Tony Stewart had a spirited battle with Kevin Harvick today at The Brickyard and bested him in turn two with ten laps to go to post his second win at his historic home-state oval. Tony’s win in the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard was his second in a row, the 31st of his Nextel Cup career (he’s solo in 20th on the all-time win list), and the 57th for Joe Gibbs Racing. Tony wins a mere $488,111 from the paltry $9.5M+ in posted awards. Lotsa multi-car wrecks today….. Reed Sorenson (5th) had his best finish since he was 4th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. Mark Martin (6th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Texas in April. Dave Blaney (9th) had his best finish since he was 9th at Loudon last September. His Top-10 finish moves us one ahead of last year’s number…. he’s the 39th driver to score a Top-10 this season. Ward Burton (14th) had his best finish since he was 10th at Talladega in October of 2004! Brian Vickers (21st) had his best finish since he was 5th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. Terry Labonte (30th) had his best finish since he was 21st at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last October (only three races). STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 8 Top-10’s in a row. Matt Kenseth has 4 Top-10’s in a row. Kevin Harvick has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. This Week’s Elevator…UP: Operator of the Week is Ward Burton (+26), followed by Matt Kenseth (+21), Martin Truex Jr (+21), and David Gilliland (+21). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Ryan Newman (-39), followed by Kasey Kahne (-35), Dale Earnhardt Jr (-30), Tony Raines (-30), Casey Mears (-26), and Jimmie Johnson (-20). Jeff Gordon pads his lead to 371 markers over Denny Hamlin this week, but watch how that shrinks in about a month and a half. Kurt Busch moves up to 13th, and he’s now just 13 points behind Dale Jr for the last Chase spot. Reed Sorenson (28th to 24th) made the best move forward today, while Kasey Kahne (24th to 28th) went in the oppositie direction.(Stock Car Fans)(7-29-2007)
