May 17, 2008
Auto Racing
Stewart gets first Talladega win
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Tony Stewart held off Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s last-lap charge to win the Nationwide Series race yesterday in Talladega, Ala., for his first career victory at Talladega Superspeedway.
"This is not like winning a regular Nationwide race," he said. "To me this is the biggest one I've had."
Stewart started from the pole in the Aaron's 312, led 81 of the 117 laps and sat comfortably out front in the waning laps with Earnhardt on his rear bumper just biding his time to make a move. Caution came out with five laps to go for debris, setting up a two-lap sprint to the finish.
They raced nose-to-tail for the first lap, then Earnhardt pulled out of line to make his charge. But Earnhardt didn't have momentum and faded to sixth.
It was Stewart's first win in any series at Talladega. David Stremme finished second.
Ten laps into the race, Dario Franchitti's car was T-boned by Larry Gunselman's. Both drivers were transported to a hospital, and X-rays showed Franchitti broke his left ankle.
Earlier yesterday, Joe Nemechek, the 46th of 47 drivers to make a qualifying attempt for today's Sprint Cup race, knocked Stewart off the pole with a lap of 187.386 mph. Stewart will start second in the Aaron's 499.
• IndyCar // Less than a week since her historic first victory on the circuit, Danica Patrick qualified third for tomorrow's race in Kansas City, Kan. Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon swept the front row in qualifying on the 1.5-mile oval.
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
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