CupScene.com

(By Sarah Farlee Managing Editor, CupScene.com)

Posted: Monday,September 6th, 2010

Hampton, Ga., - Tony Stewart gave his team all the credit for Sunday night’s victory in the Emory Healthcare 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway – the pit crew for the track position and crew chief Darian Grubb for what Stewart says was “the best car that I’ve ever had here.”

“The pit crew, we gotta give all the credit to,” said Stewart. “Without that I don’t think we’d have the opportunity to be here tonight.”

Stewart lined up next to Carl Edwards on the final restart following the caution for Kasey Kahne. At the drop of the green Stewart jumped out ahead of the field and began to drive away.

HAMPTON, GA - SEPTEMBER 05: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet, leads a group of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 5, 2010 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

“Tony just had such a fast car there at the end,” said Edwards, who finished second.

Stewart and Edwards may have battled on the final restart, but battles for the lead all night long gave fans a show, often three-wide. Third place finisher Jimmie Johnson said that type of racing all night long was the way racing should be.

“I went three wide a few times on the inside lane, and didn’t understand, really, what was going on and why I had that great run,” said Johnson. “And then when I started on the pole position, or I guess I was second and the leader took the outside. It was the 14 [Stewart], and he just struggled with restarts all night.”

“This track in general is tough to get a good restart,” Johnson added.

Stewart said the first good restart all night, was the last one.

“The whole night I kept trying different things because I was struggling to get the grip on the restart I needed,” said Stewart. “I just struggled spinning the tires and I tried everything from shifting early to everything, the only thing I didn’t do was like I told Darian, I was almost embarrassed to talk about it, but it’s just an old sprint car trick that you do.”

“That was about the only thing I didn’t try,” Stewart added. “I tried everything that I knew and everything I’ve learned over 31 years of many I career, and just couldn’t figure it out.”

Stewart was finally able to figure out the restart, something he credited to the responsiveness of the car.

“It was fun in the car to sit there and smile and sit there and know that every third of the corner, I had something different,” Stewart said. “I think every time that I was asking for, and he was able to give me a change that was able to make the car respond, and that’s when you have fun at a place like this, when you’ve got a car that that’s responsive.”

EMORY HEALTHCARE 500 RESULTS>>>

UPDATED DRIVER POINTS>>>

Jeff Burton finished fourth and Kyle Busch finished fifth. Kurt Busch was sixth, Clint Bowyer was seventh, Ryan Newman was eighth and Juan Pablo Montoya was ninth. Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top-10.

The first ten drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup were set after Kevin Harvick had tire issues that sent the point’s leader behind the wall late in the race. Harvick finished 33rd, allowing the top-10 in points to clench spots in the Chase.

Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch (three wins), Stewart (one win), Edwards, Jeff Burton, Johnson (five wins), Kurt Busch (two wins), Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin (five wins). Drivers with no wins will have one more opportunity at Richmond to gain 10 bonus points before the Chase starts at New Hampshire in two weeks.

Greg Biffle (one win) and Clint Bowyer should clench at Richmond. Bowyer is 117 points over Ryan Newman in 13th.

Other notes from the Emory Healthcare 500:

-Joe Gibbs Racing had engine woes. Joey Logano was down a cylinder and Denny Hamlin led 73 laps before spinning when the engine expired on lap 143. Logano was 27th and Hamlin was 43rd.

-Greg Biffle spun on lap 152 following slight contact with Ryan Newman. Going three-wide into the corner contact was made and Elliott Sadler was unable to avoid Biffle. Sadler was 41st and Biffle was 36th.

-Scott Speed blew an engine on lap 265. Speed was able to get to pit road, but stopped when the car caught fire. Paul Menard, who ran in the top-10 early in the race dropped a cylinder and pulled off track just prior to the caution for Speed.

-Brad Keselowski hit the wall with just 30 laps to go that brought out the seventh caution of the night. Keselowski brushed the wall, started a spin, but saved it before making contact. Keselowski finished the race in the 25th position.