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’02 Cup champ to start Chase by completing New Hampshire sweep
By Benny Parsons

Tony Stewart has proven to be the model of consistency this season, and the overall points leader should kick off the 10-race Chase for the Championship on Sunday with his second straight win at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Working in Stewart’s favor
The 2002 Cup champion always seems to have had good cars to drive this season. In his past 12 races, Stewart has finished in the top eight, including five wins — one coming in the New Hampshire summer race in July.

Stewart was dominant there, leading six different occasions for a whopping 232 of 300 laps. True, he lost the lead after the 10th caution, but Stewart moved back to the front on the backstretch and never looked back en route to his third victory of the month.

What has made Stewart’s cars so solid? The driver of the No. 20 Chevy has suggested it could be the tires. Stewart said in a recent interview that with the exception of last week’s Richmond race, he has not had a bad set of tires all season!

In 13 career starts at New Hampshire, Stewart has earned two wins (another came in July 2000), and seven top-five finishes.

But be careful not to hand Stewart the checkered flag too soon. Last season, a wreck at New Hampshire effectively thwarted his Chase title hopes as he retired after running for just 83 laps.