STEWART-HAAS RACING LENOX INDUSTRIAL TOOLS 301 RACE REPORT

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Date:               June 28, 2009

Event:             Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Round 17 of 36)

Series:             NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Location:         New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)

Winner:           Joey Logano of Joe Gibbs Racing in a rain-shortened finish (Toyota)

SHR Finish:    Tony Stewart (Started 1st, Finished 5th / Running, completed 273 of 273 laps)

                   Ryan Newman (Started 6th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 270 of 273 laps)                       

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon by finishing fifth in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.  

Stewart, who led once for 40 laps and appeared ready to score his third Sprint Cup win at New Hampshire, instead had to settle for his 11th top-five finish in 21 career starts at the 1.058-mile oval when rain cut the race 28 laps short of its scheduled 301-lap distance. 

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation/U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, dealt with a myriad of problems before finishing three laps down in 29th.  Newman was caught up in a multi-car incident on lap 174 that damaged his left front fender, and just laps later, was pushed into the turn two wall, damaging the No. 39 Chevy's right side.  The team's pit stop to fix the damage put Newman on a different fuel strategy than his counterparts, and as rain closed in, Newman took the lead.  He led 17 laps, but the strategy failed as he ran out of fuel on lap 264 and was forced to give up the lead to eventual race-winner Joey Logano.  Newman's car stalled after his final pit stop, and his crew had to push it down the length of pit road before it finally re-fired. 

Stewart remains atop the championship point standings with a 69-point over his nearest pursuer, Jeff Gordon.  Newman dropped one spot to seventh in the standings, 397 points out of first. 

Logano's win in the rain-shortened event was his first career Sprint Cup victory, and at 19 years, one month and four days, he became the youngest winner in Sprint Cup history. 

Gordon finished second to cut 15 points from Stewart's lead in the championship standings.  Kurt Busch followed in third, while David Reutimann and Stewart rounded out the top-five.  Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne comprised the remainder of the top-10. 

There were 11 caution periods for 47 laps, with nine drivers failing to finish the race. 

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the July 4 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.  The race begins at 8 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at 7:30 p.m