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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
ALL-STAR: Stewart-Haas Shines In Victory
Tony Stewart gave Stewart-Haas Racing its first team victory with a dramatic win the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted May 17, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Tony Stewart scored his team's first NASCAR victory on Saturday night in the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway plus a million dollars and some shiny hardware, too. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
You knew this was coming. Without question.
Tony Stewart celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on at Lowe's Motor Speedway. (Photo: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The way Stewart-Haas Racing has run in recent weeks, it was only a matter of time before Tony Stewart or Ryan Newman put one of the team’s Chevrolets into victory lane for the first time. On Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, it was Stewart who did the honors, passing Matt Kenseth with two laps to go to win the 25th running NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Stewart shocked the world last year when he announced that he would become half owner of Haas-CNC Racing, a move that left many folks scratching their heads wondering why a champion driver and open-wheel team owner would want to align himself with a team of perpetual backmarkers.

But with Rick Hendrick quietly pulling the strings behind the scenes, what happened wasn’t that Stewart became half-owner of two tail-end cars. Instead, he in essence became half-owner of two quasi-Hendrick Motorsports cars. Hendrick supplies SHR with engines and chassis, and gave Stewart longtime Hendrick engineer Darian Grubb as his crew chief.

SHR has Hendrick written all over it, which is a very good thing indeed, given the dominance of the Hendrick organization this season.

The results have been sensational to date. In addition to Stewart’s huge All-Star victory, the two-time Sprint Cup Champion is second in series points and Newman is eighth, despite a rocky start. These two, along with Hendrick drivers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin all have the look of potential series champions for 2009.

But before talk of a championship could commence, the team needed to progress from consistent top-five finishes to begin winning races, and that’s exactly what Stewart did on Saturday night, diving low underneath Kenseth in Turn 2 of the race’s penultimate lap to claim victory.

“I’m so proud of everyone on this Office Depot/Old Spice team,” said Stewart, who won more than $1 million for his victory in the All-Star Race. “To get those guys in victory lane and to get these guys on the team that haven’t been to victory lane yet – to get them there for the first time, that means more than a million dollars does to me. It’s that gratifying to get this group of guys in victory lane.


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