The traditionalist in Tony Stewart seethed when his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway sold the naming rights to NASCAR's lone Nextel Cup race here each season. Maybe the Allstate 400 will never inspire the same passion as the old Brickyard 400.
But a victory here is no less sweet.
Stewart, the Indiana native who said he would trade his 2002 Cup championship for just one victory at his home track, finally has the trophy he coveted most in his stock-car career. Stewart passed a game Kasey Kahne on a restart with 11 laps to go and slowly pulled away. In the end, no one could catch Stewart.
PHOTO: AP
"You guys helped me live my lifelong dream today," Stewart told his team over the radio after taking the checkered flag.
It was his fourth victory in the past six Nextel Cup races and propelled Stewart into first place in the standings as the leader Jimmie Johnson faltered with a late-race wreck that dropped him to 38th for the day. Johnson was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for evaluation and was later released.
"That's, by far, the hardest hit I've taken," Johnson said shortly after the crash. He had to be pulled from the racecar on pit road when it caught fire.
While Stewart established himself as the driver to beat in the 10-race playoff for the championship, which starts Sept. 18 at New Hampshire, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended just about any hope that he will join Stewart in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. The 2005 season has been a long, slow, often miserable ride for Earnhardt, and he may have reached a new low point Sunday. Earnhardt crashed on a restart on Lap 61 and finished 43rd -- last in the field -- to drop to 16th in the points standings. It was the third time in his career that Earnhardt finished 43rd in a race. The last time it happened was Feb. 26, 2001 -- the first race after the Daytona 500 in which his father was killed.
Only the top 10 drivers and those within 400 points of the lead qualify for the playoff chase. Earnhardt is 191 points behind 10th-place Carl Edwards and 627 back of Stewart.
"That's life," Earnhardt said after struggling at the back of the field throughout the early stages of the race before the crash. "You've got to deal with it, good and bad. We'll be all right. I mean, if we make the chase, we make it. If we don't, we don't. We'll still try to win some races before the year is out."
Stewart has no such worries. He virtually guaranteed his place in the playoff with his seventh consecutive finish in the top 10 going back to a second-place showing at Michigan in June. During the stretch, which includes consecutive victories in Sonoma, California, and Daytona as well as a victory at New Hampshire, he has climbed from that tenuous 10th spot in the points battle.
Nothing compares to winning here, though. Stewart grew up about 50 miles south of the Brickyard in Columbus, Indiana, and has always revered the track.
"I've wanted this my entire life," he said.
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