Smoke rising toward 3rd NASCAR title

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

When Tony Stewart passed Jimmie Johnson in the outside lane to win at Martinsville Speedway, he’d made, in his mind, a statement that nothing will get in his way of a third NASCAR championship.

He celebrated with a customary victory lap, and as he came around the final turn, Stewart flipped off his engine to better soak in the roar of approval from fans pressed against the fence celebrating his improbable win.

“I turned the engine off, I coasted, because I could hear [the fans] over the engine when it was running,” Stewart recalled. “So I shut it off, and when I heard it from that crowd, it was like ’Yep, I know where they are wanting this to go.’ “

Stewart pumped his fist when recalling that moment of adoration at the end of the Oct. 30 race. He leaves no doubt that, despite wins in the first two Chase for the Sprint Cup championship races, Martinsville was the place that convinced him he could run down points leader Carl Edwards and be the driver who dethrones five-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

It would be fitting, too. Stewart was the last driver to win a title before Johnson’s record run and he’s now within striking distance to be the bookend to Johnson’s titles. With two races remaining, Stewart goes to Phoenix this weekend trailing Edwards by just three points in the Chase standings.

Regardless of the outcome, his turnaround will rank among the greatest in NASCAR history.

Stewart was seriously on edge nine weeks ago, when he needed a clean run at Richmond to ensure a spot in the 12-driver Chase field. He’d slumped through the summer — typically his strongest part of the season — and had openly said his Stewart-Haas Racing team didn’t deserve a spot in the Chase.

Still, he made it, but refused to look at the 10-race title hunt as a fresh start and a chance to rewrite his disappointing season.

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch will be allowed to race in the final two Sprint Cup Series events but without main sponsor M&M’s, The Associated Press has learned.

Busch will drive Sunday at Phoenix and in next weekend’s season finale at Homestead with Interstate Batteries as his sponsor instead, a person familiar with Joe Gibbs Racing’s plans told the AP on Thursday.

Although M&M’s is Busch’s primary sponsor, Interstate Batteries is heavily involved with the team.

The deal ends a week of wrangling over Busch’s future with his race team — all fallout from a road rage incident at Texas. Busch wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution early in the Trucks Series race and was parked by NASCAR for the rest of the weekend.

Busch has admitted he lost control of his temper and has since apologized. NASCAR suspended him from all racing at Texas, and this week fined him $50,000 and placed him on probation through the end of the year.

But questions from his sponsors put everything in limbo.

Stewart doesn’t believe he’d been missing that edge the last few years, but as he struggled to maintain the pace he’d set through his first 10 seasons, it was clear he’d been passed by several others on the list of NASCAR’s best drivers. So this recent run has ignited something in Stewart, who has added a steady dose of trash-talking with Edwards to his game plan.