Stewart 16th at Dover

While it wasn’t the result Tony Stewart was looking for, his 16th-place finish in the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway was hard-earned.

Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), started 26th in the 43-car field and dealt with a tight-handling racecar throughout the 405-lap race around the 1-mile, concrete oval. At one point, Stewart was three laps down, but he rallied and earned one of his laps back before finishing 16th.

“That’s the hardest I’ve had to work for a 16th-place finish,” said Stewart upon climbing from his car on pit road.

Stewart even had to overcome a pit stall with crumbling concrete. With approximately 150 laps still remaining in the race, an expansion joint at the front of Stewart’s pit area buckled. Shards of concrete running the width of his pit stall came apart, leaving a deep rut with sharp edges that Stewart had to gently navigate each time he pitted.

With all the Monster Mile threw at Stewart, he never blinked. Stewart simply dug deeper and earned the best finish possible. In a fast-paced race that saw just four cautions for 25 laps in the first 376 laps, all of which were separated by long, green flag runs, Stewart was one of only four drivers finishing two laps down. Twenty-seven other drivers finished three or more laps down when the checkered flag dropped.

TSC PR