Tony Stewart is hot during the dog days of August
Tony Stewart is continuing to stay hot, which is the normal state of affairs for the dog days of August.
Stewart, the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, is putting up strong numbers in this, his final full-time season as driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.
Sunday at Watkins Glen International, Stewart finished a solid fifth in the Cheez-It 355, the second and final Sprint Cup road race of the season. It was Stewart's fifth top-five finish in his last eight races.
And for the record, the five top fives are two more than in earned in 69 Cup starts in 2014-15 combined. Stewart will be the first to tell you that his SHR Chevrolets lack a little bit of performance compared with the front-running Toyotas, but he's making the most of every opportunity.
"We got some breaks there at the end," said Stewart. "But our Haas Automation Chevy was really good."
Stewart survived three caution flags in the final 13 laps to hang around and get a solid finish, which was helped by Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson getting spun out on the last lap.
"It is so chaotic here. You get under 10 laps and get restarts; you know it's going to be a crash-fest there," Stewart said. "But we were able to survive and got through a couple of them and got a couple of spots there coming to the line. I'll take a top five here in the last run."
Stewart was pleased to avoid several big crashes that happened near him.
"I'm pretty happy," said Stewart. "Especially since we aren't one of the guys all torn up over there. Considering where we were in this race and where we ended up, I think we are really happy."
And he praised crew chief Mike Bugarewicz for using sound strategy to help him conserve fuel and finish in the top five.
"Buga (Bugarewicz) and my guys have done a great job all year adjusting our race strategy as the race goes on," Stewart said. "They did it again today, and that played a huge factor in today's finish."
