Stewart pleased, despite last place finish

Tony Stewart's day ended earlier than he had wanted, but he had few complaints about his last-place finish in the Sprint Cup race Sunday at Watkins Glen. Stewart completed 56 laps in the race, which occurred on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy where Stewart accidentally struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. at a dirt track at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. The accident took place on the eve of last year's race at The Glen.

The crowd erupted in cheers for Stewart when he was introduced Sunday, and he was smiling and laughing as he met with fans prior to the event. He started third — his best starting spot of the year — and ran in or near the top 10 for much of the race before a likely broken seal let all the rear end grease out of an axle and ended his day.

"The crowd reception was really good all the way around," said Stewart, who missed the 2013 race at Watkins Glen because of a broken leg suffered in a sprint-car accident and then the 2014 race because of the tragedy.

"The weekend was as good as it could be. I'm happy to get to race here today. That is something I've been looking forward to and I'm happy about the couple of weeks we've got coming up." Stewart fell to 26th in the standings but it was the third consecutive week he has seen improved performance. "The way our season's been, we've picked up. … I feel like we're starting to gain some momentum," he said. "It won't show it at the end of the day on the results, but I feel good about it." ESPN.com