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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Stewart Aims To Stay Hot
Historically, summer is when Tony Stewart shines...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted June 11, 2009   Charlotte, NC
After his first victory as a team co-owner at Pocono, Tony Stewart heads to Michigan International Speedway where he has a solid track record. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Tony Stewart has always been a streak driver and he’s always been someone who was especially good once the weather gets warm.

And those two factors should have his competition nervous heading into this weekend’s LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Stewart, of course, is coming off his first victory with his new Stewart-Haas Racing outfit last Sunday at Pocono Raceway, and he already leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings by 71 points over Jeff Gordon and 103 over three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.

Prior to this year, the last time Stewart led the points was in 2005, the year he won his second Sprint Cup title. And, oh by the way, Stewart remains the last guy to win a Cup title who doesn’t have the last name of Johnson.

In Stewart’s championship season of 2005, he won his first race of the season in June on the Infineon Raceway road course, the Northern California track where the Cup Series races after MIS. That triggered a streak of five victories in seven races, culminating with another road-course triumph at Watkins Glen International in August.

The following season, Stewart won three races in a seven-race stretch late in the year.

Having already blown past established expectations with his new team this year, Stewart not only is a legitimate championship contender, you can make the case that he’s elevated himself to the role of favorite. Even Stewart’s been pleasantly surprised so far.

“I’m not sure that I thought we could win a championship the first year,” he said. “It’s like we said a million times – you look at everything on paper, you look at the resources, you look at the equipment that we have, the shop that we have, all the pieces of the puzzle – it makes sense that yes, you have a shot just like everybody else does. But you get to the track and see the guys you are up against and the competition we are racing against, there are no slouches.”


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