By Ryan - Posted on September 8, 2010
Tony Stewart turned a dominating performance into his first win of the 2010 season in the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday night. Although the racing was close most of the evening, he pulled away from Carl Edwards to finish 1.3 seconds ahead. Jimmie Johnson ran a clean race and finished third, Jeff Burton finished fourth, and Kyle Busch came in fifth. The top ten was rounded out by Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Juan Montoya, and Marcos Ambrose.
There were several cautions during the race, both from mechanical failures and accidents. On lap 143, Denny Hamlin’s engine let go, causing him to spin across the infield. Shortly afterwards, Ryan Newman made contact with Greg Biffle, who crashed into Elliott Sadler. Even Series points leader Kevin Harvick couldn’t avoid bad luck, as he blew a tire that shredded the front left portion of his car.
Tony Stewart, however, was able to avoid all incidents on the track, and made his way to victory lane after some All-Star type celebratory burnouts and doughnuts. After thanking his sponsors in victory lane, Stewart exclaimed, “I’ve never been so happy to win a race in my life.” There were moments, however, when it did not appear that he would be able to hold off the field. After each caution, Stewart struggled with restarts. Each restart, he spun the tires, which allowed several drivers to pass him. Within a few laps, however, he had moved back up. Stewart earned bonus points for the win and for leading the most laps (176), which will help him as the drivers’ line up for the Chase.
Eight more drivers joined Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon by claiming their spot in the chase for the championship. Even Denny Hamlin, who finished dead last in Atlanta, clinched a spot, along with Stewart, Edwards, Burton, Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch. This leaves two spots up for grabs as the series heads to Martinsville. Greg Biffle is currently in 11th place, and his lead seems safe. Clint Bowyer is 12th, and leads Ryan Newman by 117 points.
