Amp Energy 500 - October, 5, 2008

Tony Stewart held off a furious charge from DEI teammates Regan Smith and Paul Menard to score his first victory of the season and first ever Cup win at Talladega in Sunday's AMP Energy 500.

Stewart led Dale Earnhardt, Inc.'s Regan Smith and Paul Menard on a green-white-checker restart after a debris caution slowed the field. Smith and Menard stayed tucked behind Stewart until they hit the tri-oval, where Smith faked high, then ducked low in a last-ditch attempt to score his first career victory. When he made the move Stewart went to block and forced Smith below the yellow out of bounds line. Although Smith made the pass at the start/finish line, NASCAR ruled that Smith had gone out of bounds and deemed the pass illegal. The sanctioning body then awarded the win to Stewart and penalized Smith, posting him 18th, the last car on the lead lap.

"I knew I was only going to get one shot at him," Smith said. "I knew where I was going to make my move. I don't know. I was always told that the rule is if you get forced down there, then you are the winner of the race and on the last lap, anything goes. That's what I was going with.

"I got forced down there, man, I had a nose inside of him and I could have piled up the whole field."

Menard was placed second in the final rundown, his best career Sprint Cup finish. Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer placed fourth and fifth respectively. The Richard Childress Racing teammates now sit fourth (Burton) and fifth (Bowyer) in the Chase point standings.

Aric Almirola manned the No. 8 DEI Chevy this weekend and led three laps. He escaped the typical Talladega carnage to record a 13th-place run.

Kevin Harvick slid to sixth in the point standings after leading 22 laps but was caught in a wreck with 15 laps to go. Carl Edwards hooked Greg Biffle in Turn 3 and sent him sliding sideways in front of the field. The resulting melee involved 11 machines, including six Chase participants. Harvick placed a disappointing 20th after running a strong race.

Kurt Busch was 21st, the victim of faulty spark plugs. Busch's crew raised the hood of his No. 2 Dodge on lap 55, just two laps after he had led the race. He was in the garage six laps later but was able to return to the race, 13 laps down.

Mike Wallace piloted a third Richard Childress Racing Chevy this weekend. His No. 33 was running third when a tire blew out on lap 81 - one of four tire failures in the field on the day - and was forced to pit road with extensive body damage. He finished 30th.

Jon Wood was in the legendary No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. He was involved in a in a lap 53 accident when David Reutimann blew a tire and shot into the wall, taking Wood with him. The third-generation driver from Virginia finished 33rd.

Martin Truex Jr. had a strong run going until Brian Vickers blew a tire on lap 68. Truex and Vickers, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton, were racing for the lead when Vickers' tire exploded, sending him into the side of Truex's machine. A huge wreck ensued that collected nine cars.

"We were out there, toward the front, racing for the lead," Truex said. "I was having a lot of fun, even drafting with Junior and them. (Vickers) was right there inside of me and his right-front tire exploded. I heard 'bam,' like a shotgun going off, and I was just along for the ride after that."

Ryan Newman had an engine let go on lap 50 and was forced to retire. He finished 43rd.

Ron Hornaday Jr.:
Oct., 4, 2008 | Talladega, Ala. -- Ron Hornaday followed Todd Bodine past Kyle Busch on the final lap of the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway to finish second. Hornaday, who started seventh, moved to within one point of Johnny Benson in the Truck Series point standings. Benson finished 11th. "I knew we had a fast truck," Hornaday said. "We got three wide there. I've got to apologize to Mike Wallace, he pushed me to the front there and Rick Carelli (spotter) cleared me and I thought he was clear with us to go down there so I hate to leave Mike out there. He definitely pushed us. I want to thank Kevin and DeLana (Harvick), Rick Ren (crew chief), everybody on this Camping World Chevrolet. I was just awesome. "We ran good all day and I saw Johnny (Benson) all day. We'll take it. Coming out here finishing second, that is just unbelievable. This is what this team is all about. Built a brand-new truck, to come here and do this is a lot of fun. "I was just holding on to my truck. I seen those two get together and get sideways; I was just going for the open spot. It ended up where Todd (Bodine) got in front of me and I pushed him to the win. Awesome job for the Camping World Chevrolet. Rick Ren, all the guys. I have to thank Cale Gale, he has been sticking around these races and building shocks for us. Everybody at the shop is just doing an awesome job. This is what makes it so fun. "Bring a brand new truck that has never been tested. Chevrolet put it in the wind tunnel with us and Mark Smith doing the motors. We will take a second. It feels like a win here at Talladega for me."

Jon Wood:
Oct., 4, 2008 | Talladega, Ala. -- Jon Wood had an impressive fourth-place qualifying effort for the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. Wood was running in the lead pack when the field took the white flag, but he got bumped around on the final lap and slid back to 22nd. "You don't really know how frustrating it is in the truck race here to map out a race strategy or to have a predetermined strategy on who you're gonna run with, how you're gonna do it and how you're gonna execute the whole race," Wood explained. "You can't do it because these trucks have such a closure rate that when you catch the guy in front of you, you've got that Dick Tracy 'I'm gonna go in with two guns a blazing attitude' and thinking you can pull out and pass the field and you just can't do it. Unfortunately, it creates a false sense of dominance for the entire field, so you get that big head of steam and pull out and then 10 trucks pass you. "That made it to where at least for the people I was around nobody was working together, so it got very stagnant. You could only make it so far and then your luck runs out and you've got no help. Then you go back and have to start all over again. At the very end we got tore up on the last lap and that was just last-lap intensity. Somebody got into the back of the 40 truck and drove him right into my door, but this was, without a doubt, the best truck I've had here at Talladega. And the motor was unbelievable. We had an awesome truck and just weren't able to fully capitalize."

Jack Sprague:
Oct., 4, 2008 | Talladega, Ala. -- Jack Sprague qualified his Kevin Harvick, Inc. Chevy 19th at Talladega but had engine troubles and got into the wall on lap 65. He was forced to retire due to the damage sustained. He finished 27th. "I have no clue (what happened)," Sprague said. "Apparently Kyle (Busch) got under me and I didn't know he was under me. The American Commercial Lines Chevrolet was good at the start then we lost a cylinder. We have been running on there on seven cylinders trying to hang on but it is over. "Ernie (Cope, crew chief) and the guys gave me a great truck. I don't know where we were at the beginning... there on the outside, about sixth, seventh. The motor just quit, then it came back on but it kept sputtering and I was down a cylinder that put us down a lap or two. I get up there in the middle of the draft and I could hang on, it was missing. I don't know. I didn't get the word Kyle was under me."