Tony Stewart wants his next fence climb to be at the Brickyard.
He scaled the wiring Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway to celebrate his victory in the New England 300. A crowd of 100,000 roared its approval as he reached the flagstand, grabbed the checkered flag and pumped his fist in the air -- just as he had two weeks earlier after a victory at Daytona.
The Indiana native promises to again climb over the fence in front of the grandstand if he takes the Brickyard 400 next month. The self-described fat man is certainly getting enough practice these days.
PHOTO: AFP
Stewart said he'll probably be able to keep going -- climbing on nothing but air -- if he wins at Indianapolis.
"Trust me, I'll be glad to be panting like a dog when I get up there," he said, noting that he can see how much the fans enjoy his antics.
His Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet led 232 of 300 laps and beat the Ford of Kurt Busch by 0.851 seconds on The Magic Mile. It was the eighth top-10 finish in the last 11 races for Stewart, third in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings.
Third in the US$5.1 million race was Stewart's teammate, Bobby Labonte. Next came the Chevy of Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle's Ford.
Stewart, long known for his impish behavior, loves playing to an audience.
"It didn't matter whether they liked me or hated me," he explained. "They were cheering."
But Stewart said he needs a personal trainer.
"Yes, I'm still too old and too fat to be doing that stuff," the 34-year-old driver said. "I'm probably going to fall and bust my butt before it's over. They said I could go back down the steps and through the hole in the fence. I said, `Thank you, very much.'"
Stewart started 13th and wound up winning for the third time in four races, passing at will inside and outside in a dominant performance.
"This thing was awesome from the start," he said of his car. "As soon as we got to the front, I knew we had a great car."
The win was his second on this track and the 22nd of Stewart's career. He also won in Sonoma, California, and Daytona, and has posted finishes of second and fifth in his last five starts.
"We feel like we're on top of the world," crew chief Greg Zipadelli said.
Everything fell back into place for Sebastien Bourdais on Sunday in the inaugural Grand Prix of Edmonton.
The reigning Champ Car World Series champion came from a 10th-place start after crashing in qualifying on Friday and captured his first victory since the season-opener in April at Long Beach, California.
The Frenchman was able to slice through heavy traffic on the fast, 3.1km, 14-turn circuit and move into contention, but it took mistakes by both A.J. Allmendinger and his RuSport teammate Justin Wilson of England to give Bourdais a shot at the 12th victory of his career.
"I would have been happy with a top five," Bourdais said after celebrating with some smoking doughnuts in front of 78,080 spectators, most of whom were cheering for his bitter rival, Canadian driver Paul Tracy, who finished third.
"I was just hanging on, trying not to make a mistake," Bourdais added. "There were some faster drivers out there, but they all made mistakes. I don't know, maybe they were all tired."
Allmendinger, a 23-year-old American and last year's top rookie, started from the pole for the first time in his career. He appeared on the way to his first victory until he bounced off the wall, damaging his transmission, while leading just eight laps from the end of the 88-lap event. The frustrated Allmendinger wound up 14th.
Racing on the Nashville Super-speedway that he's adopted as his own, Dario Franchitti dipped inside Patrick Carpentier with seven laps to go and drove away with the Firestone Indy 200 on Saturday.
He celebrated his first Indy Racing League victory this year and third overall by spinning doughnuts in front of the grandstand, then headed to Victory Lane to grab his new trophy guitar.
"Finally," said Franchitti, who can use a helicopter to make the short commute from his home to the track.
Sam Hornish Jr. finished second followed by Carpentier. Scott Sharp was fourth with Helio Castroneves fifth.
Danica Patrick looked like she might make history with her first victory as she started second and even led nine laps. She got a much-needed caution to refuel and pick up fresh tires, but finished seventh for her fifth top 10 finish in her rookie season.
Franchitti moved to Tennessee because of his actress wife, Ashley Judd. That has made this 2.1km tri-oval track a favorite target since moving to the IRL in 2002.
Franchitti wound up as the only car from Andretti Green Racing still on the track after mechanical troubles knocked out the Scot's teammates. But he had Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta cheering him from the pits.
Wheldon even predicted Franchitti would take the lead two laps after the restart off the final caution, and the Englishman was right.
The restart came with nine laps to go and Carpentier holding the lead. Franchitti started running him down. He made his move going into turn 1 as he dipped down low and ran by Carpentier's Toyota-powered Dallara with his own Honda-powered Dallara.
Defending World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb drove his Citroen to a record sixth straight victory Sunday, beating Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm to win the Argentina Rally.
France's Loeb, who has won seven of the tour's nine races this year, led from Friday's start on the grueling Cordoba hill circuit of central Argentina. Finland's Gronholm kept within 30 seconds over the three days but was unable to catch Loeb.
Loeb's Citroen Xsara won in an overall time of 3 hours, 55 minutes, 36.4 seconds, while Gronholm's Peugeot Total was 26.1 seconds back, and Norway's Petter Solberg, in a Subaru Impreza, was 55.3 seconds behind.
Ford's Toni Gardemeister of Finland finished fourth -- 2:38 seconds back -- and compatriot Harri Rovanpera's Mitsubishi Lancer was fifth -- 2:43.6 seconds behind.
All times are preliminary.
In overall standings, Loeb now has 75 points, Solberg is on 48 and Gronholm has 45.
Tens of thousands of fans watched the third day of racing as Loeb won the day's opening stage on roads wet from overnight rain and sleet.
Loeb has won the last five world championship events, including Greece three weeks ago. The 25th annual Argentina Rally covered 341km in and around Villa Carlos Paz, some 475km northwest of Buenos Aires.
Loeb sealed victory by winning six of the opening 10 stages Friday to build up an early, commanding 31-second lead.
Gronholm and Solberg battled all day Saturday for second position until Solberg damaged his rear suspension and brakes after careering off the track to finish third.
In the team championship, Citroen has seven victories for the year, followed by Subaru with two triumphs.
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