Tony Stewart's solid run ends with a spin
There are still 17 races to go before the Chase, so it's a bit early to be making proclamations. However, it may be safe to say that Tony Stewart is clearly in a position where he'll have to win to make the Chase.
A week after finishing a season-best sixth at Bristol, Stewart ran for most of the day in the top 15 at Richmond. However, his hopes for a good finish took a nosedive when he made contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 358.
Junior and Stewart hit in the tri-oval as the No. 88 was outside of Stewart's car. The right front of Stewart's car hit the left rear of Junior's, and as Stewart went to correct after the contact, his car went spinning into turn one.
Junior said he wasn't sure what happened.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask him," Junior said. "He he hit me in the left rear quarterpanel. I was trying to clear the 51 on the outside of me so I was as high as I could go. You're going to have to ask him."
According to Fox, Stewart declined comment after the race. Cameras captured him flinging his helmet and HANS device into his hauler.
It looked like Stewart escaped significant damage in the spin and would be able to stay on the lead lap. However, he said he couldn't get his car to crank upon refiring it. With it unable to move at the entry to turn one, he got out and it was towed back to the garage.
He finished 41st, his fifth finish of 30th or worse this season.
Through nine races, Stewart has 148 points and is 30th in the standings. He's more than 200 points behind leader Kevin Harvick, but most importantly, also 86 points, or basically two full races, behind Ryan Newman, the last driver into the Chase based on points in the current standings. For Stewart to qualify for the Chase on points, not only would he have to make up two full races on Newman (assuming the standings don't change, which won't happen), he'd also have to pass 15 other drivers.
It's an accomplishment that's highly improbable, meaning Stewart's best chances for Chase qualification are via a win. Which, if we'll be honest, looks a bit improbable too.
We know better than to rule anything out with Stewart, a man who publicly derided his team's title hopes in the summer of 2011 on the way to his third title. So we're not counting him out completely, especially since two of the Stewart-Haas cars have been some of the fastest on the circuit.
Do you think he get his first win since June of 2013 before the Chase begins?
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
