Take 5: Five Things To Takeaway From Atlanta

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Take 2 – The return of Tony Stewart

It was a foregone conclusion that Stewart was going to be one of the focal points during the Atlanta race. With all of the hoopla surrounding his return to the track and such it was a guarantee that ESPN was going to have a few cameras whose jobs were to only watch the No. 14 car. That being said, all of the Stewart coverage last night was earned in my opinion.

Stewart took the green flag with a bang when he rocketed to the outside and picked up four positions. From there he ran in the top-10 for the early part of the race and looked to have a great car. Unfortunately Stewart began to drift back into the pack before halfway and ultimately had to retire for the night after getting involved in a small wreck and then a bigger one when he blew a tire.

Stewart like many others will now have to win at Richmond in order to make the chase. I love a good comeback story just as much as anyone else but I don’t see one of those in the future of Stewart, at least not at Richmond. Stewart might win this season but the pressure cooker that will be Richmond will not be where he does it and that is okay. Stewart has been through a lot and you might say that expecting him to win one of his first two races back is setting the bar a bit high.