Tony Stewart’s guys got him out on the track first after the last caution flag pit stop on lap 159. Stewart then nursed an incredible 41 laps out of a tank of fuel to hold on to the victory.
Coming up on two laps left to race, Jimmie Johnson powered around the outside of Tony Stewart to retake the lead.
David Reutimann stayed out when a caution flew for rain. The precipitation never stopped, and Reutimann reigned at Charlotte.
With two laps left, Tony Stewart powered by Matt Kenseth to take the race lead, then drove off into the sunset. Or he would have… but it was already dark out.
Mark Martin was able to gap Jimmie Johnson on the final restart with an old school approach of braking early and accelerating hard out of the corners… a lesson I’d guess Johnson isn’t going to forget anytime soon.
Kyle Busch battled his way past Jeff Gordon on the 14th restart. After a couple tense laps battling the No. 24 and lapped cars, he drove off from the field to score his 15th career win in the Cup Series.
Carl Edwards had the lead when Brad Keselowski got a fender inside of him off turn 4 on the final lap. Edwards moved to block the No. 09 a little too late, going for a terrifying ride into the catchfence off of Ryan Newman’s car while Keselowski drove to victory lane.
Mark Martin was able to quickly dispatch Ryan Newman on the race’s final restart, and Tony Stewart never generated the steam to catch him. Martin’s victory is a feel good story, but it doesn’t hide the fact Phoenix wasn’t much of a race.
Jeff Gordon emerged from the final round of pit stops with the lead as Carl Edwards’s No. 99 team fumbled the ball badly, dropping their boy to 11th. Gordon won for the first time in 47 races. You knew it was coming eventually – just not at Texas.
Jimmie Johnson ran down Denny Hamlin with 15 laps to go. He then moved the No. 11 car aside, with both cars getting sideways and smoking the tires before Johnson pulled ahead to take the lead. There’s nothing so wrong with the new NASCAR racing the sport’s oldest racetrack can’t fix it. Cars and drivers running side by side and nose to tail? Can I get a hallelujah, brothers and sisters?
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