More progress for Stewart-Haas

LONG POND, PA - JUNE 09: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, leads Clint Bowyer, driver of the #15 RKMotorsCharlotte.com Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Party in the Poconos 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 9, 2013 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
LONG POND, PA - JUNE 09:  Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, leads Clint Bowyer, driver of the #15 RKMotorsCharlotte.com Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Party in the Poconos 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 9, 2013 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.  (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
LONG POND, PA – JUNE 09: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, leads Clint Bowyer, driver of the #15 RKMotorsCharlotte.com Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Party in the Poconos 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 9, 2013 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

LONG POND, Pa.–Tony Stewart got his third straight top 10 Sunday at Pocono. Ryan Newman parlayed an off-sequence pit stop strategy into a fifth-place finish. Danica Patrick made a bid for a top-20 result before falling back to 29th at the finish.

Overall, it was another strong performance from Stewart-Haas Racing, which seems to have turned a corner over the last three weeks.

“Definitely progress, for sure,” said Stewart, who followed his win last Sunday at Dover with a fourth in the Party in the Poconos 400. “It’s one thing if one car runs good, but to have two or three of us running good shows that we are gaining momentum.

“It’s not just one team. The whole organization is gaining momentum.”

Race winner Jimmie Johnson and third-place Dale Earnhardt Jr., along with Stewart and Newman, all had Hedrick Motorsports engines under their hoods.

“There’s no doubt that having four of the top five cars with Hendrick horsepower shows the strength there,” Stewart said.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.