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Stewart holds off Hendrick racers

Helio Castroneves, bottom, trails Scott Dixon during a warm-up session for the IRL Honda Grand Prix of St.Petersburg on the streets of St.Petersburg, Florida, on Sunday. PHOTO: AFP

Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson weren't involved in the beating and banging at Bristol that left several NASCAR drivers nearly enraged.

On Sunday, they put on a clinic in short-track racing with Stewart banging on Johnson's bumper for four laps, then finally beating him out of the second turn on his way to a surprisingly anticlimactic victory at tiny, testy Martinsville Speedway.

"I knew as soon as I went by him that if he could get back to me, he was going to do the very same thing," Stewart said after his second Martinsville victory.

"I wasn't going to have a problem with it."

"To have guys that don't whine, carry on and complain and go on and on definitely makes racing here more fun," Stewart said. "But trust me, there aren't a lot of guys like Jimmie. Jimmie is a class act and that's why I like racing with him so much."

He also likes racing on the smallest track in the Nextel Cup circuit, even though he once got so frustrated with Martinsville he suggested turning it into a bass pond.

Tony Stewart, left, leads Jamie McMurray during the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series DirectTV 500 at the Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia, on Sunday. PHOTO: AFP

Stewart and Johnson dueled nose-to-bumper and side-by-side for four laps beginning with 30 to go Sunday, bringing the 65,000 fans to their feet. After being rebuffed three times, Stewart finally banged his way around Johnson with 27 laps to go.

"I knew we were a little quicker than him," Stewart said. "There was no way he was going to give it away, so we were going to have to take it away.

The victory was Stewart's first in 20 races.

Gordon finished second, followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kyle Busch, also of Hendrick. Chevrolet won the top five spots.

Helio Castroneves finally won on a Indy Racing League road circuit, capturing the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg when Scott Dixon's fuel strategy came up just short.

Castroneves had not even finished the three previous road races in the IRL IndyCar Series.

Dixon, who ran second most of the day, tried to conserve fuel after pitting on lap 55 of the 100-lap event in downtown St. Petersburg. The New Zealander stayed out as the other contenders made their stops, taking the lead when Castroneves drove his Marlboro Team Penske Dallara onto pit road on lap 88.

At that point, Dixon drove as hard as he could, trying to build a big enough margin that he could make a quick fuel stop near the end of the race and hold onto the lead. Dixon was ahead of Castroneves by nearly 16 seconds when he finally pitted on lap 96.

The stop was not quick enough.

Dixon came back onto the track just behind Castroneves and never got the chance to make a run at him as a collision between Buddy Rice and Tomas Scheckter, battling for sixth place, brought out the second caution flag of the day and forced officials to end the race under yellow.
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