Filed under: Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
After leading the most laps in the Emory Healthcare 500, Tony Stewart survived his troubles with wheel spin on restarts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, powered into the lead on the final restart and stretched it out to a comfortable 1.316-second victory over Carl Edwards.
“Ring the bell, baby!” Stewart shouted on his radio as he scored his first victory of the 2010 season.
Jimmie Johnson finished third, followed by Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch.
Stewart showered his pit crew with praise for putting him in position to win.
Stewart led 176 laps and dominated the race after pole winner and early leader Denny Hamlin blew an engine and dropped out.
But before the final pit stops, brought on by Brad Keselowski‘s spin, Stewart had fallen back to fifth because of his trouble with wheelspin on restarts and wasn’t making any progress getting back up front.
On the final stop, though, the crew’s ultra-fast stop gained him three positions on the track, vaulting him from fifth back up to second. On the restart, Stewart shot past Edwards to take the lead. And he managed to do it again on the final restart on lap 307 of the 325-lap race.
