FanHouse Tony Stewart

They aren't in great shape yet, but they certainly put themselves in position to compete.

Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon finished 1-2 Sunday at Kansas Speedway, showing a rebound for both teams after less-than-desirable results in the first two races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format. For Stewart, it was his fourth win of the season and drew him within 67 points of the Chase lead while Gordon trimmed a spot and 19 points off of his own Chase deficit.

For both, it also marked the first time either had gained ground on Chase leader Mark Martin in three races.

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Tony Stewart didn't have time for a debate. He had one last chance to grab the win at Kansas Speedway, and it came down to one critical decision.

Two tires, or four?

The two-time series champion asked for two on the final pit stop Sunday, and crew chief Darian Grubb immediately agreed with the strategy. The rapid thinking got Stewart the race lead, and he held on over the final 26 laps for his fourth win of the season.

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Ryan Newman is back where he's spent his entire career proving he belongs: contending for a season championship.

For the first time since 2006, last year's Daytona 500 winner Newman is part of NASCAR's Chase for the Championship, a 10-race playoff stretch that kicks off Sunday at New Hampshire International Raceway.

He enters the Sylvania 300 ranked 10th in the standings, only 40 points back from leader Mark Martin, and coming off three consecutive top-10 finishes in the No. 39 U.S. Army-sponsored Chevrolet.

Newman, 31, will be FanHouse's exclusive go-fast, go-to man for the Chase for the Championship partnering with FanHouse for weekly features and interviews every week throughout the next 10 races determining the 2009 Sprint Cup champion.

Tony Stewart has been ranked first or second in NASCAR's marquee Sprint Cup Series championship for the last 19 weeks. He's led the standings since May 31, building a comfy 100-point margin by late June and eventually an impressive 284-point edge over second place by August.

Stewart entered last Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway with a 234-point advantage in the championship.

And then, "poof!"

For the sixth time, the Chase for the Sprint Cup is set. Here's a look at some of the stories:

Kyle Busch did not make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Think about the enormity of that.

Should we be making anything about Tony Stewart's complete lack of momentum as the Sprint Cup heads to the Chase?

Tony's No. 14 has been the consistent class of the field all year -- and to some, the surprise of it too -- but the last four races have been a lesson on frustration with finishes of 18th, 30th, 12th and 17th.

Being the boss and racetrack owner may give him a leg up, but it was Tony Stewart's talented right foot that once again proved to be the difference in Wednesday's Gillette Young Guns' Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

For the third time in the Prelude's five-year history, Stewart won on his home turf in front of a standing room only crowd of more than 23,000, as well as a national pay-per-view audience.

Stewart's other Prelude wins came in 2006 and last year.

Danica Patrick is still playing coy about her plans for 2010, but Tony Stewart, for one, fully expects to see IndyCar's most talked about free agent competing in a stock car at least part time.

"She looked me straight in the eye and said, 'this is what I want to do, it looks like fun, looks like a lot of work, but it looks like fun,' " Stewart told reporters in his weekly track side press briefing Saturday from Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"I know that she's serious about it. She's come over and just talking about things right now. ... I don't think she has some misguided idea that it's going to be easy doing it.

"She wants to do it the right way, she has intentions of doing everything right and she's kind of come to us to see in our opinion how she should go about it."

There's no car foxes -- see the commercial -- around this Michigan edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes.

Brian Vickers seems to be a polar opposite of Kyle Busch in that he doesn't let things stick to him. He said as much during his post-race press conference Sunday night when asked about his run-in during Saturday's Nationwide Series race with Busch -- a former Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

"You know, there's some people that you meet in life that are just gonna do stupid things. You just learn to accept it. You just don't let it bother you. You know, you have patience," said Vickers. "You just live your life and run your race.

Road course aces and Jeff Gordon have stepped aside, as the new sheriff in the NASCAR Sprint Cup road racing town has arrived and conquered.

Tony Stewart, of course, added to his sizable reputation on the lefts and rights of the mostly oval series Monday with his rain-postponed win at Watkins Glen International Raceway -- the eighth such win of his career on the twisty layouts.

And in doing so, Stewart erased all doubts that he's going to be the man to beat on the road courses for a long, long time.

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Where: Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pa.
Time: Sunday 2:19pm/EDT (Update: Monday: 12:15 pm/EDT)
TV/Radio: ESPN, Motor Racing Network
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 71 degrees, Rain
Distance: 200 laps (500 miles)
Pole Winner: Tony Stewart
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards