SONOMA, Calif. — For at least one weekend, Smoke was back.

Tony Stewart returned to Victory Lane for the first time in three years in vintage fashion – refusing to let Denny Hamlin steal a win at Sonoma Raceway on the final lap Sunday.

Now he’ll probably get a chance to run for a fourth NASCAR championship in his final season before retirement.

Stewart, mired in an 84-race losing streak dating to 2013, finally won to stop a slide of poor performances, injuries and personal turmoil that has tarnished the end of his career. He missed the first eight races of this season, his last as a NASCAR driver, because of a back injury suffered in an off-road vehicle accident one week before the season opened.

That absence meant Stewart would have to win a race and crack the top 30 in points to have one last shot at glory before he stepped out of the No. 14 Chevrolet for good. It was a longshot considering the way he has run the last three years, but those who know Stewart knew not to count him out.

And anyone who has followed his career knew that’s Stewart is best when he’s in a bad mood, and he was ornery all weekend in the picturesque wine country.

Advertisement

He complained about young drivers, snarked that NASCAR will be without any tough guys once he retires, and grumbled he has no fun driving a Cup car anymore.

Well, he sure had fun on Sunday.

The 45-year-old took the lead on fuel strategy during a caution with 24 laps to go and had to hold on after another yellow flag stalled the race. The final restart came with 14 laps remaining, and he held off a trio of Toyota drivers for his third career victory at Sonoma.

Hamlin made it interesting by pouncing on a Stewart mistake to snatch the lead away in the seventh turn of the final lap. Stewart grabbed it back in tricky Turn 11, where he dove to the inside of Hamlin and pushed Hamlin toward the wall as the two raced side-by-side.

Stewart got past Hamlin and charged to the checkered flag with the entire side of his car crumpled and his tires slightly smoking from the contact with Hamlin.

Dozens of drivers then pumped their fists out their window to salute Stewart on his victory lap. Crew members lined the wall to slap his hand, and teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch were among the drivers to rush to speak to Stewart while he was still inside his car.

Advertisement

So did Hamlin, a former teammate of Stewart’s who has become somewhat of a protector to his one-time mentor. As leader of the Driver Council, Hamlin got the council to split the cost of a $35,000 fine Stewart received this year for criticizing NASCAR.

“He just told me he was proud of me, he knows what it means. We were teammates a long time,” an exhausted and emotional Stewart said in Victory Lane. After chugging a Coca-Cola, he slumped to the ground and sat alongside his car.

Hamlin, meanwhile, didn’t indicate he gave the win to Stewart but chalked it up to his own mistake to allow Stewart to snatch the lead away from him.

“Looking in the rearview more than looking out front,” Hamlin said. “I just slid up a little bit in the middle and allowed him to get inside me. I knew he was going to put me in the wall. All is fair in love and war.”

NOTES: NASCAR is unlikely to add a road course to the Chase for the championship schedule because it would be hard to get one moved into the Sprint Cup schedule.

NASCAR Chairman Brian France also dismissed the idea of holding races on weeknights but didn’t rule out moving the annual All-Star race from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“There’s a lot of interest in that very interesting event, and Charlotte has been good to us for a lot of reasons, but we’ll always keep that open,” France said.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.