Dale Earnhardt Jr. But he still used the race as a springboard, scoring three victories and six top-10 finishes in the next seven races to join the title chase. This year, after a typically slow start, Stewart is heating up again, and his victory in Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400 was the topper, giving him four top-7s in a row and Pontiac its first victory of 2001. It always seems like it takes us a long time to get that first one, but once we get the first one, they seem to come a little more frequently.
History suggests the best is yet to come.
The Winston Cup series takes next weekend off for its traditional Mother's Day break, then heads for Charlotte, N.C., for The Winston. Jarrett was running eighth at the time, but had to be pushed all the way around the track for a splash of gas and wound up in 15th place. Jarrett called it a miscalculation, and his overall points lead over second-place finisher Jeff Gordon went from 66 to 14. Rusty Wallace finished third and also moved up to third in the points race, just 48 back. Stewart got a good jump on the restart to maintain his lead, and Wallace used a better run to catch Gordon heading into the first turn.