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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Tony Stewart gave his hometown fans
even more to celebrate Monday at his victory parade. On Sunday, he led a high-speed parade, and nobody ever caught
up. Even a broken alternator couldn't keep Stewart from winning at
Watkins Glen International. "I just shut down everything I could," he said after winning
for the fifth time in seven races. "And I prayed. We do a lot of
praying at Joe Gibbs Racing." Faced with the electrical problem right at the end of a race he
dominated, Stewart simply snookered the opposition on the final two
restarts and drove away. And his performance further lengthened his
lead in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings. But Stewart was more excited Sunday about the parade in
Columbus, Ind., where his neighbors will honor him for his victory
a week earlier at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The thing he does almost as well as race is reel off one-liners,
and he had an appropriate one for the parade. "I'm just scared that the kids are going be to throwing darts
at me," said Stewart, who for most of his career has been booed
but now is a fan favorite. "I'm feeling the love now. It's a lot
better than dodging grenades." But he wasn't going directly to Indiana after leaving. This
racing junkie took off his helmet, slipped on his car-owner's hat,
hopped on his jet and flew to Knoxville, Iowa. There on Sunday
night, he watched his champion driver, Danny Lasoski, race in the
Knoxville Nationals -- the Super Bowl of winged sprint car racing. Still, he couldn't help but reflect on his incredible run -- the
kind enjoyed in the past by drivers such as Richard Petty, the late
Dale Earnnhardt and Jeff Gordon. "I've been in zones before where I would finish in the top
three when I was in midgets and sprints, where I can go week in a
week out and not fall out the top three," Stewart said. "To win
five our of seven ... I think that's a pretty good record." Still, he had to hope he had enough juice left after a late
caution forced two extra laps. Stewart radioed in that he had an
alternator problem, made his adjustments and sprinted away from
Robby Gordon on the final restart. "The only time anybody could get close to us was on the
restarts," Stewart said. "We had an absolutely flawless day other
than the alternator." Gordon, like Boris Said before him, was slowed by Stewart coming
to the restarts, and never got close once the green flag waved. "You do everything you can to sucker your competition," Gordon
said with grudging admiration. "He flat beat us. What more can you
say." The winner left Gordon as nothing more than a valiant competitor
who charged from his 39th starting spot all the way to Stewart's
rear bumper with two laps to go. But Stewart made him slow down
just before the restart. Scott Pruett, who finished fourth, also was impressed. "They could have taken 10 more restarts," he said. "We
weren't going to catch him." Crew chief Greg Zipadelli said hard work and a lack of
complacency has the team on its incredible roll. He said he has
been reminding the team not to let up. "This is like a fantasy. I hope it lasts," Zipadelli said.
"Smoke has been just fired up. I haven't seen him this focused in
the seven years I've been around him." The 24th victory of the his career gave Stewart a 105-point lead
over Jimmie Johnson, who finished fifth. After winning, Stewart stopped at the flagstand, took the
checker and drove around the track to the cheers of the crowd. But
he didn't climb the catch fencing as he had after his three most
recent wins. "This place really isn't conducive to fence climbing," he
said. "I'm convinced that I'm going to fall off one day and crack
my head open." Stewart won the $4.6 million Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen
for the second year in a row. It was his fifth road-course win. He won in June on the only other NASCAR road course -- the
serpentine layout in Sonoma, Calif. It was his third win on this
2.45-mile track known as New York's Thunder Road. His polesitting Chevrolet led a record 83 of 92 laps and beat
the Chevy of Gordon by 1.927 seconds on the 11-turn track that
snakes through the hills south of Seneca Lake. Said finished third in a Chevy, followed by the Dodge of Pruett
and Johnson's Chevy.
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