Stewart takes blame for late-race penalty

As laps clicked down in Sunday’s Pocono 400, Stewart-Haas Racing seemed primed for a celebration, running 1-2-3 at Pocono Raceway.

Tony Stewart was leading teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch with 45 laps remaining when Harvick was forced to pit with a left front tire going down.

Then Stewart was penalized for speeding on pit road.

Suddenly, Busch, who also pitted, was back to 19th, Stewart was relegated to the tail end of the lead lap in 31st and Harvick was a lap down in 32nd.

“One hundred percent driver error,” said Stewart of his pit road snafu. “I gave my guys grief last week with a sixth-place run when I thought we should have run in the top three. Then I threw it away this week.”

“It’s just a shame,” said Greg Zipadelli, competition director for Stewart-Haas. “We had a strong weekend as far as speed. It was encouraging. We had a good day going. It just hasn’t been our year so far.”

When Stewart took the lead from Brad Keselowski on Lap 76, it marked only the second time this season that the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion had led a race. He led 74 laps from the pole at Texas Motor Speedway and led 24 at Pocono.

Busch, who led five laps, overcame early issues with his transmission slipping out of fourth gear and ended up with a third-place finish.

“At one point, it was great to see Tony leading, Harvick second and we were third,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to see with our Stewart-Haas Chevys up front. This is the point in the season where each [team] starts to build its own identity. Our team, as young as we are, this is the type of finish that will build the confidence.”

Stewart clawed his way back to 13th, one spot ahead of Harvick, who has been the fastest driver in both practice sessions on Saturday. SHR driver Danica Patrick also had a decent race going. Although off pit cycle, she was second with 25 laps to go only to see her afternoon end in a crash (after a tire problem) with 23 laps left and a 37th-place finish.