended up with a disappointing 37th place finish. Now that he has won a race, him and the Ford Quality Care crew are geared for the championship. They have come as close as second, and then third last year, and this year they are giving it all they've got to get to number one. Dale said, "We didn't want to be a champion without a victory, now we can go after the championship, and see what we can do."
The big story this year at Richmond was the sealer that was put down on the track the week before the race. This year's sealer gave the tires tremendous grip, but after a long period, it caused the tires to blister, a malady that took Jeff Gordon and many others out of contention for the win. Especially, a couple of other up front starters, John Andretti, and Bobby Hamilton. Hamilton was able to finish forth, he's always good at Richmond. Bobby Labonte was third, with Rusty Wallace rounding out the top five.
Richmond.... Pontiac Excitement 400
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