NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and owner of Eldora Speedway, Tony Stewart, won the 5th Annual Prelude to the Dream at his track last night. This win marks Stewart’s third in the event.

“This was probably the best I’ve run in the Prelude,” Stewart said. “We won last year, I think we led the whole thing, but this was one I had to work for. We weren’t exactly perfect, and we weren’t perfect because I hit the wall on the first two starts right off the bat. I’m sure there is a lot of bent up stuff on this Rocket Chassis car.”

Despite the mistakes he made, Stewart managed to pass race leader and fellow NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace by lap 13 of the 30-lap event.

“We had a lot of fun tonight. This makes up for the spring rainout for sure,” Stewart said. “What a great race with Kenny Wallace, Clint Bowyer, Rowdy (Kyle) Busch, Ryan Newman and Kasey (Kahne,) we had an awesome run there. We got lucky to get by them on the top and then to get by Kenny (Wallace) was great.”

Stewart also recognized the four charities that the proceeds from the event would benefit as well as the fans who attended the event and the other drivers who participated.

“The Wounded Warriors Project, the Fisher House, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and Operation Homefront, that’s who this money’s going to tonight,” he said. “Thank you to the fans – you guys helped us do this and you’re the reason we were able to do this tonight. I just really appreciate the support that our fans give us here. We also can’t thank the drivers enough. With the rainout in June, it really means a lot that they were able to rearrange their schedules and come out and help us do this tonight.”

Stewart was aiming for $1 million to be raised from last night’s event.

Prior to the race, Stewart topped the charts in qualifying with a lap time of 15.405 seconds. NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin qualified second with a time of 15.664.

Defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson won the first of the two heat races over Stewart, while NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne won the second heat event over former NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth.

Clint Bowyer started on the pole for the feature race with Kenny Wallace on the outside. Unfortunately for Bowyer, Wallace took the lead immediately and did not give it up until Stewart overtook him.

There were four caution periods during the race but the laps under yellow did not count against the scheduled 30 laps. Caution No. 1 happened when NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver A.J. Allmendinger wrecked on the first lap, then NASCAR team owner Ray Evernham wrecked two laps later. On lap 13, NASCAR drivers Kenny Schrader, Robby Gordon, Casey Mears, Joey Logano and Marcos Ambrose got together to bring out the third caution. The final caution came on lap 20 when Mears spun by himself.

A disappointed Logano explained how the multi-car pileup occurred.

“They wrecked in front of me and I had nowhere to go on that,” he said. “The track is fun, but you just can’t see three cars in front of you when you’re in the back like that. By the time you go into a corner and see it (a crash) and the track is so slick, and you just slide, and you slide and you just slide right into the wreck. It’s a bummer.”

In the end, Stewart took the checkers by 3.358 seconds over Bowyer. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-5.

“It’s tough to beat the track owner at his own track. Nah, I’m just joking. It was great,” Busch said. “I’ve done it (raced on dirt) twice this year, and I’ve finished second and third, so my record seems to be okay. My average finish is definitely a lot better than my Cup effort.”

NHRA driver Cruz Pedregon was the only non-NASCAR driver to finish in the top-10.

“You know, for a drag racer, I've probably raced 12 Late Model races in my career that started about three years ago thanks to Tony and his whole group here, this is the most fun type of car I've ever driven,” Pedregon said. “These cars are incredible, but they're very difficult to drive. Had it not been the eight or 10 (Late Model) races I ran this year, I probably wouldn't have passed anyone tonight.”

NASCAR drivers David Reutimann, Aric Almirola, Kahne and Johnson rounded out the top-10.

Pay-Per-View encores of this year’s race will be available for cable customers, on VOD, on September 11 through October 6. For DirecTV customers, encores will be available on September 10th, 14th, and 17th on Channel 121. For DISH Network customers, encores will be available September 10th, 11th and 13th on Channel 458.

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