Dover, DE – Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday, October mile oval. Start time: 2:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 400. Miles: 400. 2010 Winner: Jimmie Johnson. Television: ESPN. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Satellite.
Tony Stewart is on fire in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship right now. After a winless 26-race regular season, Stewart has won the first two playoff races -- Chicagoland and New Hampshire.
One month ago, it looked as though Stewart might be absent from the 12-driver Chase field. In fact, the two-time Sprint Cup Series champion was almost ready to write himself off as a Chase contender after his disappointing 28th-place finish in the August 27 race at Bristol.
But things have changed for Stewart since then...big time.
"It's huge," he said. "When you talk about momentum, that racecar doesn't know anything about momentum...Momentum deals with people. It's not just these first two races of the Chase. It was the two weeks [Atlanta and Richmond] leading before it, too. We haven't finished outside the top-seven now in the last four weeks. That's huge for us."
Stewart began the Chase in the ninth seed, but after back-to-back wins, he has propelled to the lead, holding a seven-point advantage over Kevin Harvick.
"As much as we want to sit here and beat our chest and be proud of what we've done, and we are proud of what we've done these first two weeks, we got eight hard weeks to go here," Stewart said. "The celebrating isn't going to last long. We got a lot of work to do. I'm proud of our group. I'm confident that we've got a group of guys that are very focused right now."
Stewart joined Greg Biffle as the only drivers who have won the first two races in the Chase since NASCAR began its playoff format in 2004. Biffle accomplished the feat in 2008 but finished the season third in points that year.
Round three in the Chase takes place on Sunday at Dover International Speedway. If Stewart takes the checkered flag at Dover, it will be the first time in his 13-year Sprint Cup career that he has won three races in a row.
Stewart scored a season-sweep at Dover in 2000 but has not won a race here since then. He has finished 21st and 29th in the last two races at this one- mile, concrete-surfaced track.
Brad Keselowski is another driver who has been very hot lately. Keselowski has finished no worse than 12th in the last nine races. He began the Chase in the 11th seed (wild card), but after a fifth-place finish at Chicagoland and then a second-place run at New Hampshire, he is up to third in the rankings, just 11 points behind Stewart.
"We still have a long way to go, a really long way," Keselowski said. "There's eight big races left. Then, of course, you can throw in Talladega. I don't think anybody can tell you what's going to happen there."
If Jimmie Johnson is hoping to rebound in the Chase, Dover is where he can do it. Johnson's current 10th-place ranking is his lowest Chase position ever. He is 29 points out of the lead.
Dover has been one of Johnson's best tracks. He leads all active drivers with six wins here, including three in the last five races. Johnson finished ninth at Dover earlier this year.
"I look at Dover as a huge opportunity," he said. "It's been a great track for me over the years. We've won a lot of Chase races there. It's my favorite racetrack."
Denny Hamlin also needs a good run at Dover to bounce back in the Chase. Hamlin is a distant 66 points behind Stewart after finishing 29th and 31st in the first two races. He has posted just four top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Dover.
"In the position I'm in at this point, we're going out there and trying to win," Hamlin said. "That's what we need to do to get back on track for 2011 is to win a few races before the season is over, and I feel like a no-points- pressure situation is just what we need."
Forty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the AAA 400.
