Tony Stewart Wins The Final Round Of The I-79 Summer Shootout
Tony Stewart Wins The Final Round Of The I-79 Summer Shootout
Round three of the I-79 Summer Shootout was delayed two days for rain, but it was worth the wait for Tony Stewart, who scored his second win in the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions series.
Tony Stewart scored his first win at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial, PA, and his second win with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions on Monday night to end the I-79 Summer Shootout.
Stewart has been the sole owner of the series since January 2015.
Stewart, whose Tony Stewart Racing team also fields the No. 14 car of Christopher Bell and No. 15 of Donny Schatz in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series this year, won several races in the past two weeks as an owner. At PPMS, Stewart proved he can still win behind the wheel.
"Man, this is a fun race track; so wide and so racy," Stewart said after his victory. "To be rim-riding like that, a foot off the wall, is pretty intense around here. I watched Christopher Bell race from 20th to second at the Kings Royal (on July 15), so I figured it was my turn to do something special."
Stewart started third after qualifying in fifth in a 28-car field. He finished third in the first of two pole dashes.
Stewart took the lead on lap 23 of the 30-lap race when Tim Shaffer collided with a lapped car, ending his night and relinquishing the lead to Stewart.
Stewart went on to finish three seconds in front of second-place driver Carson Macedo. The podium was rounded out with Lee Jacobs.
Chad Kemenah and Ryan Smith completed the top five.
Shaffer was the dominant driver early on, racing to a three-second lead before the first caution on lap six. On the restart, Stewart jumped up two positions into second to start pressuring Shaffer. Stewart could not focus solely on the leader because he had to hold off advances from Pittsburgh local Danny Holtgraver as the three drivers raced through lapped traffic.
While attempting to pass Stewart and claim second, Holtgraver made incidental contact, which caused him to spin and ended his night early.
"By the time I realized I wasn't going to be able to get back around Danny, I had already checked up on the brakes and turned down," Stewart said. "I clipped him with my front bumper. That was about the only mistake I really made. You don't want to see things end like that. We were going to put on one heck of a race."
Macedo, who started on the pole, was able to avoid the wreckage.
Jacobs battled the hardest for his podium finish after starting eighth and working his way into the top three by the midway mark. Jacobs positioned himself to make a run at Stewart by finding a fast line on the bottom.
"When I saw Lee Jacobs running the bottom, at that point I wasn't sure where I needed to be," Stewart said. "Rico Abreu is here with me tonight and I had him trying to help me out, but he wasn't sure where I needed to be. I figured if I got a good restart, I would just get to the top and rip eight good laps. That's what we did."
The ASCoC next race is at Outlaw Speedway on Friday, June 28. As of now, Stewart is scheduled to run.
Top 10 Finishers
1. Tony Stewart
2. Carson Macedo
3. Lee Jacobs
4. Chad Kemenah
5. Ryan Smith
6. Carl Bowser
7. Max Stambaugh
8. Brandon Matus
9. Justin Barger
10. Caleb Armstrong
Complete Results
Stewart has been the sole owner of the series since January 2015.
Stewart, whose Tony Stewart Racing team also fields the No. 14 car of Christopher Bell and No. 15 of Donny Schatz in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series this year, won several races in the past two weeks as an owner. At PPMS, Stewart proved he can still win behind the wheel.
"Man, this is a fun race track; so wide and so racy," Stewart said after his victory. "To be rim-riding like that, a foot off the wall, is pretty intense around here. I watched Christopher Bell race from 20th to second at the Kings Royal (on July 15), so I figured it was my turn to do something special."
Stewart started third after qualifying in fifth in a 28-car field. He finished third in the first of two pole dashes.
Stewart took the lead on lap 23 of the 30-lap race when Tim Shaffer collided with a lapped car, ending his night and relinquishing the lead to Stewart.
Stewart went on to finish three seconds in front of second-place driver Carson Macedo. The podium was rounded out with Lee Jacobs.
Chad Kemenah and Ryan Smith completed the top five.
Shaffer was the dominant driver early on, racing to a three-second lead before the first caution on lap six. On the restart, Stewart jumped up two positions into second to start pressuring Shaffer. Stewart could not focus solely on the leader because he had to hold off advances from Pittsburgh local Danny Holtgraver as the three drivers raced through lapped traffic.
While attempting to pass Stewart and claim second, Holtgraver made incidental contact, which caused him to spin and ended his night early.
"By the time I realized I wasn't going to be able to get back around Danny, I had already checked up on the brakes and turned down," Stewart said. "I clipped him with my front bumper. That was about the only mistake I really made. You don't want to see things end like that. We were going to put on one heck of a race."
Macedo, who started on the pole, was able to avoid the wreckage.
Jacobs battled the hardest for his podium finish after starting eighth and working his way into the top three by the midway mark. Jacobs positioned himself to make a run at Stewart by finding a fast line on the bottom.
"When I saw Lee Jacobs running the bottom, at that point I wasn't sure where I needed to be," Stewart said. "Rico Abreu is here with me tonight and I had him trying to help me out, but he wasn't sure where I needed to be. I figured if I got a good restart, I would just get to the top and rip eight good laps. That's what we did."
The ASCoC next race is at Outlaw Speedway on Friday, June 28. As of now, Stewart is scheduled to run.
Top 10 Finishers
1. Tony Stewart
2. Carson Macedo
3. Lee Jacobs
4. Chad Kemenah
5. Ryan Smith
6. Carl Bowser
7. Max Stambaugh
8. Brandon Matus
9. Justin Barger
10. Caleb Armstrong
Complete Results