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Stewart Returns to Winning at Kansas

Tony Stewart fixed his bad start in the Chase this year with a great win at Kansas Speedway, using a perfect 2-tire change strategy late in the race to finish ahead of Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon. The 2-time Sprint Cup champion completed a perfect weekend in Kansas, as championship leader Mark Martin only scored a 7th place on Sunday.

However, it was not Stewart but Greg Biffle to lead the Sunday race for most laps, as the Ford driver looked like a contender for most of the day. However, despite picking a 2-tire change strategy himself late in the race, Biffle was unable to keep the pace with Stewart in the closing stages and went on to finish in 3rd place.

Runner-up in Kansas was Jeff Gordon, who chose to equip his car with 4 brand new tires in the final pit stop. With 29 laps to go, the Hendrick Motorsport driver started to make use of his extra grip perfectly – as most of the drivers in front of him only changed their right-hand tires – and climbed from 5th to 2nd in a matter of minutes.

In the end, however, Gordon did not have enough time to challenge Stewart for the win and had to settle for a worthy 2nd place.

Juan Montoya, 3rd place in the overall classification, finished another Chase race inside the Top 5, as the Colombian also preferred to change all his tires at his final stop to have a better grip in the closing stages of the race. Therefore, despite struggling with the balance of his car in the early laps, he managed to finish ahead of 5th place Denny Hamlin.

Completing the Top 10 were Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, David Reutimann, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards.

In the overall classification, Martin remains top of the list, but extended his lead to 18 points from Johnson. Montoya is still in 3rd place, only 51 points behind, while Stewart's win brought him only 67 points behind Martin in 4th place.
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