Tony Stewart used a fast final pit stop to grab a much-needed victory in the Price Chopper 500 at Kansas Speedway Sunday. It was the first victory in eight races for Stewart and put him back into title contention after a tough start to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Stewart's fourth win of the season helped him gain one spot in the standings to fourth, and cut his deficit in the standings to 67 points. Mark Martin, the pole-sitter, finished seventh and maintained his lead in the standings. He's up 18 points over three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who finished ninth after a series of bad pit calls took him out of contention. The final outcome came down to strategy, and it started to shape as a race that would be decided on fuel mileage. Then Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led 41 laps early before bad breaks ruined his day, brought out the final caution of the race when an engine problem spilled oil on the track. The leaders went to pit road debating with their crew chiefs whether to take two or four tires on what was likely going to be the final chance to gain track position. Greg Biffle went to pit road as the leader, while Stewart was second. Biffle and his crew still didn't seem sure of what to do as he pulled into his spot, but Stewart crew chief Darian Grubb was confident two tires was the answer. Stewart raced off pit road into the lead, with Kasey Kahne and Johnson in pursuit. Both also took two tires. Biffle, the first driver to take four tires, restarted in fourth. Stewart took off on the restart with 26 laps to go, and all the drivers on four tires quickly sliced through the field. But it was Jeff Gordon who made up the most ground. He was closing in on Stewart but simply ran out laps to catch him and settled for second. Biffle finished third and admitted he overruled Greg Erwin on the last stop when the crew chief called for two tires. “I know what I did wrong, I know I made a mistake,” Biffle said. Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin, Kahne and Martin. David Reutimann was the only non-Chase driver in the top 11 with an eighth-place finish and was followed by Johnson, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch.
