BRISTOL, Tenn. — Tony Stewart finally won a Bristol battle with Jeff Gordon, then held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick over the final 68 laps to win the Sharpie 500 on Saturday night.
It was Stewart's third win of the season and first ever at Bristol Motor Speedway, site of an altercation with Gordon earlier this season that landed the fiery driver on probation.
"I've been wanting to win a race here all my life," Stewart said. "I mean, this is my favorite race track, and things have always happened that have prevented us from getting it."
Harvick, who won the Busch race here on Friday night, was second. Gordon, the series points leader, finished third and was followed by Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace.
Although Stewart and Gordon finished the race without scuffling, the race was not without incident.
Wallace bumped Rudd and sent him into a spin on the cool-down lap and was summoned into the NASCAR hauler after the race to discuss it.
"I think Rusty's brakes went out with two or three laps to go, and I got past him," Rudd said. "Then I guess when the race was over his brakes really went out."
INDY 250: Rain put the IRL's close championship battle right up front, washing out qualifying Saturday and giving series leader Sam Hornish Jr. and runner-up Buddy Lazier the first two starting spots for the Gateway Indy 250.
Hornish, a 22-year-old second-year driver in the IRL, won the first two races of the season. Lazier, the defending series champ, got off to a slow start, but has raced back into the title picture by winning four of the past five events.
Heading into Sunday's 200-lap race on the 1.25-mile Gateway International Raceway oval, Hornish's lead has shrunk to just 25 points over Lazier.
"At the beginning of the season, it was a whole different picture," Hornish said. "We were progressively getting a bigger lead. But, the last few races, it's been a whole difference direction.
"It's real hard for either of us to get any advantage over the other person because we're both competing with Firestone tires, Speedway engines and Dallara chassis. So it gets down to the will to win, which teams puts the most into it and a little bit of luck."
Lazier, who fought off Scott Goodyear, Hornish's predecessor at Panther Racing, to win the championship last year, knows exactly what he has to do to become the first IRL driver to win the title in consecutive years.
"It's real simple mathematics," said Lazier, who drives for Hemelgarn Racing. "We've just got to finish ahead of him the majority of the time. A 25-point deficit, that's not much. But, ultimately, to win a race you're racing everybody, not just the guy you have to finish ahead of."
Rain has hampered everyone's preparation in this first trip to the Gateway track for the IRL. On Friday, one of two scheduled practices had to be canceled.
On Saturday, IRL officials had to choose between qualifying and more practice. They chose the latter, with Scott Sharp — third in the points with a long shot chance to win the title — the fastest driver in both sessions. A final practice also was rained out.
Sharp's best lap was Saturday at 169.562 mph as the sun peaked out for a brief period.
Hornish was second at 168.705, followed by Buddy Lazier at 168.116, his younger brother Jaques at 168.110 and rookie Felipe Giaffone at 168.063.
The lineup was filled by using entrant points.
This is the fourth time in the IRL's six-year history that the grid has been set by points.
Buddy Lazier said the combination of it being a first-time race for most of the field and the shortage of practice time have made it tougher to predict what will happen in Sunday's race.
"With these long straightaways and tight corners this is a very unique race track," Lazier said. "I'm really not sure what to expect from it. I guess we'll all learn together."