Transcript: Tony Stewart Discusses His Disappointment After Running Out Of Fuel

Tony Stewart ran out of gas with two laps to go on Sunday, costing him a victory in the first Chase race at New Hampshire.

Stewart finished 24th instead of first, which cost him 94 points. Stewart spoke with TV and radio reporters after the race.

A LAP AWAY FROM AN INCREDIBLE WEEKEND, YOUR EMOTIONS? “I’m not happy, that’s for sure, but we went down swinging. It’s hard to lose one that way but at the same time it was fun racing Clint like that. He was definitely the fastest car and congratulations to those guys. It’s a tough way to start the Chase but I’m proud of my guys. Darian (Grubb, crew chief) kept swinging at it all day and finally on that last set of tires we got it halfway decent.

YOU WERE GREAT IN QUALIFYING, FAST IN HAPPY HOUR AND SEEMINGLY UNBEATABLE ON RACE DAY. IF YOU HAD THE CALL TO DO IT OVER, WOULD YOU? “Yeah I would have settled for second. If you knew exactly how much gas you have it would be different, but you never know. It’s part of the sport, always has been. It’s what makes it exciting when you never know until the last lap what’s going to happen.”
MENTALLY WHERE ARE YOU AS FAR AS THE CHASE? CAN YOU WIN THIS? “Who knows? There is so much that can happen in nine races. I promise you this: This Old Spice/Office Depot Chevy team is not going to give up. We’ll do the best we can and give it our best shot.”
CAN YOU PUT IT IN WORDS WHAT THAT WAS LIKE? “Yeah, it sucks. It wasn’t much fun. Congratulations to Clint and those guys. He had a great car all day. He did a good job of saving fuel and I didn’t do a good job.”
TALK ABOUT THE GOOD THAT CAME OUT OF TODAY: “It’s kind of hard to find some.”