DOVER, Del. (AP) — Tony Stewart made a late outside pass on Juan Pablo Montoya and held on Sunday at Dover International Speedway to snap a 30-race winless streak.
Stewart hadn’t even had a top-five finish this season and was stuck in 20th in the points standings. He took the lead with the pass with three laps left in the 400-mile race.
Stewart hadn’t won on the concrete mile track since he swept both Cup races in 2000.
Seven-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson appeared to have the car to beat, but jumped a restart and had to serve a pass-through penalty. Johnson argued over the radio and stayed on the track before he finally hit pit road.
With Johnson out of the picture, Montoya and Stewart battled for the lead the rest of the race.
Jeff Gordon was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski. NASCAR said Keselowski failed post-race inspection because the entire front of his No. 2 Ford was too low.
Stewart’s team erupted in celebration in the pits after winning for the first time since last July in Daytona. It was his 48th career win. He hadn’t finished better than 20th in his last four races at Dover.
He might not have gotten this one had Johnson not been penalized with about 19 laps left. Johnson jumped ahead of Montoya out of the restart box and NASCAR quickly threw the black flag.
”We certainly had the winning car,” Johnson said. ”We’ll have to come back and do it in the fall.”
Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr., both in the top 10 in points entering the race, made early exits because of engine issues.
Pole sitter Denny Hamlin finished 34th after he hit the wall late in the race. Hamlin needed a big points day to try and crack the top 20 if he has any hope at a Chase for the Sprint Cup championship wild-card berth. Hamlin is 26th in the standings, 122 points out of 10th and 74 points out of 20th.
Unofficial Results
1 Tony Stewart (14) Chevrolet 47/4 400 3 $318,100 Chart
2 Juan Pablo Montoya (42) Chevrolet 43/1 400 19 $226,504 Chart
3 Jeff Gordon (24) Chevrolet 41/0 400 0 $203,051 Chart
4 Kyle Busch (18) Toyota 42/2 400 150 $196,198 Chart
5 Brad Keselowski (2) Ford 40/1 400 2 $172,231 Chart
6 Clint Bowyer (15) Toyota 38/0 400 0 $155,548 Chart
7 Joey Logano (22) Ford 37/0 400 0 $140,598 Chart
8 Kevin Harvick (29) Chevrolet 37/1 400 1 $152,001 Chart
9 Mark Martin (55) Toyota 35/0 400 0 $114,365 Chart
10 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) Chevrolet 34/0 400 0 $117,815 Chart
11 Jeff Burton (31) Chevrolet 33/0 400 0 $112,755 Chart
12 Kurt Busch (78) Chevrolet 33/1 400 8 $128,575 Chart
13 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17) Ford 31/0 400 0 $147,191 Chart
14 Carl Edwards (99) Ford 30/0 400 0 $135,055 Chart
15 Greg Biffle (16) Ford 29/0 400 0 $115,230 Chart
16 Casey Mears (13) Ford 28/0 400 0 $125,113 Chart
17 Jimmie Johnson (48) Chevrolet 28/1 399 143 $143,191 Chart
18 Aric Almirola (43) Ford 26/0 399 0 $134,566 Chart
19 Marcos Ambrose (9) Ford 25/0 399 0 $124,019 Chart
20 Paul Menard (27) Chevrolet 24/0 399 0 $126,846 Chart
21 Bobby Labonte (47) Toyota 23/0 399 0 $120,138 Chart
22 David Ragan (34) Ford 22/0 397 0 $116,988 Chart
23 Kasey Kahne (5) Chevrolet 22/1 396 2 $108,780 Chart
24 Danica Patrick (10) Chevrolet 20/0 396 0 $93,630 Chart
25 Josh Wise (35) Ford 19/0 395 0 $93,505 Chart
26 David Reutimann (83) Toyota 18/0 394 0 $103,963 Chart
27 Austin Dillon (51) Chevrolet 17/0 394 0 $109,202 Chart
28 David Stremme (30) Toyota 16/0 394 0 $91,005 Chart
29 Dave Blaney (7) Chevrolet 15/0 393 0 $90,855 Chart
30 J.J. Yeley (36) Chevrolet 14/0 390 0 $91,705 Chart
31 Joe Nemechek (87) Toyota 13/0 388 0 $87,555 Chart
32 Landon Cassill (33) Chevrolet 12/0 388 0 $87,380 Chart
33 Jamie McMurray (1) Chevrolet 11/0 381 0 $113,575 Chart
34 Denny Hamlin (11) Toyota 11/1 380 41 $118,830 Chart
35 Timmy Hill (32) Ford 9/0 378 0 $86,805 Chart
36 Ryan Newman (39) Chevrolet 8/0 298 0 $120,863 Chart
37 David Gilliland (38) Ford 7/0 296 0 $86,520 Chart
38 Martin Truex Jr. (56) Toyota 7/1 279 2 $113,405 Chart
39 Travis Kvapil (93) Toyota 5/0 161 0 $84,930 Chart
40 Matt Kenseth (20) Toyota 5/1 159 29 $107,921 Chart
41 Mike Bliss (19) Toyota 3/0 59 0 $68,930 Chart
42 Michael McDowell (98) Ford 2/0 54 0 $64,930 Chart
43 Scott Riggs (44) Ford 1/0 16 0 $61,430 Chart
Standings
1 – Jimmie Johnson 473 Leader 13 1 2 6 8 0 $4,658,987
2 – Carl Edwards 443 30 13 0 1 5 7 0 $2,554,774
3 +1 Clint Bowyer 423 50 13 0 0 4 7 1 $2,285,672
4 -1 Matt Kenseth 399 74 13 2 3 3 7 3 $2,931,373
4 +3 Kevin Harvick 399 74 13 0 2 3 5 2 $2,739,920
6 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. 398 75 13 0 0 3 8 1 $2,711,364
7 -2 Kasey Kahne 392 81 13 0 1 5 6 1 $2,307,018
8 +2 Brad Keselowski 375 98 13 0 0 5 8 1 $2,750,912
9 +2 Kyle Busch 374 99 13 2 2 6 7 3 $2,980,761
10 -2 Paul Menard 371 102 13 0 0 0 4 0 $1,921,676
wc 11 +4 Jeff Gordon 361 112 13 0 0 3 4 3 $2,274,681
12 – Aric Almirola 354 119 13 0 0 0 4 2 $2,066,589
13 – Greg Biffle 353 120 13 0 0 1 4 0 $2,064,379
14 -5 Martin Truex Jr. 343 130 13 0 0 2 5 1 $2,194,919
14 +3 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 343 130 13 0 0 0 0 0 $2,178,716
wc 16 +4 Tony Stewart 338 135 13 0 1 1 3 0 $2,328,104
17 +1 Kurt Busch 337 136 13 1 0 3 4 2 $2,034,428
18 +1 Joey Logano 335 138 13 0 0 4 5 2 $2,335,953
19 -5 Jamie McMurray 332 141 13 0 0 0 3 0 $1,957,203
20 -4 Ryan Newman 323 150 13 0 0 1 6 4 $2,240,842
20 +1 Jeff Burton 323 150 13 0 0 1 2 1 $1,610,323
22 +1 Juan Pablo Montoya 307 166 13 0 0 2 3 0 $1,988,971
23 -1 Marcos Ambrose 294 179 13 0 0 0 2 1 $1,906,595
24 +1 Mark Martin 271 202 11 1 0 1 4 1 $1,976,534
25 +1 Casey Mears 259 214 13 0 0 0 0 2 $1,634,489
26 -2 Denny Hamlin 249 224 9 3 0 3 3 2 $1,653,774
27 +1 Bobby Labonte 238 235 13 0 0 0 0 2 $1,612,911
27 – David Ragan 238 235 13 0 1 1 1 3 $1,895,956
29 +1 Danica Patrick 231 242 13 1 0 0 1 2 $1,510,599
30 -1 David Gilliland 219 254 13 0 0 1 1 3 $1,591,548
30 +1 Dave Blaney 219 254 13 0 0 0 0 3 $1,488,258
32 +1 David Reutimann 190 283 13 0 0 0 0 4 $1,456,000
33 -1 J.J. Yeley 187 286 13 0 0 0 1 3 $1,394,828
34 – David Stremme 178 295 12 0 0 0 0 2 $1,111,353
35 +1 Travis Kvapil 136 337 13 0 0 0 0 5 $1,477,211
36 +1 A J Allmendinger 122 351 4 0 0 0 0 0 $466,857
37 +2 Michael McDowell 76 397 12 0 0 0 1 10 $1,113,956
38 – Scott Speed 75 398 8 0 0 0 1 6 $807,494
39 +2 Timmy Hill 71 402 7 0 0 0 0 1 $613,866
40 – Michael Waltrip 63 410 2 0 0 1 1 0 $465,184
41 +1 Terry Labonte 52 421 3 0 0 0 0 1 $523,777
42 +1 Ken Schrader 29 444 3 0 0 0 0 1 $241,277
43 +1 Scott Riggs 7 466 4 0 0 0 0 4 $259,930
44 +1 Brian Keselowski 4 469 1 0 0 0 0 1 $114,904
wc-Qualifies for Chase as a wild card; awarded to the two drivers ranked 11-20 with the most wins.
