Stewart Spins En Route to Near Win

In second following a lap 191 restart, Stewart punched the throttle of his Joe Gibbs Racing machine to draw alongside Newman upon entering turn one. The two drivers raced door-to-door off turn two and down the backstretch of the 1.5-mile oval, with Stewart unwilling to cede his position on the inside of Newman.

But in the middle of turns three and four, physics forced Stewart out of second and into the wall.

The rear end of the #19 DLP HDTV Chevrolet snapped sideways, sending Stewart backward into the outside retaining wall. As Newman motored on, Stewart collected third-place J.J. Yeley, his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing. Both drivers impacted the wall, with Stewart spinning down toward the inside of the track where an unsuspecting David Stremme rammed what was left of Stewart's rear bumper.

"That stung a little bit," said Stewart after being treated and released from the infield care center. "I had nothing to lose. I went for the win. I'm just really sorry I took my teammate out and all the other guys who got caught up in it.

"I had been able to go anywhere I wanted all night. Ryan had the best car. We were a second-place car, but we had a great sponsor with DLP HDTV and Texas Instruments tonight and thought maybe we could get them their first win in their first night out. We at least tried. I wasn't going to be one of those guys that rode around and went for second. We just did the best we could.

"I don't know how close Ryan was to me, but I didn't expect him to give the spot to me, by any means. I knew we could run second, no problem. But I got a really good restart under Ryan. Ryan gave me room. He didn't do anything wrong. I just went down there - and it was the same thing we kept seeing all night - the guy on the bottom was the guy who was going to pay. We both went in there really hard and he came out and I didn't.

"It had been a fun night up to that point. It's the first time I've driven a Joe Gibbs Racing Busch Series car since 1998. I'm just sorry for the DLP HDTV people from Texas Instruments. They're going to be with Hall of Fame Racing next year and they came on board with us for this race to get their feet wet and get ready for next year."

Stewart's strong run was even more impressive considering he made three separate rallies from mid-pack to challenge for the lead.

The #19 DLP HDTV started the 200-lap race 25th, and by lap 50 Stewart had already worked his way into the top-five. The strength of the Joe Gibbs Racing machine was evident, and Stewart would've been a regular in the top-five all night had it not been for two slow pit stops that dropped him back to the mid-teens.

A scheduled four-tire pit stop on lap 72 took longer than normal when a lugnut fell off the right rear tire exchange. By the time the lug was found and tightened onto the wheel hub, Stewart was 16th. But just as his first run to the front took little time, so did Stewart's second go-round. After a three-wide pass on lap 113, Stewart was second.

Yet again on the very next pit stop on lap 125, another right rear lugnut fell off during the tire exchange. More time was lost in the pits, and again Stewart returned to the track in mid-pack, this time at 14th.

But it proved of little matter, as Stewart picked his way toward the lead, regaining the runner-up slot with 25 laps to go.

As mentioned earlier, Newman won the Dollar General 300, picking up his fifth consecutive Busch Series victory to break the record set by Sam Ard in 1983 for consecutive wins in a single season. Ard won four straight races while Newman stands five-for-five in the Busch Series race he's entered this year.

Elliott Sadler finished second, while Paul Menard, Carl Edwards and Sterling Marlin rounded-out the rest of the top-five. Comprising the remainder of the top-10 were Jason Leffler, Jon Wood, Ashton Lewis Jr., Kevin Lepage and Justin Labonte.