On the eve of Halloween, Tony Stewart proved to be a very scary figure for those still competing for this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) won Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway to score his third win in the last seven races, which bumped him up to second in points, only eight markers behind series leader Carl Edwards with just three races remaining.

“Carl Edwards had better be really worried,” said Stewart from a champagne-soaked victory lane. “That’s all I’ve got to say. He’s not going to have an easy three weeks.”

Stewart’s words were backed up by his actions, as he led three times for 14 laps and took the lead from five-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson on a restart with three laps to go.

“I don’t think anybody has ever passed Jimmie Johnson on the outside, so I guess it was just determination,” said Stewart about his all-out, late-race pass. “To be honest, it’s really not the fact of beating Jimmie as much as it’s just hard to win in this series to begin with. You cherish these opportunities. You make sure that when you have the opportunity, you make the most of it.”

In order to get this opportunity, which turned out to be his third win and 14^th top-10 in 26 career Sprint Cup starts at Martinsville and his 42^nd win in 461 career Sprint Cup races, Stewart had to overcome a lot of adversity, most notably, an unscheduled trip to pit road on lap 415 to replace what he thought was a flat tire.

“I swore I had a left-rear flat,” Stewart said. “We had changed so much stuff during the race that I didn’t think it was flat, but I thought it was going down. We had contact with (Kevin) Harvick and I felt a ‘clunk’ and I didn’t know if it broke something or if we had a flat, but at that part of the race you couldn’t take a chance. But (crew chief) Darian Grubb saved us and got us the great pit strategy there at the end that got us the track position back.”

The unscheduled pit stop dropped Stewart all the way to 20^th, yet he still rallied his way to the win in the final 80 laps around the tight, .526-mile bullring.

“I don’t think we had the best racecar today by any means, but we had the most determined pit crew to get it as good as they could get it,” said Stewart. “The first 200 laps, Darian was making changes. We just couldn’t get the car to respond to anything. He made some good changes the whole last half of the race that got us in the ballpark. He had two awesome pit calls with pit strategy that got us track position.

“The first time I screwed up and gave it away thinking I had a flat tire. Then at the end of the day, he got us that track position back with another great call for two tires. That is what truly gave us the shot to have that opportunity at the end of the day.

“For a guy that grew up 22 miles from here, he had an All-Star day today,” said Stewart, referencing Grubb’s Virginia connection, as he grew up in the tiny town of Floyd. “He made the right calls that gave us that opportunity, and kept making changes.

“Today was a fight, for sure. I was pretty mad all day, but I was the only guy who didn’t get in a wreck with somebody, so I was kind of proud of that.”

Stewart, the last driver not named Jimmie Johnson to win a Sprint Cup championship, is in contention to add a third title to the ones he earned in 2002 and 2005.

“This is a tough series,” said Stewart, now a 13-year Sprint Cup veteran and a seven-time Chase for the Sprint Cup participant. “It’s been a tough Chase. This is the best Chase field we’ve ever had. You work hard all year to try to be in this position. There were guys that may have had their chances taken away today. So to be in the position that we’re in right now, sitting here knowing that we’re right in the middle of this thing with three weeks to go, it’s obviously a great feeling and great position to be in. We’ve just got to go out and keep doing what we’re doing here.”

All three of Stewart’s victories this season have come during the Chase for the Sprint Cup, which the two-time Sprint Cup champion began seven races ago with back-to-back wins Sept. 19 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., and Sept. 25 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

This was the fourth Sprint Cup victory for SHR in 2011, as Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman, won in July at New Hampshire. SHR now has 11 Sprint Cup victories since its inception in 2009.

Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for SHR, battled back for a solid 10^th-place finish in the TUMS Fast Relief 500 after getting spun into the SAFER Barrier in turn two late in the race. Newman led twice for 41 laps en route to his 16^th top-10 result of the season and his 10^th top-10 in 20 career Sprint Cup starts at Martinsville.

Stewart finished .170 of a second ahead of runner-up Johnson, while Jeff Gordon, Harvick and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Edwards and Newman comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 18 caution periods for 108 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

Stewart and Newman are both in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup and came into Martinsville fourth and 12^th, respectively, in the Chase standings. Stewart was 19 points behind Chase leader Edwards while Newman was 88 points out of the top spot. Stewart leaves Martinsville second in points, eight markers behind series leader Edwards. Newman remained 12^th in the standings and is now 89 points out of first.

With only three races remaining before a champion is crowned following the season finale Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the top-12 drivers competing for the title rank as follows:

1.             Carl Edwards (2,273 points)
2.             Tony Stewart (2,265 points, -8)
3.             Kevin Harvick (2,252 points, -21)
4.             Brad Keselowski (2,246 points, -27)
5.             Matt Kenseth (2,237 points, -36)
6.             Jimmie Johnson (2,230 points, -43)
7.             Kyle Busch (2,216 points, -57)
8.             Kurt Busch (2,215 points, -58)
9.             Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2,200 points, -73)
10.         Jeff Gordon (2,197 points, -76)
11.         Denny Hamlin (2,193 points, -80)
12.         Ryan Newman (2,184 points, -89)

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule – the third to last race of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup – is the Nov. 6 AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with a pre-race show at 2 p.m.

Stewart led three times for 14 laps and took the lead from five-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson on a restart three laps from the finish. It was Stewart’s third win and 16th top-10 result of 2011, his third win and 14th top-10 in 26 career Sprint Cup starts at the .526-mile Martinsville oval, and his 42ndwin in 461 career Sprint Cup races.

All three of Stewart’s victories this season have come during the Chase for the Sprint Cup, which the two-time Sprint Cup champion began seven races ago with back-to-back wins Sept. 19 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., and Sept. 25 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

This was the fourth Sprint Cup victory for SHR in 2011, as Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman, won in July at New Hampshire. SHR now has 11 Sprint Cup victories since its inception in 2009.

Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for SHR, battled back for a solid 10th-place finish after getting spun into the SAFER Barrier in turn two late in the race. Newman led twice for 41 laps en route to his 16th top-10 result of the season and his 10th top-10 in 20 career Sprint Cup starts at Martinsville.

Stewart finished .170 of a second ahead of runner-up Johnson, while Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Carl Edwards and Newman comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 18 caution periods for 108 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

Stewart and Newman are both in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup and came into Martinsville fourth and 12th, respectively, in the Chase standings. Stewart was 19 points behind Chase leader Edwards while Newman was 88 points out of the top spot. Stewart leaves Martinsville second in points, eight markers behind series leader Edwards. Newman remained 12th in the standings and is now 89 points out of first.

With only three races remaining before a champion is crowned following the season finale Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the top-12 drivers competing for the title rank as follows:

1.                  Carl Edwards (2,273 points)
2.                  Tony Stewart (2,265 points, -8)
3.                  Kevin Harvick (2,252 points, -21)
4.                  Brad Keselowski (2,246 points, -27)
5.                  Matt Kenseth (2,237 points, -36)
6.                  Jimmie Johnson (2,230 points, -43)
7.                  Kyle Busch (2,216 points, -57)
8.                  Kurt Busch (2,215 points, -58)
9.                  Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2,200 points, -73)
10.              Jeff Gordon (2,197 points, -76)
11.              Denny Hamlin (2,193 points, -80)
12.              Ryan Newman (2,184 points, -89)

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule – the third to last race of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup – is the Nov. 6 AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with a pre-race show at 2 p.m.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing, will start fourth. Teammate Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala, will start 12th.

Stewart has two Sprint Cup wins at Martinsville (October 2000 and April 2006) while Newman’s best Sprint Cup finish at Martinsville is second, earned in October 2007.

Carl Edwards will start first as the championship point leader. Joining him on the outside of row one is his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. Brad Keselowski, Stewart and Kevin Harvick comprise the remainder of the top-five. Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon round out the top-10.

With 45 drivers slated to qualify for the 43-car field, only Dennis Setzer and Derrike Cope failed to make the starting grid.

The TUMS Fast Relief 500 gets underway at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 30 with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 1 p.m.

TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THE FINAL SHORT TRACK RACE OF THE SEASON:

“I am excited about it, we are hoping that we are going to get to do like the truck guys are here in a little bit and get on track obviously so, we are running a little different package than what we are used to so we are really anxious to get on track today, hopefully this weather, looks like there is a little bit of a cell coming through hopefully if it hits they will be able to get it dry long enough for us to get on track.”

YOU RUN A DIFFERENT PACKAGE A LOT, WHY ARE YOU HOPEFUL THIS CHANGE TODAY WILL MAKE SUCH A DIFFERENCE?

“Well, we have struggled here the last two or three races, so we definitely needed to look outside the box of where we were at and try to come up with something different and were are actually relying on our teammate and starting where Ryan (Newman) typically does here. Ryan’s driving style and mine are different so we are real anxious to get on track to find out what I am going to need different than what Ryan likes to start with his package in general and hope that it is going to be better, it is quite a bit different than what we actually run, so that is why it is so important for us to get on track today, just to get an idea of what we are working with and what we are going to have to do to adapt his set-up to the way I drive a car.”

INAUDIBLE:

“We are using his set-up for a starting point, every driver’s driving style is different, the way they break, the way get in the gas, so we are going to have to make changes to accommodate what I like off of that set-up.”

WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST NASCAR DO TO CHANGE THE RULES FOR DAYTONA TO CHANGE THE TWO CAR TANDEM DRAFTING?

“Well, I think they are a smarter group to ask than us, they have been doing this for sixty plus years, everybody has an idea, but the thing is every time someone comes up with an idea there is an opposite reaction to how it affects something else. It is a hard balancing act and I have the faith in NASCAR that they are going to figure out what’s the right thing to do but, it is a tough situation to have to go through. It is starting to get way to political on the race track now and that is not the scenario you want to be in as a driver to try to decide a championship.”

INAUDIBLE:

“I don’t know we have to ask them for them to come ask us. If I thought I had a great idea, I would go to NASCAR, I think we are all in this together and everybody wants it to be better. It is not about whose idea is it and who comes up with it, we just want the end result. I have the faith that they are working on it hard, looking at everything they can do and they have a lot of pretty smart people that have been there for a long time that have figured out how to make it right, so if we can come up with a great idea I would love to take it to them, I just don’t have that idea. There is a lot more drivers in this garage area that are smarter than me, that can probably figure it out before me.”

DO YOU THINK IT IS MORE POLITICAL DUE TO THE TWO CAR DRAFTING, IS IT MORE APPARENT BECAUSE THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER DURING THE RACE?

“Yeah, I think so. When you have multi-car teams and you saw a distinct deal last weekend with manufactures running with each other, it is becoming more apparent of what is going on. You can talk to everybody you want to talk to and everybody is going to say no they are not doing this or yes they are doing this, but all you have to do is pause your TV with the field in there and look and see and it pretty much tells the story of what is going on. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how it’s evolving that way because of the two car draft.”

IN WHAT WAYS IS THE POLITICAL DRAFTING DIFFERENT THAN IT WAS WHEN YOU CAME IN THE SPORT IN 99’, 2000?

“When I started, the political games were the teams when they went to restrictor plate tracks they tried to not show their hand until race day and then NASCAR got chassis dynos and things they could pull after the race and figure out exactly what was going on, so that gave NASCAR a more accurate assessment of what the situation really was, this is something NASCAR really can’t control once the cars go on the race track and what the driver’s are doing and how they are pairing up and is it because of manufactures, is it because of individual organization, so it is hard for NASCAR as a sanctioning body to control that and have everybody just racing.”

IF NASCAR WANTED TO STOP THE TANDEM DRAFT, IF THEY STOPPED ALLOWING DRIVERS TO TALK TO EACH OTHER WHICH CREATES THIS POLITICAL CONVERSATION THING, WOULD THAT SOLVE IT OR CREATE MORE TROUBLE?

“I don’t know that it would create more trouble necessarily, but guys before they even got to the racetrack on Friday, knew who they were going to be running with but I would say 90% of the field knew who they were going to be drafting with once they got there so, I don’t think that is necessarily the answer. The answer is make it to where you can’t push each other and if you can physically keep the cars from pushing each other like it used to be then that eliminates the problem. You are not going to keep guys from running with whoever they want to run with on the race track but if you can keep the cars from actually making contact with each other and physically pushing each other that is the logical way to solve it.”

SOME GUYS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE WANT TO DO EVERYTHING STRICTLY BY THE BOOK, AND SOME GUYS SAY IT’S WHATEVER YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH. WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THAT?

“I think the racing has always been about taking the rules that’s you’re given and pushing the envelope and pushing it to the limit, but don’t, in my opinion, don’t go over it. NASCAR has done a good job in making sure the penalties reflect the crime. I think if you’re willing to take the risk, I mean if you’re willing to put yourself and your team and your organization in that position, if you get away with it great; (but) I just don’t see the risk and the reward being even. You give up an awful lot if you get caught trying to fudge something that’s this much better that can take you out of a chance to win a championship.”

ON THE CHAD KNAUS/JIMMIE JOHNSON TALK AT TALLADEGA

“I don’t know (laughs); I just now found out about it getting ready to watch Truck practice. I saw it scrolling across the bottom of the page and asked (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) about it. I don’t know. I’d like to hear it; it would be an interesting transmission to have heard.”

WHEN YOU ARE PICKING PARTNERS, ARE YOU MORE CONCERNED ABOUT A GUY WHO IS REALLY GOOD IN THE DRAFT THAT YOU CAN DEPEND ON? OR IS IT JUST A GUT INSTINCT? HOW DO YOU PICK WHO YOU WANT TO RACE WITH?

“In the past, we ran with David Gilliland a lot and I think a lot of that was you know Ryan’s (Newman) approach to how to run the plate races versus what I like to do have been polar opposite. He likes to get to the front and try to stay at the front all day. I’m a guy who has always liked to get to the back, take care of it, try to stay out of a bad situation at a point when it really doesn’t matter in the race; and then late in the race make that charge. I did the opposite this past weekend (at Talladega). We tried to stay up front as much as we could. But that’s why Ryan and I didn’t work together.

“So in answering your question in looking for somebody to run with, you look at who’s really available. I mean you knew the four Hendrick cars were going to get together. You know the Childress cars are going to get together. You try to find somebody you think is available and then try to find somebody who has the same mindset that you have about how you want to run the race, and then somebody that you feel comfortable with at the same time. So it’s kind of a, I guess the first thing is finding somebody that wants to run the race the same way I do first and then out of that group, sorting out who you are comfortable with.”

AT THE END OF THE RACE, LIKE WHAT HAPPENED TO JEFF GORDON, DO YOU HAVE SOME LOYALTY TO A GUY WHO HAS BEEN WITH YOU ALL DAY?

“Yeah. We had Paul Menard offer to run with us when we were running with the No. 20 (Joey Logano) car and logic says ok, look; Joey’s car is torn up but we ran good with Joey and it’s like you know, then if we do that, we’re hanging Joey out, which, Joey didn’t deserve that. So when Paul asked me I said, ‘We’ve kind of been running with the No. 20 car and I’m comfortable where I’m at right now.’  He said, ‘Ok, if anything changes let me know.’ Fair enough.

“Same thing with Jeff later on. At that point I was with the No. 27 car (Paul Menard) and Jeff came on the radio and asked and I said, “I’ve kind of been running with the No. 27 car here.’ So to me, it was more the loyalty at that point. I mean obviously, I’d love to have ran with Jeff, obviously because of our association with Hendrick, but when you’ve run that long with somebody during the day, you hate to just dump them off with a two-lap restart and leave them by themselves. And to pick somebody else out; maybe there are some guys who are comfortable doing that, but I’m just not comfortable doing that.”

HOMESTEAD IS A ROUSH TRACK WITH MATT KENSETH AND CAR EDWARDS AS PROBABLY HAVING A SLIGHT EDGE. DO YOU LOOK AT THAT AS HAVING TO HAVE ENOUGH POINTS TO FIGURE THAT THEY MIGHT FINISH 1-2 OR IN THE TOP FIVE, OR DO YOU FIGURE HOMESTEAD IS JUST AS GOOD FOR YOU?

“I think it’s an equal opportunity. I mean you know, I feel like our 1.5-mile stuff has been pretty good this year and we’ve gained on it a lot I think. So I’m looking forward to going back there, honestly. But I guess I still look at it from the standpoint that we’ve got four weeks to get it done and we’ve just got to be spot-on for four weeks. Even if we win the next four races, if they ran second, I think they could still probably win the thing, mathematically. So it’s not really so much in our hands. It takes the pressure off of us. We can just go out and try to win the races and it’s more in their hands in having the pressure in trying to figure out what to do and where to finish and all that. But they have been very good there in the last couple of years and it’s something you know going into it. But I’ve been to tracks where we were great the last time and then come back a year later and not be able to hit it at all. So anything can change.”

EVERYONE WHO HAS COME INTO THIS MEDIA CENTER TODAY HAS NOT BEEN AS CONCERNED ABOUT WHO IS IN 1^ST, 2^ND, OR 3^RD; OR WHO HAD HOW MANY POINTS; BUT MOST ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN MORE CONCERNED ABOUT WHERE TONY STEWART STANDS. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? IS THERE ANYONE LEFT, MATHEMATICALLY, THAT HAS A CHANCE TO WIN, THAT YOU’RE LOOKING AT EVERY WEEK?

“I’ve said it from day one. I’m only focused about one car out there right now, and that’s the No. 14 car (his). Obviously we want Ryan (Newman, teammate) to do well, but Ryan; we’ve messed him up last week (Talladega) and that hurt his chances. But right now I’m focused on my car and my car only. I’m not spending the energy and the time worrying about everybody else. If I’ve got that much time, my car had better be perfect; if I’ve got that much time to concentrate on everybody else. So, I think in the last 31 years of racing, I’ve always worried about what we’re doing and controlling the variables that we can control. But it’s nice to know they’re asking about us and wanting to know where we’re at. That’s a pretty good compliment, I think.”

IF YOU WERE GOING TO A NASCAR-THEMED HALLOWEEN PARTY, WHAT WOULD YOUR COSTUME BE AND WHY?

“This may take a second (laughter). I’m not going to go as one of the Busch brothers (laughter); not ‘cause I don’t like ‘em, just ‘cause I’m not sure that’s it’s a popular….um….I’d probably pick one of the beer sponsor drivers (laughs)! At least I’d have something that would match my can. That’s the only thing I could think of right off hand. I’ve never been to a Halloween party yet that we haven’t enjoyed adult beverages during the evening, so at least it would match. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

TALK ABOUT THE WEEKEND AND YOUR OUTLOOK AT THE FINAL SHORT TRACK OF THE SEASON:
“Our performance here at Martinsville and general short tracks is pretty good and look forward to the opportunity. If seems like the fall race here in Martinsville we get rain one of the three days, so I guess I would rather have it today, then Sunday, but just look forward to the opportunity to get on the racetrack if we do get that lucky today and we will see how things go. Our Chase itself has not been anything to really brag about so, having a good weekend here at Martinsville is something that would be nice.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK NEEDS TO BE DONE TO CHANGE THE DYNAMIC FOR THE DAYTONA 500?
“I don’t know all depends on what the fans want to see. Talladega, I think there has been a definite decline in the excitement and the fans, what they want to see, I am not 100% sure what they want to see, I know there is a percentage of them that want to see the big crashes, which I am not signed up for that, but the racing was decided by .0018 of a second or something, so as long as we race cars at those types of race tracks and try to keep them within a certain speed window of 190-200 mph, we are going to be in the same type of situation that we are, no matter if you cut the spoilers, or change the restrictor plates or whatever, you are still keeping a car at that speed which is big on crashing because you are sustaining that speed all the way around the race track instead of a place like Michigan where your top speed is about the same but your mid-corner speed is significantly down, so I don’t know I mean, I would rather not use my opinion on that because it has not been taken into consideration so many other times.”

WHY IS IT THAT MARTINSVILLE IS SO DIFFICULT AND THE LAST PLACE FOR PEOPLE TO GET USED TO AND GET THE HANG OF? “I think for the most part we don’t spend our time thinking about it or doing it, we come to the shortest track, I guess it is not the exact shortest but anyway, we come to the shortest, short style flat track twice a year, Martinsville and Richmond are the two shortest flat tracks that are like our short track, growing up days. My point is we spend so much time at those mile-and-a-half race tracks where the speeds higher and you have a different balance, you have a different car feel, that it is not something that we spend a lot of time working on or working with. I think there are some guys that find it challenging, we have been very fortunate that we have a good baseline set-up package for these types of short tracks and I think it is more just a matter of where you place most of your effort, as far as the season goes.”

IF YOU ARE GOING TO A NASCAR THEMED HALLOWEEN PARTY, WHAT DRIVER OR OWNER WOULD YOU DRESS-UP AS PAST OR PRESENT?
“I guess the no brainer for me would be to dress up like Sheriff Helton, saw him in the commercial there at Charlotte week, he is the sheriff and I am pretty sure no one would mess with you at the Halloween party”

Stewart scored the second of his two career Sprint Cup wins at Martinsville on April 2, 2006. It was a rare sight, for since Kurt Busch won at Martinsville in October 2002, the only other active Sprint Cup drivers to visit Martinsville’s victory lane have been Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. (Rusty Wallace, now retired and a NASCAR analyst for ESPN, scored his last Sprint Cup win at Martinsville on April 18, 2004.)

Gordon, a four-time Sprint Cup champion, turned Martinsville into Gordonville by sweeping the track’s two Sprint Cup races in 2003 and again in 2005. That run helped burnish Gordon’s legacy at the .526-mile oval, for he logged three previous Martinsville wins back in the late ‘90s.

Gordon’s domination, however, gave way to that of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Johnson, now the five-time and reigning series champion, gave a glimpse of his future stranglehold on the paperclip-shaped track when he won on Oct. 24, 2004. Since then, Johnson has scored five more Martinsville wins, including three straight from October 2006 through October 2007, and then back-to-back triumphs in October 2008 and March 2009.

But just as Johnson usurped Gordon’s dominance at Martinsville, another young hotshot did the same, making sure Johnsonville was known only for sausage.

Virginia-native Denny Hamlin is the current King of Martinsville. He broke Johnson’s win streak when he took home one of Martinsville’s prized grandfather clocks after winning the March 2008 Sprint Cup race, which served as a precursor to his wins in October 2009, March 2010 and October 2010.

It wasn’t until this year’s spring race at Martinsville that an interloper named Harvick finally broke through to score a victory at Martinsville.

That being said, Stewart knows what it’s like to have the upper hand at Martinsville. In addition to his two wins, he has three poles and holds the track qualifying record of 19.306 seconds at 98.083 mph, set in October 2005. He also has eight top-fives, 13 top-10s and has led a total of 1,193 laps in 25 career Sprint Cup starts at Martinsville. Stewart’s laps-led tally ranks him third among active drivers, behind only Gordon (2,981) and Johnson (1,616).

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing is now a 13-year Sprint Cup veteran, and after logging 6,300 racing miles at Martinsville, Stewart knows a thing or two about the subtleties of the track’s tight and fast layout.

<em><strong>TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:</strong></em>

<strong>You’ve had success at Martinsville and a period where you were always a threat to win. What’s that like?</strong>
“You can have it, for sure. It’s knowing that feel, it’s finding that combination that works, and the next time you come back to that track you know what that feel is like and you know what you’re looking for in practice for it to be good in the race. During the race, the track changes quite a bit, but you know when you kind of have that rhythm. You have the timing of what it was like, you just know what that feel is in the car that you’re looking for, not necessarily to be good in Happy Hour as much as to be good for the race. When you’ve had a good weekend, the next time you go back it’s just easier to try to go back and mimic that feel. That’s why when guys hit on something they’re normally good for a while until the package changes quite a bit, and then once that changes, you have to learn a different feel. Normally for a while you can have that, and different guys, if you look over the history, have kind of had runs at it. It seems like whether it’s a three or four or five-race period, guys get that feel of it and know what that tire likes, what the chassis combination likes at that time, and they kind of have that and they know how to adapt to it.”

<strong>What do you like about racing at Martinsville?</strong>
“It’s still that old short-track feel. That’s what I like. We run a lot of 1.5-mile tracks during the year and it’s the only place that races like this. We’ve got two half-mile tracks that we race on. This one’s quite a bit different than Bristol, and that’s what makes it fun. You can out-brake guys and you can run the outside if you get a shot. It’s racing the way we all grew up racing.”

<strong>Your last three races at Martinsville have proven to be a challenge. Why?</strong>
“It’s been everything for us. If you get a good-handling car, your brakes aren’t really an issue anymore there. We’ve fought handling the last couple of times there and it does make it harder because you’re trying to make up more time in the braking zones. It’s just getting your car to do what you want it to do, just like anywhere else, but if it’s not right, it does bring that brake element back into it.”

<strong>Since you’ve struggled of late at Martinsville, what are you doing differently this time around?</strong>
“We’re going to Martinsville this weekend with Ryan’s (Newman, teammate) package that he’s been running really well with. We’ve kind of struggled there, so we’re going to start with Ryan’s setup and work our way from there. We know it’s going to be a little different for me and my driving style. Mine and Ryan’s driving styles are a little bit different, but I feel that’s a good place to start for the weekend.

“The last four weeks are tracks that I like and that I’ve had success at, but you know, every time you go to a track, it’s a little bit different than the time before. Your setups change, your packages change, and you hope that you’re staying ahead of it. So, it’s hard to tell whether we’re going to be able to be where we need to be, but we are going to do everything we can to be as good as we can be in all four of these races.”

<strong>With four races to go, is there anything your team is specifically working on at the race shop to make you better?</strong>
“I hope not, because if they’re working extra hard to do something, it’s something they should’ve been doing all along. This sport is so hard and so technical to begin with that you can’t go into each week not giving 100 percent. And you’re not going to get more than that. You’re only going to get 100 percent out of each person, and if they’re not doing that, there’s plenty of guys out there that will work that hard. But I feel like our guys have done a great job of working hard and keeping the morale of the team up. Our guys and our attitude in our shop is very, very positive right now. We have a really strong group of true racers who have been involved with the team – guys who have been involved with racing for a long time in different series. They’re really keen and savvy when it comes to keeping their morale high and realizing that one bad week doesn’t take us out of it until they say we’re mathematically out. I feel like they’ve been giving 100 percent all along.”

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to our NASCAR teleconference and NASCAR CAM today featuring our two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ Tony Stewart in advance of Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. Tony drives the No. 14 Office Depot Mobile One Chevrolet, is sixth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, 19 points behind our leader, Carl Edwards. Tony has got two career wins at Martinsville.

We appreciate your time and your patience today. Got a couple of lead questions for you specific on and off the track. First of all, your Stewart-Haas Team has announced some good news on the sponsorship front, can you talk about that?

TONY STEWART: We have re-signed Kraft. So really excited to have them on board again coming up this year and very appreciative of their support and everybody at Stewart Haas Racing. It’s been a lot of fun to work with them. And they are not to the level of Office Depot and Mobile One on the car obviously, but nonetheless they are very important to us and we value their partnership.

THE MODERATOR: Before we go our media questions, we have one fan question for you via our @NASCAR account on Twitter, and @ChrisMeyers (ph) would like to know, if you were not driving in NASCAR, what else would you be doing?

TONY STEWART: That is a really good question. You know, I’ve been really — I had a lot of fun this year. I ran the Talladega short track Saturday night before the big race on Sunday and ran in the World of Outlaws Sprint car series, and I guess if I were unable to drive at the NASCAR level anymore, I would love to go back and race the Sprint cars as much as possible. We ran 25 races with the wing Sprint car this year and had a lot of fun doing it.

So I guess if we were not running NASCAR, I guess that’s what we probably would do.

Q. What was been the biggest difference in the performance of the old car versus new car at Martinsville?
TONY STEWART: I’m not sure that it’s been a huge deal other than the fact that we are running on bump stops now on the front that have really changed the ride quality of the car, the way it transfers weight to the front and when you go into the corner, under-braking is a lot different. And depending on which side and whether it’s the left front tire or the right front tire, that engages the bump stop first, changes the way that that feels and that transition.

I think once it gets down to them, it doesn’t feel a lot different other than the ride quality. But definitely the transition of being on the gas, on the brakes and sitting on those bump stops is probably the biggest thing that we have seen.

Q. Martinsville this weekend, is it drastically different for your mind-set going in? How hard is it going from restrictor plate racing down to a short track, or is it just a switch?

TONY STEWART: It’s just a switch. We, you know, we still have got in street cars when we got out of the airport and drove ourselves home and that’s a different deal than driving at Talladega, too.

A week in between, you start practice on Friday and you remember where you’re at and what you did at Talladega really doesn’t — you don’t think about the driving style differences. When you pull in there you realize that you are at a lot different place and you is settle in really quickly and the mode of back to what you have to do to be fast at Martinsville.

Q. What happened with Ryan Newman? It seems like a lot of different teammates were having issues with their other teammates.

TONY STEWART: Yeah, that’s the risk of running with your teammate. Obviously Ryan didn’t do anything wrong there. I got out on time there as far as where we were at, a tri-oval and I got out of sequence with him and got moving around on the rear bumper trying to get caught back up to him. It just happened that when we caught the double zero car, that I was coming back to the right, and you know, it got Ryan turned sideways.

So you know, I have to take 100% of the blame there. Ryan was doing a great job and I was very comfortable running with him. I just made a mistake and like I said got out of timing with him going through the tri-oval and cost him a bad day.

Q. After you get through Talladega, to any degree, do you feel like you’ve got three guys in front of you where you want them? In the last ten races, you guys have got seven Top 10′s, started with two wins and had a couple bad races and now you have two more Top 10′s. Is the team in a position to take it up another notch? How do you see these last four races?

TONY STEWART: Honestly, I mean, I sound like a broken record. I know when — I know it frustrates you guys, but literally we are taking it one day at a time.

We are going to Martinsville this weekend with Ryan’s package that he’s been running really well with and we have kind of struggled there so we are going to start with Ryan’s setup and work our way from there. We know it’s going to be a little different for me and our driving style. Mine and Ryan’s are a little bit different. But I feel that’s a good place to start for the weekend.

The last four weeks are tracks that I like and that I’ve had success at, but you know, every time you go to a track, it’s a little bit different than the time before. You know, your setups change, your packages change and you hope that you’re staying ahead of it.

So it’s hard to tell whether we are going to be able to be where we need to be, but we are going to do everything we can to be as good as we can be in all four of those races.

Q. I’m working on something with Hendrick Motorsports about to get their 200th victory here somewhere in the future. You have seen them from a pure competitor standpoint, and now it’s still a competitor. What’s your perspective? Have you tried to emulate that Hendrick Motorsports model at all, and what’s your perspective on how long they have been able to be so successful?

TONY STEWART: It’s hard to pattern yourself off of them because I have not been internally involved with Hendrick Motorsports. Obviously we have our relationship with them on the engine and chassis side and technology that we share, but it’s hard to know the inner workings without being directly involved with it.

From my standpoint, been easier for me to emulate what Job Gibbs has done and what we saw over there. I think that’s the great thing about Stewart-Haas Racing is that we have had so many guys come from so many different organizations, Bobby Hutchins coming from RCR, and Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and Ryan Newman and Matt Borland coming from Penske, and myself coming from Job Gibbs Racing, Darian coming from Hendricks.

We are trying to take the best of what we have seen from each organization and trying to incorporate them into our own package and try to make our organization the best we think it can be trying to take the positives we saw in each of those organizations and take the lessons learned that we think are negative from those and try not to make those same mistakes. We try to learn from a lot of different teams and try to take the best from each.

Q. Are you at all surprised that there’s two Fords at the top of the standings right now?

TONY STEWART: I don’t think anybody is surprised at any order of the 12 guys that potentially could be there. I mean, it’s just circumstance that they are both there together.

But does it surprise me? No, not at all. There were, in my opinion, eight guys that started the Chase that could be in those first two spots right there, and Matt and Carl were obviously two of the guys that I had on that top eight list. So does it surprise me? No.

But as far as if you’re referring to the manufacturer side of it, that doesn’t surprise me either. They have made big gains in the horsepower this year and I feel like on the Chevy side we are starting to do the same thing. We are starting to hit our stride on the power and starting to make that ground up and hopefully get by.

Q. A follow-up to the Hendrick question, with those guys sort of down in the standings at some point, is it possible you could go to Rick or that organization and go, hey, could we get one more thing to finish up the season to try and win this championship for Chevrolet?

TONY STEWART: I don’t think that there’s anything that they are holding back from us that we could ask for to be honest. We work very closely with them every week with the setups. Our engines — I have the ability, and Ryan does, too, if we feel like we aren’t getting a good enough engine, we can sit there and look at all six dyno sheets for our engines and hand-pick the one we want if we so desire.

I have confidence that our relationship with Rick and his whole group is very solid and that we are getting everything that we need from them. It’s just our job to execute it and finish it out on the weekend.

Q. You’re the only driver that’s won the championship by accumulating season-long points and by winning the Chase. Is there — so you’re the only guy that can tell me, is there a huge difference between it, the way it was and the way it is now?

TONY STEWART: Absolutely. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s mathematically out of it with four races to go here right now.

So with the old format of the season-long-standings with four races to go, you only had a handful of guys that still mathematically had a shot to win the championship. And you were really racing two to three guys at the most at this point, where there’s nobody that’s really eliminated from the opportunities to win this championship with four races to go, all 12 guys are still in it.

So it’s definitely a lot more stressful trying to do it in a ten-race format versus a 36-week format.

Q. As competitive as this series is, with the move to fuel injection, do you feel a team could hit on something that gives it a distinct advantage?

TONY STEWART: It’s definitely possible. Any time that you introduce anything new to the sport, it’s a matter of how quick does each organization find out how to maximize that opportunity. There’s going to be some teams and organizations that are going to figure it out quicker than others.

But yeah, it’s definitely a possibility. I mean, the good thing is that NASCAR has been doing a lot unified testing. They ran at Talladega last week. I know we are testing Monday after Martinsville. We ran Charlotte and they had cars at Kentucky earlier this year, and at the Phoenix open test.

So there’s all of these manufacturers and organizations team-wise that have had the opportunity to put quite a bit of time on them. You never know. I mean, when we go down to Daytona and we get to the first four or five races, I think that’s definitely when we will see that if there is somebody that does have an advantage.

Q. Different topic, can you talk a little about your go-kart experience? We have a go-kart league down here for kids and I just wonder if you could address that when you were a kid.

TONY STEWART: It was an awesome experience for me. I started off local county fair ground racing every Saturday night and by the time I was 14 years old, I was traveling on a national circuit and got to go to more places and more different states and cities throughout the year than most of the kids that I knew got to go to before they even graduated high school.

So I thought it was very valuable. It was neat to meet different kids from different areas and learn their backgrounds and learn what they do and be able to travel and have something that I felt like I was really privileged to do as a kid, to get to go to all of these neat places and states that a lot of my friend had only heard about.

Q. New Jersey looks to be getting a Formula 1 race in 2000134 and your reaction to the possibility that we could have two Formula 1 races in America within the next two years?

TONY STEWART: Very exciting actually. To think that we are getting one back is huge. Obviously we were all sad that we lost it from IMS, but glad that Texas picked it up. And now to have possibly a second date on the schedule, I think it’s real complimentary of what everybody in the States are doing to get F1 races here. I’m looking forward to it.

I know if we get a chance to get a day where we can sneak over, we have had the offer from the McLaren team to come visit and definitely want to take them up on that if at all possible.

Q. With four races to go, what specifically is the team working on at the shop each week to get that championship, is there one thing that Darian and the crew are working extra hard on to make that possible for you?

TONY STEWART: I hope not, because if they are working extra hard to do something, it’s something they should have been doing all along.

This sport is so hard and technical to begin with that you can’t go into each week not giving 100%. And you’re not going to get more than that. You’re only going to get 100% out of each person, and if they are not doing that, then you know, there’s plenty of guys out there that will work that hard. But I feel like our guys have done a great job of keeping the morale up and the team, it’s been a trying couple of weeks for the 14 car and the 39 car.

But I feel like our guys and our attitude in our shop is very, very positive right now. We have got a really strong group of true racers that have been involved with the team, guys that have been involved with racing for a long time in different series. They are really keen and savvy when it comes to keeping their morale high and realizing that one bad week doesn’t take it out of it until they say we are mathematically out. I feel like they have been giving 100% all along.

Q. You mentioned your go-kart experience and certainly you probably have more experience in a variety of vehicles than just about anybody. Could you tell fans the biggest difference between IndyCars and stock cars and what changes in light of the tragedy that IndyCar just had, what changes would you make to an IndyCar that would improve safety?

TONY STEWART: You know, I don’t have an engineering degree, so I’m not sure that I’m smart enough to know what to do. It was a freak accident. It was something that nobody ever wants to see happen, but unfortunately it’s a part of all of auto racing. It doesn’t matter whether it’s NASCAR or IndyCar or drag racing or motorcycle racing. It’s just an aspect of our sport and everybody involved knows that and understands that and accepts it going into that.

You know, it’s definitely something that none of us wanted to see but I think it’s been very easy and unjust for people to sit back on Monday and point fingers and say, well, this needs to be done and that needs to be done. And most of the people that are making the suggestions are not even people that are involved with race teams or sanctioning bodies and really don’t know what they are talking about.

It really boils down to the basics of, it’s auto racing. Auto racing, football, hockey, they are all dangerous sports. But we all love to do it and the fans love to watch it.

I think safety has come a long way in all of our sanctioning bodies across the board. But you’re still not going to make it 100% safe all the time, and everybody is doing everything they can to keep incidents like that happening in the future. But it’s never going to be 100% safe. You’re always going to have that element of danger that’s involved in it.

Q. As far as that goes, trying to research this, and I was amazed at the amount of tragedies in the past, even among fans, and as far as looking at the past and looking at all of the safety changes that have happened, say in the last decade, it’s amazingly a lot better. But do you think that fans and some people, they just kind of knee-jerked and they missed that fact?

TONY STEWART: I think they definitely miss that fact. If you look back in the 50s and 60s, it wasn’t uncommon — and obviously I wasn’t around, but this it isn’t the first time this topic has been brought up. But it wasn’t uncommon at all to read in the paper that there was a fatality at auto racing automobile weekly back in those days.

But like we said, safety has come a long way and technology has come a long way. And obviously to each of the sanctioning bodies, whether it’s NASCAR, IndyCar or Formula 1, AMA, NHRA, they all have dedicated groups to looking to the safety aspect of it to make it as safe as possible.

If you look at the technology behind the safety equipment, I think it’s proved that aside from worrying about just putting a product out there for the fans to watch, that these sanctioning bodies do care about the participants involved and the spectators are doing everything that they can to make it as safe as possible: The head and neck restraints, the soft walls, the collars that the riders wear in AMA, the motor cross tracks, John Force’s group with the Medlen project with NHRA, there are a lot of talented and really smart people that have really dedicated a lot of money and time to making our sport and all forms of racing as safe as it can be right now.

THE MODERATOR: We thank you for your time today and patience and wish you the best of luck in Martinsville this weekend.

The road course races at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International are complete for 2011, but he can still add a half-mile win to his résumé during Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 Sprint Cup Series race at the .526-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

And it seems as though the pieces are in place for victory.

Newman has won three poles at Martinsville, all of which have come in fall races (2002, 2004 and 2009), and he has started outside of the top-10 just six times in 19 starts at the short track. And, three of those six starts outside the top-10 were based on Newman’s position in the owner points after qualifying was rained out.

He has nine top-10 finishes in 19 starts and has led laps in seven races at Martinsville, including holding the point in three of the last four events. Newman came oh-so-close to victory in October 2007, when he finished second – his best finish at the paperclip-shaped oval – to five-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. With less than 10 laps to go, Newman had patiently made his way into the second spot and was quickly chasing down Johnson. However, just as Newman caught up with Johnson, the caution flag waved, handing Johnson the win.

But perhaps the biggest weapon Newman, his crew chief Tony Gibson and the Haas Automation team are bringing to the track is Chassis 39-645. It debuted in April at Martinsville, where Newman started second and, for the first 327 laps of the 500-lap Goody’s Fast Relief 500, he and the No. 39 Haas Automation team looked to be a sure bet for top-10 finish, or even a contender for the win. Newman led three laps and ran solidly in the top-10 for most of the afternoon, but his good fortunes came undone on lap 328 thanks to a broken header pipe that sapped his car’s horsepower for the rest of the race, and a flat left-rear tire that sent him for a spin off turn three a little later in the race. Those events conspired to put Newman two laps down and relegated him to a 20^th-place finish.

In July, Newman drove Chassis 39-645 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, where he started on the pole and led 118 of 301 laps en route to his 15th career Sprint Cup Series victory. Two months later, he drove the same car at Loudon, started on the pole once again and led the first 62 laps before, but finished a disappointing 25^th as a cut tire with less than five laps remaining dropped him out of the top-10.

Yes, Newman has a good car and a good history at Martinsville. Now, all he needs to do is add to just add to the résumé.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing:

The No. 39 team has a history of doing well at short tracks. What is it about short tracks that you like?
“I like using the middle (brake) pedal. In all seriousness, I think it adds another parameter of a driver’s input when you have to modulate that third pedal. We have to go to places like Las Vegas and you’re using very little brake. When you are using a little bit, it’s hard to screw it up. I think our team has done a really good job with the brake package that we have. I like the short tracks. I like having the character added to the program of modulating the brake. In my opinion, the driver has a little more of an impact on the end result at short tracks than some of the bigger racetracks, and I like that. The more the drivers are involved, the more I think you get to race and, from that standpoint, I think it’s more fun. Tony Gibson (crew chief) has some great setups with our short-track program. I enjoy them, he enjoys them, and we just go out there and have some fun. We’ve had a good car each time we’ve been to Martinsville. Gibson is a great fan of Martinsville and short-track racing, and he’s got a great understanding of the racecar there and what I like, and that makes a big difference, obviously, for me. We’ve been able to get three top-10 finishes in our four trips to Martinsville. Last fall, we had a rare issue that took us out of contention and this spring we were really good until the header pipe broke and we had a flat tire. So we’re looking forward to getting back on a streak of good runs at Martinsville.”

While you have run well at Martinsville, two drivers have won nine of the last 10 races there (Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson). With how strong the No. 39 team has run at Martinsville in the past, are you on par to beat the two guys who have dominated the competition there in recent years?
“I just think that, while the competition is still really close, those guys have risen to the top at that racetrack, which is entirely unique to anything else we have on the schedule. I think that, in itself, Martinsville being Martinsville is part of it. The other part of it is the drivers have to really modulate that brake pedal, which is another part of it. You can have the best car there and burn the brakes off of it and finish 35th. I have actually blown two tires out, melted the beads on two tires at one time and blew both of them at the same time, which I thought was pretty cool, afterward. But seriously, we’ve been good there – we have been really good – especially on Fridays, and we seem to start off a little slow on Sundays and end up in the top-five or top-10. I thought last fall was going to be a good race for us had we not lost a gear because we were leading at the time. I think we have made some pretty big gains to try to catch those guys and surpass them, so I think the No. 39 team is looking forward to getting back to a track that has been really good for us.”

Talk about bringing Chassis No. 39-645 to Martinsville?
“It’s a car we’ve had a lot of success with in just three races. It’s got two poles and started on the outside of the first row, so it’s been a good car to qualify with, for sure. Obviously we got that win at New Hampshire and, while the other two results may not show it, it’s run well and we led laps at the first Martinsville race and the fall New Hampshire race. Hopefully, we can have a good run with it again this weekend at Martinsville.”

RYAN NEWMAN’S MARTINSVILLE SPRINT CUP SERIES PERFORMANCE PROFILE

× Race length extended due to green-white-checkered finish.
† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.

Photo by John Harrelson - Getty Images for NASCAR

Newman’s good fortunes came undone on lap 328, however, thanks to a broken header pipe that sapped his car’s horsepower for the rest of the race, and a flat left-rear tire that sent him for a spin off turn three a little later in the race. Those events conspired to put Newman two laps down and relegated him to a 20th-place finish at the .526-mile paperclip-shaped oval.

“Our Haas Automation Chevy was bad fast,” Newman said. “Unfortunately, we had a miss in the motor and we were down on power for the last 150 laps or so of the race, and that really cost us. It’s not how we wanted our day to go, but at least we were able to salvage a top-20 finish there at the end. Like (crew chief Tony) Gibson said, it could have been a lot worse. We’ll take it and go on to Texas.”

Newman qualified second in his Haas Automation Chevrolet on Saturday afternoon, and he didn’t waste much time showing just how strong his car was once the green flag dropped at the Virginia short track on Sunday.

Despite complaining of a tight-handling condition for much of the first half of the race, Newman kept his No. 39 Chevy up front. Solid pit stops and smart adjustments improved Newman’s handling, and he appeared to be on track for yet another top-10 finish at Martinsville.

Newman was running in fourth place on lap 328, just before he was scheduled to bring his No. 39 Chevrolet down pit road for a green-flag pit stop, when he radioed to his crew that something was wrong. He wasn’t sure if he was having a motor issue or running out of fuel, so he brought the car to the attention of his pit crew for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment.

Newman returned to the track in 10th place. Within laps, Newman was able to tell his crew with certainty that his problem was a motor issue. Gibson coached his driver to be patient and told him to do the best with what he had. At lap 351, the caution flag waved and afforded Newman another opportunity to bring his car down pit road so his crew could attempt to diagnose and troubleshoot his issue.

The crew knew Newman had a miss in his motor, but they were not sure of the cause. Although the field was under caution, the crew opted not to raise the car’s hood to examine the engine because it would take too much time and potentially cost the No. 39 team not only position on the racetrack but multiple laps to the leaders. Instead, the crew changed left-side tires. While the tires were off, one of the crew members looked and attempted to diagnose the problem but was unable to determine the exact cause of the motor issue.

Newman pitted once more under caution for right-side tires and fuel and returned to the track without losing a lap to the leaders for the restart on lap 359. Newman took the green flag in 12th place and, despite being down on power, hoped he would be able to stay on the lead lap.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be as Newman’s bad luck continued. On lap 372, Newman cut a left-rear tire, which caused him to spin off turn three to bring out the caution flag, and that dropped Newman one lap off the pace.

With the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevy still down on power, Newman struggled for position for the remainder of the 500-lap race and lost a second lap to the leaders. Despite the adversity, Newman was able to hang on for a top-20 finish. Following the race, the Haas Automation crew determined the issue was a broken header pipe.

Teammate Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, fared even worse. He finished 38 laps down in 34th. A broken rear-end gear sent him to the garage area in the waning laps, but the team was able to replace the gear, allowing Stewart to finish the race and avoid a DNF (Did Not Finish).

Kevin Harvick won the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 to score his 16th career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his first at Martinsville. Harvick won last Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., marking the second time in his career he’s scored back-to-back victories, the last of which came in September 2006 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished .727 of a second behind Harvick in the runner-up spot to earn his best result since winning at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn on June 15, 2008. Kyle Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five, while Matt Kenseth, polesitter Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 72 laps, with seven drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

With round six of 36 complete, Newman dropped four spots to sixth in the championship standings, 16 markers behind new series leader Busch. Stewart fell five positions to 11th and is 39 points out of first.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the April 9 Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.

Photo by John Harrelson - Getty Images for NASCAR

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) was ultimately undone by a broken rear-end gear which sent him to the garage for repairs in the waning laps of the 500-lap race. Quick work by the team got Stewart back onto the .526-mile oval for a handful of laps before the checkered flag dropped, averting a dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish).

“Ugly day,” said Stewart, who has seen better days at Martinsville as a two-time race winner at the unique, paperclip-shaped track. “We weren’t very good to start with, but we got the car better to where it was competitive on long runs. But the time we lost at the beginning of a run was a lot. I didn’t help our cause with that penalty there, but in the end, it didn’t really matter. I could smell the rear-end gear, and I knew it was just a matter of time before it broke. So, I just brought the car into the garage to see if we could fix it and at least finish the race.”

NASCAR dinged Stewart for passing before the start/finish line on a lap-247 restart. The infraction resulted in a pass-through penalty that put Stewart a lap down. Then, with the leaders setting a torrid pace and Stewart struggling for momentum at the onset of a run, combined with always being stuck in traffic, he lost another lap to the leaders.

Nonetheless, Stewart was looking at salvaging a top-25 finish, perhaps even a top-20 finish, for he was not the only driver experiencing difficulty. But the broken gear was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, and an ugly day turned even uglier.

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for SHR, appeared poised to offset the struggles of Stewart and the No. 14 team. Newman led twice for three laps, but a broken header pipe with 170 laps remaining sapped his car’s horsepower, and a flat left-rear tire sent him for a spin off turn three on lap 372. The misfortune conspired to put Newman two laps down, relegating him to a 20th-place finish.

Kevin Harvick won the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 to score his 16th career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his first at Martinsville. Harvick won last Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., marking the second time in his career he’s scored back-to-back victories, the last of which came in September 2006 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished .727 of a second behind Harvick in the runner-up spot to equal his best result since finishing second in the 2010 Daytona 500. Kyle Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five, while Matt Kenseth, pole-sitter Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 72 laps, with seven drivers failing to finish.

With round six of 36 complete, Newman dropped four spots to sixth in the championship standings, 16 markers behind new series leader Busch. Stewart fell five positions to 11th and is 39 points out of first.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the April 9 Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.