Since Tony Stewart’s near miss at Las Vegas Motor Speedway his recent runs haven’t gone exactly as they have hoped. In fact, Stewart and his team have just struggled to be competitive, overcome pit road strategy and mistakes the last couple weeks.
At LVMS, Stewart and his team overcame pit road penalty but a final pit stop saw Stewart forced to take four tires while eventual winner Carl Edwards took two under green flag conditions.
Stewart said. "I honestly think we had the car to beat [Sunday], we just gave it away. The fastest thing on the planet and gave it away" Stewart said after the race.
Stewart though was leading the points and easily had a car capable of winning the first three races of the season.
At Bristol Motor Speedway, Stewart was looking to get back on track. The race didn’t go as they hoped as Stewart struggled with a very tight race car. He never contended for the win and didn’t lead a lap.
Stewart dropped to third in the standings heading into Auto Club Speedway. After starting fifth he ran in the top 10 or most of the day but fell back to 13th by the checkered flag.
Stewart’s short track struggles continued again on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. All weekend he and his team struggled to find speed and the perfect setup on the tires.
All teams struggled with loose race cars as the tires weren’t laying much rubber on the track but Stewart and his team couldn’t quite find the speed needed.
He qualified 28th and on Sunday he never made his way to the front. He continued to battle a very loose race car.
Struggling to stay on the lead lap throughout the day Stewart was penalized for passing before the green on a restart. The consequence was a pass through penalty and he lost a lap to the leaders. Stewart day continued to get worse as a rear end gear broke and Stewart would end up in the garage. He finished 34th on the day and dropped to 11th in the standings.
While the majority tracks the series races at are intermediate tracks; Martinsville is in the Chase and will be crucial in the Chase.
Stewart has developed a pattern this season of having strong cars but struggling to close the deal.
With the current points system these poor finishes hurt you more than ever before. Stewart scored the least amount of points of his season on Sunday with 10. At BMS he scored 25 points in his 19th place finish.
Looking to find the consistency that had him atop the standings early on this season he heads to Texas Motor Speedway. At TMS, Stewart has the best driver rating of 104.5. He has one win, four top fives and 10 top 10 finishes.
Stewart success at TMS means this is the weekend we could see him back up front and he knows that.
“Yes, absolutely. It puts you in a positive frame of mind when you go to a track knowing that you’ve run well there before. I’ve always liked Texas. I’ve been there clear back in my Indy car days in ’97. The fans in Texas and the people that come to Texas Motor Speedway are really appreciative of the drivers and the teams. They’re just really passionate about their racing.”
Written by:
