Tony Stewart, who smoked the race tracks in NASCAR Nextel Cup series, fired up the voting among the media and the fans, easily winning the Speed Channel DRIVER OF THE YEAR third quarter, 2005. “It’s an honor to be named the third quarter Driver of The Year, said Stewart, the 2002 Nextel Cup Champion. I didn’t do it alone, though, as I had a great race team in Joe Gibbs Racing providing me with great race cars”. Stewart drove the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet, into victory lane at the quarters opening race, the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway and hasnt slowed to lookin his rear-view mirrors. Following an emotional win at the Allstate 400, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Stewart – known as Smoke – took over the points lead and held it as the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup started this Sunday. During the 12 weeks of the third quarter Stewart amassed an unmatched record of five wins and no finish worse than eighth. In the fan voting Stewart garnered all the first-place ballots, except for one (where he was voted in second place). As a result he scored 150 points, or, more than double the 69 points tallied by Dan Wheldon, of the Indy Racing League, the second quarter winner. Britains Wheldon won two races, in the quarter, has all but wrapped up the Indy Car Series title. Frances Sebastien Bourdais, the reigning Champ Car World Series Champion and current series leader had one first-place vote and counted a total of 58 points. Bourdais, who drives for Newman/Haas Racing had a string of three consecutive wins. Fourth place went to King of the Outlaws Steve Kinser. Noteworthy, Stewart was first, Martin Truex Jr., of the NASCAR Busch Series, finished second and the IRLs, Tony Kanaan, finished third as fans clicked their votes on the www.SpeedTV.com website. In its 39th year, the DRIVER OF THE YEAR title is unique because it is the only award that encompasses all of the racing series in the United States and fan participation. A panel of 18 leading journalists from across the U.S. and a fan vote on Speedtv.com determine the winner. In quarterly voting, points are awarded on a declining 9, 6, 4,3,2,1 basis. Stewart received a trophy and a Maurice Lacroix wristwatch which was presented on Speed TV.(Speed Channel)(9-20-2005)
