Not a bad rookie season for Tony Stewart so far.
Stewart was able to get the best of his teammate, Matt Cummings, in the final round of eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Northeast Division event at Maple Grove Raceway.
Stewart ran a 5.291 at 271.90 mph as Cummings broke and did not complete the pass.
Stewart earned his third win in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. His two previous wins came at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas and the North Central Division Race in Indianapolis, Indiana.
With the Northeast Division Race win at Maple Grove Raceway, Stewart takes the lead in the Top Alcohol Dragster championship standings.
In addition to a national championship, Stewart is also vying for a regional championship in the North Central Region. He’s leading the North Central Region championship point standings by a healthy margin with a total of 266 points.
“The weekend was a polar opposite compared to what happened last race in Columbus (Ohio). The whole team made a conscious decision to try and be on the other side of it. Even though we made it to the Finals, we felt like we were a little too aggressive in Columbus and it bit us. We came into Reading with a plan to make sure we made a solid lap the first round of qualifying and we could press from there. We kept it in a good, safe zone. My teammate, Matt Cummings, had the fastest car. He was just a little quicker than us all weekend. I was able to have really good reaction times both days and that was a big key to getting us here. You hate to win a race at the end against your teammate due to a mechanical failure, but unfortunately it happens. Being able to win the race and take over the national points lead is something we’re extremely proud and happy about. You don’t want to beat your teammate with misfortune like that, but it could happen to us too. I was really proud of the McPhillips Racing team. They did a great job of giving Matt and I two cars that were dominate all weekend. It came down to the two of us. We’re gelling with this team and now that we have the points lead, the plan is to keep it. We don’t want to let it get away from us. We’ll stick to the plan and stay the course. We’ll keep executing run after run.”
Stewart has won in IndyCar, dirt/sprint car racing, and of course is a NASCAR Hall of Famer.
The next event on the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series schedule for Stewart is the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals August 18-20 at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Event Results:
Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (5.331 ET at 272.67 mph)
Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (5.272 ET at 270.86 mph)
Secured No. 2 qualifying position in Q3 on Friday (5.266 ET at 273.16 mph)
Advanced to Finals on Saturday:
Round 1: 5.294 ET at 273.72 mph, defeated Mike Hepp (5.519 ET at 258.52 mph)
Round 2: 5.276 ET at 272.39 mph, defeated Dan Page (5.739 ET at 216.13 mph)
Finals: 5.291 ET at 271.90 mph, defeated Matt Cummings (Didn’t cross the finish line due to a sheared fuel pump drive)
See the latest from the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series:
Photo's: Tony Stewart social