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Never one to mince ( or soften ) words , Tony Stewart had plenty to say after his win Sunday at Sonoma Raceway , a victory that saw him move Denny Hamlin in Turn 11 of the final lap .
His victory in the Toyota-Save Mart 350 put the Stewart-Haas Racing driver and co-owner on the verge of qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup .
After missing the first eight races of the season with a broken back , Stewart faced a difficult post-season path . Sunday ' s win was the crucial first step to getting there . Since Stewart has a win , he just needs to finish the regular season in the top 30 in the points standings . He is nine points behind 30th-place Brian Scott with 10 regular-season races remaining .
Here ' s what Stewart said in a wide-ranging post-race interview .
On the last lap - You can ' t crack the door open with me on the last corner of the last lap and expect me to not take it . I ' ll kick the door in or drive a bulldozer through it to keep it open . When you ' re in a scenario like that , I don ' t know if I ' m going to get another scenario or opportunity to win another race the rest of the year . We ' re going to try , but knowing that that could be the difference between making the Chase or not making the Chase , I wasn ' t going to be cordial in the exit of the corner and I roughed him up pretty