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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Stewart, Earnhardt Head In Opposite Directions
Tony Stewart will clinch a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup on Sunday, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss it for the third time in five years...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted August 13, 2009   Charlotte, NC
The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season couldn’t be more surprising for the sport’s two biggest stars, Tony Stewart (Left) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Right). (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season couldn’t be more surprising for the sport’s two biggest stars, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart.

One was expected to mount a championship run this season, the other was expected to struggle to even make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

And in a sense, that is what’s happened. The difference is each man has played the role the other figured to have this year.

Entering his second season with the all-conquering Hendrick Motorsports organization, Earnhardt was supposed to earn his long-awaited first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship in 2009, while Stewart figured to have his hands full reshaping the sad-sack, back-of-the-pack Haas/CNC Racing team into even semi-competitive form in its first year as Stewart-Haas Racing.

Instead, the exact opposite has occurred.

When he takes the green flag to start Sunday’s Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Stewart will clinch a berth in the Chase. He will almost certainly end NASCAR’s 26-race regular season as the points leader and in all likelihood will be seeded first or second when the Chase begins, depending on whether or not he can add to his win total over the next four races.

Stewart has had a remarkable run over the last 10 races: Victories at Pocono, Daytona and Watkins Glen; runner-up finishes at Dover and Infineon; top fives at Chicagoland, the Brickyard and New Hampshire; and top 10s at Michigan and the second Pocono race.

Ryan Newman, SHR’s other driver, is ninth in points right now and has an excellent chance of holding on to make the Chase.

And with a huge points lead in hand, all Stewart has to worry about over the next four races is trying to win, as each regular season race victory is worth 10 bonus points once the Chase begins. Right now, Mark Martin has 40 bonus points, Stewart and Jimmie Johnson 30 each.

“The difference now is that the risk versus reward of taking a chance to win to get those 10 bonus points is none,” said Stewart, who won Cup championships in 2002 and ’05. “No matter what, we’re in, so winning is really all that matters. We can take more chances than some other teams, but that’s really the only difference.”


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