Tony Stewart gives them hope.

At the halfway point of the 2011 Sprint Cup season, Stewart fans had little reason to cheer about what their driver had accomplished.

Even after he finished second to his teammate and Stewart-Haas employee, Ryan Newman, in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 to start the second half of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in mid-July, Stewart was on the outside looking in.

If the Chase to the Sprint Cup had started with the next race, Stewart would have been the first driver out and would not have been involved in the battle for the championship.

It didn't start there, though, and by the time it did begin two months later he had moved up just enough in the standings to secure a spot in the 12-car driver field.

The rest was NASCAR history and Stewart, who gave himself little chance going into the Chase, cruised to his third Cup championship and first since 2005, snapping the five-year title reign of Jimmie Johnson.

So yes, Tony Stewart gives hope to all the Cup drivers whose seasons haven't been quite what they had hoped for thus far.

And, perhaps, especially gives hope to a couple of drivers — Newman and Carl Edwards — who watched his championship effort from particularly close quarters in 2011.

“That whole 14 team was at the top of their game,” said Edwards when he came to NHMS for a tire test earlier this season. “I mean, those guys raised it to a level that no one's seen in this sport.”

Stewart won five of the 10 races in the Chase, including the first two races, the opener at Chicago and then the Sylvania 300 at NHMS the next week.

“Stewart made us look bad last year,” Newman said when he visited Loudon for some promotional work a few weeks ago. “We should have done better in the Chase. ... He showed the example last year. We've just got to repeat it. He didn't make it in by much, but once he got in, he dominated.”

Newman finished 10th in the Chase last year and here's the thing with Edwards: As much as Stewart dominated in the last 10 races, Edwards tied him in points and lost the title in a tiebreaker. Stewart had the five race wins for the season, Edwards had just one.

The key, and the challenge, is to get into the Chase and both Newman and Edwards are flirting with major trouble.

If the Chase had started with Saturday night's race at Kentucky Motor Speedway, Newman would have been the last driver in and Edwards the first out.

Both drivers had only two top five results all season going in Kentucky. Edwards had both of his in his first four races and in his last four events had finished 21, 11, 11 and 26.

Newman won the sixth race of the year at Martinsville and hasn't been higher than 12th in the 10 races since.

The Cup series moves on to Daytona for the Coke Zero 400 next Saturday and then heads to New Hampshire for the Lenox race on July 15.

Newman will try to get his season rolling at what has been one of his best tracks. His first of 16 career Cup wins came in Loudon in 2002 and last year's triumph was his third at the track.

In contrast, Edwards made it clear he was looking for an edge at NHMS, a place where he hasn't had great success, when he was here testing.

He's gone from coming oh-so-close to his first title to being on the bubble for the Chase.

“This sport will chew you up and spit you out real quick,” Edwards said. “You have a couple of good weeks and things can go way wrong.”

On the flip side, you have a couple of good weeks and things can go way right.

Just ask Tony Stewart.

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Hampstead's Andy Seuss will try to make up some ground in the Whelen Southern Modified Tour standings on Friday when the series finally resumes at Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C.

The runnerup in the series in 2009 and 2011, Seuss sits in a tie for 11th with four of the 11 races in the books. He was up to fourth, but dropped back after the last race when he blew a tire and hit the wall and finished 22nd and last.

“We dropped way down, but the points are real tight,” Seuss said. “We've been real happy with the car. We're looking for a change in luck mostly. I'm excited to run with those guys and kind of redeem ourselves for the poor start we've had.”

Seuss, 22, will run in Sprint Car of New England races on the Canaan Fair Speedway dirt track on Tuesday and again next Saturday at Bear Ridge in Vermont.

He then brings his own Modified to NHMS for the Whelen Modified Tour race on July 14 that's part of the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup weekend.

Thanks to sponsors, he's been able to put some better parts in the New Hampshire car.

“We'll go down and run with the big teams,” Seuss said. “We've always run well at New Hampshire, but when we've unloaded we've kind of been at a disadvantage. We're excited to go back and have a lot better of a car when we unload.”

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Five of the top nine spots in the American Canadian Tour standings are held by New Hampshire drivers, led by Wayne Helliwell Jr. of Dover and Joe Polewarczyk Jr. of Hudson in first and second.

Defending champion Brian Hoar of Vermont is in third and Austin Theriault of Maine is fourth. Randy Potter of Groveton holds down fifth, Quinten Welch of Lancaster is eighth and Luke Hinkley of Claremont ninth.

The ACT heads to Maine for the Oxford 250, a non-points event, at Oxford Plains Speedway on July 22. The next race that counts in the point standings is July 28 at Beech Ridge Speedway in Scarborough, Maine.

Allen Lessels covers motor sports for the New Hampshire Leader and Sunday News. He may be reached at alessels@unionleader.com.