Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer Change Roles In New Hampshire

Tony Stewart had a fast car when the Sprint Cup stars ran here in 2011 and brought a lot of momentum into the 2011 Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway fresh off of last week's win in Chicagoland. Tony kept his hot streak alive and claimed his second win of 2011 and his third career New Hampshire victory.

Stewart now leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings and is looking strong so far in the 2011 Chase for the Cup.

Qualifying

When the NASCAR Sprint Cup series visited New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July Ryan Newman held off his teammate Tony Stewart to claim the win. However, the two teammates saw very different qualifying results for this weekend's race.

Ryan Newman topped 135MPH on the relatively flat one-mile oval to take the pole while Tony Stewart could only muster a 133.4MPH lap and rolls off twentieth.

Red Bull Toyota drivers Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers claimed the second and third place starting spots. Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.

Drop Of The Green

There was some excitement this week even before the green flag flew. Chase driver Kurt Busch's car failed pre-race inspection. The team had to scramble to get the car through inspection and got it to the line just minutes before the start of the race.

When they finally raced Ryan Newman took the early lead in turn one while Red Bull teammates Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne raced for second with Kahne getting the best of that battle.

One driver who was on the move in the early going was Jeff Gordon. Gordon started seventh but was up to third by lap ten.

Storylines

Sometimes the NASCAR fates even things out. Last year in this race Tony Stewart had the best can but ran out of gas in the closing laps allowing Clint Bowyer to sweep in and claim the win.

This year the roles were reversed. Clint Bowyer seemed to be just a bit quicker in the closing laps but he ran out of gas with a couple of laps to go and handed the win to Tony Stewart.

Funy how things just kind of work out sometimes. They each suffered heartache and won one on the other's pain.

Chasing The Checkers

Clint Bowyer lead Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon as the race entered the closing laps.

The 2011 Sylvania 300 ended up being yet another fuel mileage event. Clint Bowyer was trying to stretch it to the finish but came up two laps short. Bowyer ran out and Tony Stewart moved past him for the win.

As predicted Tony Stewart claimed his second win of 2011 and his second Chase race of the year and took over the point lead from Kevin Harvick. If Tony keeps this up he will run away with the 2011 Championship.

Top Ten

1. Tony Stewart
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Greg Biffle
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Brian Vickers
6. Matt Kenseth
7. David Ragan
8. Carl Edwards
9. Juan Pablo Montoya
10. Regan Smith

The Points

Tony Stewart is perfect so far during the 2011 Chase for the Cup. With two wins in two races Stewart now leads Kevin Harvick by seven points with eight Chase races remaining.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:

1. Tony Stewart -0
2. Kevin Harvick -7
3. Brad Keselowski -11
4. Carl Edwards -14
5. Jeff Gordon -23
6. Kyle Busch -26
7. Matt Kenseth -26
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -26
9. Kurt Busch -28
10. Jimmie Johnson -29
11. Ryan Newman -34
12. Denny Hamlin -66