Stewart Wins First Race as an Owner

CONCORD, N.C. — Tony Stewart passed Matt Kenseth through Turn 2 on Lap 99 of 100 to win Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The victory was Stewart’s first in the annual non-points event and his first as an owner-driver for Stewart-Haas Racing, the team in which he acquired 50-percent interest last year. Stewart pocketed the winner’s share of $1,022,975.

Kenseth ran second, followed by Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Kyle Busch.

As the cars worked Lap 93 of 100 — the third in the final 10-lap shootout — Ryan Newman’s Chevrolet roared into the mix, pushing Kyle Busch past leader Jeff Gordon on the backstretch. As the cars sped three-wide through Turn 3, however, contact between Gordon’s Chevrolet and Busch’s Toyota sent the No. 24 Chevy spinning into the grass and ultimately into the wall.

“Looks like a race broke out here,” Busch quipped to spotter Jeff Dickerson under the caution that followed.

Since only green-flag laps counted in the final segment, the field restarted with Kyle Busch in the lead with eight laps remaining but soon surrendered the top spot to Kenseth.

With a car set up for the short run, Jimmie Johnson led every lap of the first 50-lap segment, opening a lead of more than three seconds before a required green-flag pit stop midway through the segment.

On new tires after the stop, Johnson again pulled away from Kurt Busch and Gordon, only to have those two drivers narrow the advantage to a car length by the end of the run. Johnson held off his pursuers but dropped to fifth for the restart on Lap 51 when Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and Sam Hornish Jr. took two tires under the competition caution between segments.

A spin during the final segment dropped Johnson to 13th at the finish.

Clean air proved beneficial to Kyle Busch, who led all 20 laps in winning the second segment. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota stayed out between the second and third segments and surrendered the lead to Gordon halfway through the run. With Busch and Kenseth battling for second, Gordon won the third segment going away, leading the final 10 of 20 laps.

By Sporting News Wire Service