Stewart seeking redemption at Richmond

Hank Kurz Jr

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000 | 10:03 a.m.

RICHMOND, Va. - Tony Stewart is sixth in the driver's championship standings and would be much closer to the top if not for his last visit to Richmond International Raceway, when he had the best car and the worst luck.

In the spring, Stewart had the dominant car with about 40 laps to go until a bump from Dale Earnhardt Jr. on pit road flattened Stewart's left rear tire, causing him to pit again and relegating him to a ninth place finish.

The accident prevented Stewart from making it two straight victories on Richmond's 3/4 -mile oval, but he returns for Saturday night's Chevrolet 400 looking to begin a new streak.

"We've proven that we can win there if we get the car right," Stewart said. "Being as close to winning there as we were in the spring makes me want to go back and kind of finish where we left off and get back the one that got away."

Stewart's first career victory a year ago at Richmond started a streak in which he won three times before the end of the season, becoming the winningest rookie in Winston Cup history.

Saturday's race begins a stretch where Stewart has every reason to feel confident. After Richmond, the series moves to New Hampshire, where Stewart won convincingly in July. Then it's on to Dover Downs, Del., where he won in June.

"The tracks where you run well, you always go into them with the anticipation that you're going to win," Stewart said. "Not just run competitively, but win."

Rusty Wallace knows the feeling. He leads the Winston Cup circuit with four victories this season and also counts the next three stops among his favorites.

"Those tracks have been good for me and I'm thinking about that," said Wallace, who is fifth in the points race, 397 behind leader Bobby Labonte.

Consistency pays most in stock car racing's top circuit, and no one has been steadier through the first 23 races than Labonte. He leads defending series champion Dale Jarrett by 111 in the points race, and has 17 top-10 finishes.

Labonte's worst outing of the season, by far, came at Richmond. Running among the leaders with about 140 laps to go, Labonte's Pontiac spun out during a duel with Mike Skinner and Dale Earnhardt. He limped home in 26th position.

He's only finished out of the top 15 one other time all season.

Labonte would rather think about last year here. He started eighth in the spring race and finished third, then started fourth in the fall and came in second.

"Up until last year, my results were not something to be too proud of at Richmond," he said. "But we finished second in this race last season and had a great run going in the spring race, but got caught up in someone else's mess."