Stewart continues winning ways

A broken alternator couldn’t keep Tony Stewart from blowing away the field one more time.

Faced with a problem right at the end of a race he dominated, Stewart simply snookered the opposition on the final two restarts and cruised to his fifth victory in seven races. And his dominant performance Sunday at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y., padded his lead in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings.

Still, he had to hope he had enough juice left after a late caution forced two extra laps. Stewart radioed in that he had an alternator problem, forcing him to shut off some systems and switch to a backup battery. Then he sprinted away from Robby Gordon on the final restart.

“The hard thing is Robby Gordon is really good getting into turn one,” Stewart said. “The big thing was to get a good restart and not be concerned with him.”

Stewart did just that, leaving Gordon as nothing more than a valiant competitor who charged from his 39th starting spot all the way to Stewart’s rear bumper with two laps to go. But Stewart made him slow down just before the restart.

“He got away because he stabbed the brakes then took off,” Gordon said. “He’s a great racer, but second is just first loser.”

Stewart used the same tactic to get away from Boris Said on the 76th lap.

“I had great restarts all day, but Tony got me and I got bogged down,” explained Said, who quickly lost the second spot to Gordon.

Scott Pruett, who finished fourth, was even more impressed.

“They could have taken 10 more restarts,” he said. “We weren’t going to catch him.”

Stewart has become a master of restarts, resembling the late Dale Earnhardt when he has the lead.

“The only time anybody could get close to us was on the restarts,” Stewart said. “But this thing really went fast today. We had an absolutely flawless day other than the alternator.

“I don’t know what we need to do to keep this thing going, but we’ve got to.”

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli said hard work and a lack of complacency has the team on its incredible roll. He said he has been reminding the team not to let up.

“This is like a fantasy. I hope it lasts,” Zipadelli said. “Smoke has been just fired up. I haven’t seen him this focused in the seven years I’ve been around him.”

The 24th victory of the Indiana driver’s career came a week after he won for the first time at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first-place finish here gave Stewart a 105-point lead over Jimmie Johnson, who finished fifth.

After winning, Stewart stopped at the flagstand, took the checker and drove around the track to the cheers of the crowd. But he didn’t climb the catch fencing as he had after his three most recent wins.

“This place really isn’t conducive to fence climbing,” he said. “I’m convinced that I’m going to fall off one day and crack my head open.”

Now he heads back to his hometown, Columbus, Ind., where the Hoosiers are honoring his Indianapolis victory with a parade Monday. Stewart, always looking to utter a good quip, had one for the celebration.

“I’m just scared that the kids are going be to throwing darts at me,” said Stewart, who for most of his career has been booed, but now is a fan favorite. “I’m feeling the love now. It’s a lot better than dodging grenades.”

Stewart won the $4.6 million Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen for the second year in a row. It was the fifth road-course win for Stewart in five years. He won in June on the only other NASCAR road course – the serpentine layout in Sonoma, Calif.

It was Stewart’s third win on this 2.45-mile track known as New York’s Thunder Road.

In the race, his Chevrolet led a record 83 of 92 laps and beat the Chevy of Gordon by 1.927 seconds on the 11-turn track that snakes through the hills south of Seneca Lake.

Stewart is virtually assured of being no worse than third when NASCAR resets the standings at five-point intervals for the top-10 drivers after four more races. Then the 10-race Chase for the Championship begins Sept. 18 at New Hampshire International Speedway, where the 2002 Cup series champion won last month.

He and 38th-place finisher Greg Biffle share the series lead with five wins apiece.

•Clifton “Coo Coo” Marlin, one of NASCAR’s early stars and father of current Nextel Cup driver Sterling Marlin, died early Sunday in Columbia, Tenn., after a battle with lung cancer. He was 73.

IRL

Former IRL champion Scott Sharp won for the first time in more than two years, holding off Vitor Meira to win the Amber Alert Portal Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.

Sharp, driving a Honda for Delphi Fernandez Racing, earned his ninth career victory and snapped a 40-race winless streak.

Dan Wheldon finished third, the 11th time in 12 races he’s finished in the top six.

Pole-sitter Danica Patrick completed 184 laps and finished 16th.

Champ Car

Defending champion Sebastien Bourdais took advantage of a late crash by Paul Tracy, then pulled away from the pack to win the Grand Prix of Denver, his third straight victory and fourth of the season.

On Lap 62, Tracy slammed into a wall after cutting the corner too close. Bourdais moved into the lead after that and was never seriously challenged, finishing 15.27 seconds ahead of Mario Dominguez. A.J. Allmendinger finished third.

NHRA

Eric Medlen defeated 13-time Funny Car champion John Force in the finals of the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals At Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn.

Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock), also won their divisions in $1.6 million event, the 16th of 23 in the drag racing series.