Tony Stewart Wins Big At Texas In NASCAR Chase Race #8

For the fourth time during the 10 race NASCAR Chase to the Sprint Cup, Tony Stewart made a trip to Victory Lane. This time, Tony celebrated win Chase Race eight in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Tony is making a serious run at the Sprint Cup Championship during NASCAR’s version of “playoffs”called The Chase. Tony had not won a race in the 2011 regular season, but after making the 12 driver field that would compete for the championship, he changed that very quickly. Tony captured back-to-back wins in the first two Chase races. Tony got his third win of the season, and third in The Chase, last week at Martinsville.

Following that race, Tony had closed in on points leader Carl Edwards with only 6 points separating them. Tony issued a verbal challenge to Carl from Victory Lane at Martinsville saying, “Carl Edwards had better be real worried. That’s all I’ve got to say. He’s not going to sleep for the next three weeks.” The stage was set for a battle at Texas Motor Speedway.

The first bit of drama for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Race was actually served up on Friday night by Kyle Busch. Kyle intentionally pushed Ron Hornaday into the wall under caution during the Camping World Truck Series as “retaliation” for what Kyle apparently felt was an intentional bump on the track from Ron. As a result of his actions, NASCAR banned Kyle from racing in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races over the weekend.

After the drop of the Green Flag at Texas, the race ran fast and mainly uneventful as far as wrecks go. There were only five caution periods in the AAA Texas 500. The first 140 laps of the race saw several different leaders in the race at points. Greg Biffle was the first to lead, but Matt Kenseth was looking like the car to beat in the first half of the race. Both Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards stayed out long enough during pit stop sequences in the first half to gain the bonus point for leading a lap.

At lap 140 of the 334 laps scheduled at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Tony took the lead and then began what would be a dominant second half of the race. By the end of the race, Tony had lead a race-high 173 times around the track. Tony did everything he could to close the gap between himself and Carl Edwards in the points standings, including being the leader of the race when the checkered flag waived. Carl didn’t roll over at Texas either though, as he kept chasing Tony down through out the race and held on to take second place. Kasey Kahne grabbed third with Matt Kenseth in fourth and Greg Biffle rounding out the top five. See the complete race results here.

Tony got all the bonus points he could by leading a lap, leading the most laps and winning the AAA Texas 500. Carl did what he could to hold onto his lead in points including leading a lap early in the race. At the end of the day, Carl was still the points leader, but Tony was able to cut the number of points Carl lead in half to just 3 points. Kevin Harvick held onto third place, 33 points out of the lead. Matt Kenseth moved up a spot fourth while Brad Keselowski slip back a spot to fifth. See the complete Sprint Cup points standings here.

Following Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, three drivers have been mathematically eliminated from a shot at winning the Sprint Cup Championship; Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman in 10th, 11th and 12th respectively. With just two races left in The Chase; although the other 7 drivers aren’t mathematically out of the running, it looks like the championship will come down to a duel between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. Tony issued the verbal challenge at Martinsville and then backed up his words in Texas. Will he be able to continue to put his driving where his mouth is, or will Carl find a way to quietly drive away with the championship?

There’s only two more races in The Chase before NASCAR crowns it’s 2011 Sprint Cup Champion. Be sure to tune in this Friday morning at 6:50am as Wilson joins JD & Kevin for a preview race nine in The Chase to the Sprint Cup Championship as NASCAR heads to Phoenix International Raceway this Sunday afternoon (11/13) for the Kobalt Tools 500.