| | RICHMOND, Va. -- Tony Stewart planned to get up early Sunday
morning and go fishing, but as he sat chatting with the media long
after his first victory in Winston Cup racing, he realized life
might never be the same.
Stock car racing's premier rookie put on a dominant performance
Saturday night, outrunning teammate Bobby Labonte over the final 20
laps to become the first rookie winner in the series since Davey
Allison in 1987.
|  | | Tony Stewart (20) passes Jeff Gordon during his first Winston Cup victory Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. |
"They're all special," the former Indy Racing League champion
said of his victories. "But when you win in the Winston Cup
series, you beat the best."
It was a victory that seemed inevitable as Stewart used the
first 24 races of the season to paint himself as a rising star and
potential future champion.
But validating the obvious in Victory Lane left him both
speechless and jubilant, and he celebrated by dousing his
fast-arriving crew with Gatorade.
"It's unbelievable. I would have never dreamed that I would
have gotten here first of all, let alone gotten the opportunity to
win," he said. "To do it in my rookie season, I think it's going
to hit even harder tomorrow morning."
Stewart's Pontiac was clearly the class of the field, both on
short runs after cautions and on long runs, when he frequently
built up huge advantages.
He led 333 laps in all, including the last 144, and said it was
even sweeter that the only car in striking distance at the end was
that of Bobby Labonte, his teammate for owner Joe Gibbs and one of
his mentors.
"The neatest thing about the whole race was the last lap,"
Stewart said. "I got to the middle of the backstretch and I hear
'Hey Tony.' It was Bobby. He had changed the frequency on his radio
to mine. I was in the middle of (turns) three and four and he said,
'Good job.' I hadn't even won the race yet.
"I think he may have been trying to trick me and he wanted me
to lift a little early and he could drive on by," Stewart joked.
"That just shows the support that this team has. I couldn't be
more fortunate to have a teammate like Bobby."
Labonte finished 1.114 seconds behind, and was thrilled for
Stewart.
"That's huge," he said. "When I won at Charlotte in '95, that
was the biggest night of my life. It just boosts your confidence
that much more. It's great."
The night also proved special for Gibbs, who surprised his
rookie driver with a congratulatory message in Victory Lane as
Stewart made his victory lap.
"It was one of the big thrills of my life," Gibbs said over
the track's PA system. "I'm so happy for Tony. He's raced his guts
out all year."
Stewart said he was thinking about Gibbs at the end, too.
"I was thinking to myself after we took the checkered (flag),
'If he's not here, I don't think I'm going to let him come to any
more races this year."'
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Race for the Winston Cup
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