When Tony Stewart comes to Las Vegas, he comes to win. The difference between Stewart and most others who come to Sin City is that Stewart actually emerges victorious, be it on the racetrack or on the tables of the MGM Grand.
Stewart is a savvy poker player, and that works well for him behind the wheel of a racecar too. The driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has 48 career wins, and among that tally is a 2012 victory at Las Vegas.
Stewart started seventh in the 267-lap race, but quickly moved toward the front of the field. He took the lead for the first time on lap 134 as he slipped past four-time Las Vegas race-winner Jimmie Johnson. Track position, however, was everything, and when Stewart found himself third on a lap-234 restart, he made a daring three-wide pass on the frontstretch to retake the lead for the final time. However, holding that lead proved challenging, as three separate caution periods allowed his competitors, notably Johnson, to mount a charge against Stewart. Each time Stewart held him off, and when the checkered flag waved, Stewart had a .461 of a second margin of victory. It was the 13th time Stewart and Johnson finished 1-2, with Johnson taking seven victories and Stewart holding six.
The victory, which came in Stewart’s 14th Sprint Cup start at the track, put a spotlight on Stewart’s prowess at Las Vegas. His stat line reads: one win, four top-threes, six top-fives, nine top-10s and 482 laps led in 15 Sprint Cup starts.
But winning on Las Vegas’ 1.5-mile oval isn’t the only place where Stewart has run the table. The versatile driver has two other victories on speedway property – at the Las Vegas Bullring and at The Dirt Track. The first of Stewart’s Las Vegas wins came in November 2002 when he swept the USAC Sprint/Midget doubleheader at the Las Vegas Bullring. It was the first single night USAC sweep for Stewart on pavement. The second came in November 2010 when Stewart won the preliminary round of the inaugural Las Vegas Sprint Car Nationals at The Dirt Track. It was Stewart’s first American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) victory in only his second ASCS start.
Those are victories Stewart the driver has earned. Stewart the car owner has even more wins, as his dual-threat World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series team of 20-time champion Steve Kinser and five-time champion Donny Schatz has been prolific at The Dirt Track.
The Outlaws first competed at the facility to close the 1996 season and have contested 47 nights of action. Twenty-nine of those races have been full point programs and Schatz is the winningest driver at the track with seven A-Feature wins. Last March, Schatz led the final 20 laps of the main event to score the opening-night victory. The following night, he started on the pole and led seven laps before a flat left-front tire derailed his shot at win number eight. Kinser is a four-time A-Feature winner and has three preliminary feature wins, with his most recent victory coming in March 2011. Both drivers will compete Wednesday and Thursday night in the leadup to the marquee NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday.
It’s there where Las Vegas provides another opportunity for Stewart to win, and in a Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet honed in the wind tunnel, Stewart remains a smart bet.
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