With two Indianapolis wins behind him, Stewart tightens his focus

BY DAVID POOLE McClatchy Newspapers Tony Stewart wants to win Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard every bit as much as he did when he won NASCAR’s annual Sprint Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2005 and 2007. Where there's a world of difference now, though, is that with those victories behind him this time it's more about "want to" than a sense of "have to" for the Indiana native. "There's no doubt about it," Stewart said. "Every year that I went there, whether it was an IndyCar or a stock car and had not won there yet, that pressure just kept building." After winning an IndyCar championship without winning the Indianapolis 500, Stewart moved to stock cars and began coming to the historic 2.5-mile track for Cup races in 1999. As years passed without a win here, though, NASCAR week at Indy became a week filled with equal parts anticipation and stress for the resident of Columbus, Ind. That all changed, though, when he scored an emotional win in 2005. When he won the Allstate 400 again last year, Stewart said he was able to enjoy that win in a different way. "The first year it was more of just a huge weight lifted off our shoulders," he said. "We had accomplished a lifelong dream. Last year it was a chance that we really got to enjoy it with our team … versus just the emotional drain of just finally accomplishing a goal like the first time."

BOB LESIEUR/GM RACING Stewart celebrates his 2007 Allstate 400 win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his second Sprint Cup victory at the track. This year he's enjoying a chance to make a third Indy win in four years — his first win in what will be his final season with Joe Gibbs Racing. "Each time that you've won here, I think it makes it easier," Stewart said. "I don't want you to confuse the desire of winning versus the pressure of winning. The pressure goes away, but the desir e is still there. "If anything, it makes it easier to focus on what you're trying to do and what you're trying to accomplish because you don't sit there and wonder all weekend what would it be like to win.

You know what that feeling is like and you know what to do to accomplish that goal, and it's just a matter of going out and doing the work to accomplish it." Stewart comes to Indianapolis this year feeling different pressures. He has got his future to think and talk about — Stewart announced two weeks ago that he'll be a driver and co-owner for Stewart-Haas Racing next year and on Friday will announce his car number and sponsors for 2009. His teammate for next year is still to be determined, as are many other details about what's ahead next season. At the same time, there's still work to be done this year. Heading into this weekend he is 10th in the Sprint Cup standings and has to at least be thinking about keeping his No. 20 Toyotas inside the top 12 to make the Chase. "I can't say that it's a big weight lifted off my shoulders," Stewart said of the decisions he's already made. "It's like you just switched weights is all you did. We took one off our shoulders and added another one on. "If I wasn't excited about doing this, I think that would probably bother me a lot. But, I mean, I'm excited about it and I'm excited about all the pressure that we have going into next year now. It's something that we've been looking forward to."

A three-member panel of the National Stock Car Racing Commission on Monday unanimously upheld NASCAR's stringent penalties assessed to Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s No. 1 Chevrolet team earlier this month.

Truex Jr.

Gary Putnam were each suspended six races and placed on probation through the end of the year.

The suspensions were put on hold pending the outcome of the appeal. Both Manion and Putnam will begin serving their six-race suspensions with this weekend's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The upheld penalties make Truex's ability to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup highly doubtful.

In the appeal, DEI did not contest the rules violations but argued the penalties were too severe.

Accordingly, the penalties that were issued are warranted."

The team could still appeal again to the National Stock Car Racing Commissioner, but team officials said that was unlikely.

Johnny Benson was 110 races into his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career before he ever earned the title of series points leader.

The way the veteran driver has been running lately, he may well hold on to that distinction over the final 12 races.

Benson, who led the Truck Series points standings for the first time in his career after Michigan on June 14, reclaimed the overall lead last Saturday night when he survived a wreck-filled outing to win the Built Ford Tough 225 before a crowd of 31,308 at Kentucky Speedway.

Benson had a 50-point lead coming off his win in Milwaukee last month but fell to fourth in the overall standings after a blown engine at Memphis left him limping home in 33rd place.

That misstep claimed none of Benson’s momentum, however, as the

Truck Series made its return following a two-week break. After taking over the lead for the first time during a caution on Lap 53, Benson was nearly untouchable the remainder of the race, leading 94 laps en route to a 0.475-second win over teammate Michael Annett.

The victory gives Benson a onepoint lead in the standings over Matt Crafton, who finished third for his seventh top-five run of the season.

"Everybody involved with this team is just awesome, awesome," said Benson, who earned his second win and seventh top-five finish on Saturday. "It may have looked easy, but it was slick out there. I think we’ve been good all year. If we can see the front, I’m fairly confident that if we work hard we’ll get there."

On a night that featured several top drivers plowing into one another,

Benson worked the track to perfection with barely a bobble.

Following the sixth of what would be eight cautions in the race, Benson restarted in third behind Annett and Dennis Setzer on Lap 119 but quickly found himself in a four-wide battle going down the backstretch.

The 45-year-old former Nationwide Series champion smoothly accelerated past Annett on the inside and was just starting to draw off when contact between Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch and Justin Marks triggered the seventh caution of the evening, collecting Erik Darnell.

"We got a tremendous run off Turn 2 and ... I thought I was in pretty good shape," Benson said of the pass for the lead. "It was going to be a 50/50 shot whether (Setzer) was going to get off the gas or turn left. He turned left, and I followed him."

Now that Benson has reclaimed his

spot atop the points standings, his next mission will be to end the jinx that has seemingly plagued the leaders all year.

The points lead has changed hands nine times among five different drivers through the first 13 races, and less than 100 points currently separate the top four.

Ron Hornaday Jr., who entered the race with a 27-point lead over Crafton, went a lap down after pitting on Lap 81 with a loose tire. Hornaday recovered to finish 10th.

Todd Bodine, who was third in the standings coming into the race, finished 27th and fell to sixth in the points after getting caught up in a wreck on Lap 128 with Brendan Gaughan and Colin Braun.

"You know our goal is to try and win the championship, but man, everyone that has gotten up there has definitely had issues," Benson said. "If you were to back up the last two seasons with the amount of issues that we’ve all had, there’s no way that any of us should win the championship."