Tony Stewart won the New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, scoring his 22nd career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 231st career start.
Stewarts last victory came at Daytona, two races ago.
This is Stewarts third victory in 2005.
Stewart has won three of the last four races (Sonoma, Daytona and New Hampshire).
Stewart has scored top-five finishes in his last five races.
Stewart moved into a tie with Terry Labonte for 25th on NASCARs All-time win list.
Stewart remained third in the NASCAR NEXTEL CUP point standings, and is now 85 behind first-place Jimmie Johnson and just eight points behind second-place Greg Biffle.
Stewart scored his second victory at New Hampshire International Speedway. Stewart also won here in July 2000.
This was Stewarts 13th victory in 179 career superspeedway races.
Stewart led six times for 232 of the 300 laps raced – including the final 55, leading the most laps for the sixth time in a race this season.
Stewart has scored 11 top-10 finishes in 19 races this season.
Stewart scored the second victory for car owner Joe Gibbs at New Hampshire International Speedway.
This was Gibbs third victory as a car owner in 2005, all by Stewart.
This is the 10th victory for Chevrolet in 2005. Ford has eight and Dodge has one.
Notebook Items
Kurt Busch (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in nine races at New Hampshire International Speedway; including four top-fives. He scored his 10th top-10 finish in 19 races in 2005 and climbed from 10th to fifth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. He is now 325 behind first-place Jimmie Johnson.
Bobby Labonte (third) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 21 races at New Hampshire International Speedway. Labonte scored just his fourth top-10 finish in 2005.
Kyle Busch (fourth) posted his first top-10 finish in his first race at New Hampshire International Speedway and his seventh top-10 finish in 2005.
Greg Biffle (fifth) posted second top-10 finish in six races at New Hampshire International Speedway. Biffle remained second in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, 77 points behind first-place Jimmie Johnson.
Rusty Wallace (eighth) extended a 32-race streak of running at the finish that began at Bristol last August. Wallace has scored 15 top-15 finishes in 19 races in 2005.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (ninth) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 12 races at New Hampshire International Speedway. He remained 13th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, 477 points behind first-place Jimmie Johnson and 59 points behind 10th-place Dale Jarrett. He posted his third consecutive top-10 finish this season.
Jimmie Johnson (13th) has ranked in the top-10 of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point standings for 52 consecutive races, the longest current streak. The streak began at Atlanta in March 2004. Johnson has scored 13 top- 10 finishes in 2005, the most of all drivers
Six 10 of the top-10 positions in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings changed at New Hampshire.
Nine drivers remain within 400 points of current point leader Jimmie Johnson with seven races remaining before the Chase begins in New Hampshire in September.
Jeff Gordon (25th) scored his ninth finish of 25th or worse in 19 races in 2005. He remained 15th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, now 538 points behind point leader Jimmie Johnson and 120 points behind 10thplace Dale Jarrett.(Information Provided by NASCAR Statistical Services [1-888-782-8725])(7-17-2005)
