A TUMS “FightS back fast” MOMENT
(For each of the 36 races during the 2011 Sprint Cup season, TUMS will provide a brief historical recap of a moment when a team fought back to overcome an obstacle, one that can easily be described as a TUMS “Fights Back Fast” Moment. This week, the focus is on Kansas Speedway).
STEWART RE-ESTABLISHES HIMSELF A CHASE CONTENDER WITH WIN
The date was Oct. 5, 2009. After a string of less than championship-caliber finishes in the first two events in the Chase, Tony Stewart re-established himself as a contender for the season championship with a win in the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway.
NOTE: TUMS is the sponsor of the TUMS Fast Relief 500, the seventh race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, at Martinsville Speedway on October 30.
A call for two right-side tires only by crew chief Darian Grubb on the final pit stop under caution on lap 238 put Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet out front for the restart on lap 242 of the 267-lap race. From there, the Columbus, Ind. native curtailed the urge to push his car beyond the limit even though several drivers that opted for four tires were closing fast.
“Darian – you don’t question him when he makes a call,” Stewart said. “You know it’s the right thing to do, and then you go from there. The big thing was just not driving the tires off the thing. In case we got a [late] caution and had a green-white-checkered finish, we had a little bit left, but we didn’t leave too much out there.”
Stewart was able to hold off Jeff Gordon who took four tires and charged from sixth to second in the final 26 laps.
