The North Carolina News Network

Car Adjustments During All-Star Race Could Carry Over To Sunday

The crew members of Tony Stewart's No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet climb the fence to salute the fans after winning the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Drew Hallowell/Getty Images for NASCAR) (CONCORD) -- The Coca-Cola 600 looms this Sunday at Lowes Motor Speedway. Jeff Gordon seemed pretty happy about discoveries his team made during the All-Star Race, even though he crashed. All-Star Race winner Tony Stewart was also happy about adjustments his crew chief made that helped him take the lead for good in the final 10 on Saturday. "It just really woke the car up and it made it take off better on the front and it ran good the whole 10-lap segment," said Stewart.

Surprisingly, Crew Chief Darian Grubb got somewhat specific about what they did to Stewart's car. "Honestly there wasn't a corner of the car we didn't touch, took Tony's feedback and made adjustments all the way around, better tire strategy, track bar, wedge, air pressure, about everything we could do," said Grubb. If it was under the car, they touched it. "Packers, shock clicks," added Grubb.

Hopes are that some of these adjustments can also carry over to success on Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 May 2009 )

An Hour-And-A-Half of All-Star Excitement

Tony Stewart celebrates winning the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(CONCORD) -- The prelude to the Coca-Cola 600 took place Saturday night. Tony Stewart had been knocking on the door of a win for weeks. The annual non-points All-Star Race at Lowes Motor Speedway gave him his first win as a team owner. "Ya know, the guys that came out of the shootout were guys that were quick and they showed strength at the beginning of the race too," said Stewart.

Matt Kenseth took second after that wild final 10-lap shootout. "When you rack 'em up side-by-side and you put a million dollar carrot out there in front of everybody...nobody's really worried about wrecking anything," said Kenseth. Kenseth was followed by Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.

Jeff Gordon crashed but learned a lot for next weekend's Coca-Cola 600. "I think there's some things we can do to make the car really good for next week, so I'm very happy with that and happy with everything except for that crash," said Gordon. He finished 19th in Saturday night's All-Star Race.

Last Updated ( Monday, 18 May 2009 )