Stewart Wins at Dover

 Originally written for CLNS Radio.

 

Tony Stewart won the FedEx 400 after a late-race pass to get around Juan Pablo Montoya allowed him to pick up his first win of 2013.

Courtesy Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Stewart passed Montoya with just three laps to go, and he was able to run away from Montoya over the last few laps.  Stewart had to work on Montoya over the last 10 laps, and he was able to get around Montoya for the lead going into Turn 3.

For Stewart, the victory was his first Top 5 of the season.  Stewart has had a terrible start to the season but he hopes he can start to turn things around with this victory, especially because he had to outrace Montoya to do so.

"It's been such a tough year," Stewart told FOX Sports.  "Hopefully we'll build that momentum back up.  It's not many times you get to outrace Juan Montoya."

For most of the race, it seemed as if Jimmie Johnson would pick up his eighth career victory at Dover.  Johnson led 143 laps, but a late-race penalty cost him a chance at the win.  Johnson jumped out to the lead on the final restart, beating leader Montoya to the line.  It is illegal to beat the leader to the line on a restart, so Johnson was issued a pass-through penalty.  Johnson told FOX Sports that there was nothing he could have done.

"I was half-throttle for the whole frontstretch and at some point you just gotta go," Johnson said.  "I'm running half-throttle down waiting for him, and he just never came."

The race was dominated early by Kyle Busch, who led 150 laps throughout the day, the most of any driver.  He took the lead from pole-sitter and teammate Denny Hamlin on lap 25, and he led until his other teammate Matt Kenseth beat him off pit road on lap 127.  Kenseth led until lap 160, when his engine blew up to bring out the third caution.

Kenseth's engine wasn't the only Toyota engine to blow up over the long 400 mile race.  On lap 279, Martin Truex Jr., who was also running up front at the beginning of the race, also had his engine blow up.  

Johnson took the lead after Kenseth's engine let go, and he led for most of the race until his penalty.  The penalty relegated Johnson to a 17th place finish, the first car one-lap down.

Here are the unofficial results:

1. Tony Stewart

2. Juan Pablo Montoya

3. Jeff Gordon

4. Kyle Busch

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Joey Logano

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Mark Martin

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

11. Jeff Burton

12. Kurt Busch

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14. Carl Edwards

15. Greg Biffle

16. Casey Mears

17. Jimmie Johnson

18. Aric Almirola

19. Marcos Ambrose

20. Paul Menard

21. Bobby Labonte

22. David Ragan

23. Kasey Kahne

24. Danica Patrick

25. Josh Wise

26. David Reutimann

27. Austin Dillon

28. David Stremme

29. Dave Blaney

30. J.J. Yeley

31. Joe Nemechek

32. Landon Cassill

33. Jamie McMurray

34. Denny Hamlin

35. Timmy Hill

36. Ryan Newman

37. David Gilliland

38. Martin Truex Jr.

39. Travis Kvapil

40. Matt Kenseth

41. Mike Bliss

42. Michael McDowell

43. Scott Riggs

Sunday was FOX's last Sprint Cup Series race of the season.  Next week the Cup Series will roll into Pocono Raceway, and TNT will take over TV duties.  The Party in the Poconos 400 can be seen next Sunday at 1:00 p.m.