Tony Stewart Takes 2011 Texas Chase Win While Kyle Busch Sits Out

Tony Stewart talked trash last week after winning in Martinsville. This week in Texas he backed it up by leading the most laps on the way to his fourth win of the 2011 Chase. The 2011 AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway featured long green flag runs as the biggest news of the week is the driver who watched the race from pit road.

Qualifying

Roush-Fenway Racing drivers swept the top three qualifying spots. Greg Biffle topped the speed charts in his Ford. He was followed closely by his teammates David Ragan and Matt Kenseth who started second and third.

Chevrolet drivers Paul Menard and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

Drop Of The Green

When the green flag flew the leaders remained side-by-side all the way into turn three before Greg Biffle got the edge on the bottom and lead the first lap.

There was not a lot of hard racing in the early going. It seemed that drivers were settling in for the long haul on the very fast Texas Motor Speedway.

Biffle opened up a one second lead over Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards in the first dozen laps as this race started with a long green flag run. Biffle started to fall back then and Matt Kenseth ran him down and took over the lead on lap 24 to earn a valuable bonus point.

The start of this race featured the top four drivers running away from the rest of the field as Kenseth, Biffle, Stewart and Edwards put a big gap on the pack.

Storylines

The biggest story of the week is about one driver who was not in the race. Kyle Busch lost his temper during Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race in Texas and it cost him dearly.

During the Texas Motor Speedway truck race Kyle and Ron Hornaday were racing for position when Hornaday pushed up into Kyle and ran him into the wall. Kyle's temper got the best of him and he ran up behind Hornaday under caution and floored it until they both crashed hard in the corner.

Hornaday came into the race only 15 points behind in the Championship but the DNF has crushed his hopes of a 2011 title. Hornaday is now 48 points behind with only one race to go.

NASCAR decided that Kyle Busch went way over the line. They parked Kyle for the rest of the weekend. Kyle was not allowed to race in Saturday's Nationwide Series event or the Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday.

Kyle was seventh in points coming into the weekend. He was already too far back to have a legitimate shot at the Championship but every position in points is worth significantly more than the last when we get to the Sprint Cup awards banquet at the end of the year.

I'm glad NASCAR dropped the hammer on him. Kyle's actions went well beyond "Boys have at it" and were simply dangerous. Hornaday crashed hard and could have been seriously injured.

What Kyle Busch did was essentially assault with a deadly weapon. There is no place in NASCAR for that level of retaliation.

Chasing The Checkers

Tony Stewart was the man too beat through most of the race. He was out front as another caution fell shortly after Johnson's spin and all the leaders hit pit road. Carl Edwards wasn't going to give up his point lead without a battle and his Roush-Fenway Racing team got Carl back on track first and into the lead as the laps were winding down.

Edwards and Stewart started side-by-side with sixty laps to go. Just like last week Tony Stewart made the outside lane work when it hadn't worked all day and took the lead.

Another long green flag run unfolded and the two point leaders hit pit road together with 32 laps to go. Stewart won the battle in the pits and would have been in the lead except for the drivers, lead by Jeff Burton, who decided to gamble on fuel and try to make it the last sixty laps on fuel.

Stewart was ninth and Carl Edwards was tenth since the top eight drivers were rolling the dice on fuel.

Ryan Newman passed Jeff Burton for the lead with fifteen laps to go. The fuel gamblers were racing each other which makes it hard to save fuel.

Some of the cars directly in front of Tony Stewart pitted wich moved him up to fifth. Then leader Ryan Newnam pitted along with Mark Martin leaving only Jeff Burton trying to stretch the fuel for the win with ten laps to go.

Jeff Burton ran out of gas with five laps to go leaving the lead for Tony Stewart.

Tony drove it home and picked up his fourth win of the 2011 Chase for the Cup.

Top Ten

1. Tony Stewart
2. Carl Edwards
3. Kasey Kahne
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Greg Biffle
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Clint Bowyer
10. A.J. Allmendinger

The Points

Tony Stewart did everything he could to pick up points. Stewart won the race and lead the most laps to maximize his points. However Carl Edwards played a solid defense and finished second to keep Stewart from getting away.

Carl Edwards' lead is now three points over Tony Stewart with just two races to go. Realistically this is now a two horse race for the title.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:

1. Carl Edwards -0
2. Tony Stewart -3
3. Kevin Harvick -33
4. Matt Kenseth -38
5. Brad Keselowski -49
6. Jimmie Johnson -55
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -79
8. Jeff Gordon -81
9. Kurt Busch -87
10. Denny Hamlin -99
11. Kyle Busch -100
12. Ryan Newman -103