NASCAR / Tony Stewart

The Word:

Stewart Takes First Career Talladega Win



Whether it was the threat of rain, Dario Franchitti's grinding wreck, or Kevin Lepage's horrendous move, Saturday's Nationwide Series Aaron's 312 was a fun ride all the way to Tony Stewart crossing under the checkers for his first time at Talladega Superspeedway.

Stewart, who led a race-high 80 laps from the pole, has never won at Talladega in either the Nationwide or Sprint Cup prior to Saturday's race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. mounted a terrific challenge from second-place off of turn 2 on the last lap after hanging off of Stewart's bumper to get a run on the No. 20. Junior's No. 5 entry pulled alongside Stewart's Toyota on the backstretch, but the help Earnhardt Jr. had behind disappeared and Stewart pulled back in front.

Smoke Movin'? SI Links Stewart, Haas CNC

Tony Stewart's contract is set to expire in 2009 at Joe Gibbs Racing, and apparently that "bone of contention" -- according to Sports Illustrated -- has shuffled the deck for the two-time Sprint Cup champion.

So much so, in fact, that SI is saying sources have told them that Stewart is already negotiating a contract with Haas CNC Racing. In other words, SI is claiming that Tony Stewart is leaving Joe Gibbs Racing for greener pastures at Haas in 2009:
Sources tell SI.com that Stewart is working on the final stages of a deal to move from Joe Gibbs Racing to Haas CNC next season. Considering the ramifications of such a move, no one's admitting anything quite yet, as you'd expect. When reached for comment, Haas CNC Racing spokesman Ron Mench claims there's been no communication between Stewart and the organization. Stewart's PR spokesman Mike Arning was noncommittal ("I've heard what you've heard," when asked about Haas CNC) but he reminded SI that Stewart's contract with Gibbs runs through the 2009 season.
"Noncommittal" is not a word that I'd want to be hearing if I were a Tony Stewart or Joe Gibbs Racing fan. "Noncommittal" seems to always mean that something other than what was anticipated is in the works.

Yes, my friends, Tony Stewart's contract has officially become a major issue for the Sprint Cup garage to handle heading to Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday's race.

But does this report really mean anything? You can bet we'll find out -- either solidly or with body language -- this weekend at Talladega. Stewart, who has started driving Toyotas in 2008 after JGR's switch from Chevrolet, has been decidedly against discussing any contract concerns with the media.

Perhaps there was a reason behind that?

What say you? Is Tony movin' or stayin'? Would Haas (with its Hendrick Motorsports support) be a good fit for Stewart?

Crash Video of the Week: Pre-Martinsville

Due to the fact that Sprint Cup Series was off last weekend for Easter, the Fanhouse is digging deep for some past highlights from Martinsville Speedway, site of this Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500.

In this one from 1999, Tony Stewart and the late Kenny Irwin have their share of run-ins on the half-mile paper clip. Apologies in advance for the European broadcast commentary, I couldn't find the ESPN version.



The conflict got started early in the day when Stewart spun out Irwin in turn 4.

Tony would later call that a mistake, and with good reason.

Fanhouse Fast Five: No. 3 Stewart's Mop

Five races into the 2008 Sprint Cup season, the Fanhouse recaps the Top-5 lessons learned in 2008. Check back each day to get revved up for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Can we blame probation? Toyota? Subway commercials? A new girlfriend?

I don't know which one to pick exactly, but for some God-awful reason, Tony Stewart has given up on his barber.

As you can see to the right, Stewart's hair has gotten to unbelievable levels. It looks waxy, unkept, and straight out of an Italian crime drama. And it could very well be part of the Tony Stewart we've seen in 2008.

One week, he's ripping Goodyear for its tire selection at Atlanta. He's the only one, so he says, that is willing to take such a decisive stand on a issue in the garage area.

The next, he's giving one of the oddest interviews of his career after getting out of his wrecked race car in Bristol. Instead of being livid, mad, and otherwise Tony Stewart-like, Driver No. 20 had a strange sense of sarcasm and a cool head, despite being wrecked with 2 laps to go.

For once, Stewart wasn't snappy with a reporter, didn't throw anyone under the bus, and played off a disappointing finish with a cool approach.

What does that have to do with his hair?

Fanhouse Fast Five: No. 4 Few Fast Toyotas

Five races into the 2008 Sprint Cup season, the Fanhouse recaps the Top-5 lessons learned in 2008. Check back each day to get revved up for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Toyota may have scored its first Sprint Cup win two weeks at Atlanta, but that doesn't mean that the manufacturer is ready to be a dominant force in the sport.

However, one of its teams already is proving that racing in the Car of Tomorrow world isn't necessarily based on the performance of a manufacturer as whole.

Instead of having a distinct advantage from make to make -- i.e. Ford vs. Chevy with spoilers, etc. in the 1990s -- the Sprint Cup world has become one in that it matters what kind of depth and talent your team has behind the wheel, not your downforce or engine numbers.

Joe Gibbs Racing made the jaw-dropping switch to Toyota in the best-case scenario for them. Leaving Chevrolet to run Toyota in the old car would have guaranteed at least a half season of struggling for the team, but the new car changed all of that. Simply, NASCAR nearly builds the race cars for the teams now with the direct set of rules that have about as much leeway as David Ragan Sprint Cup victories.

Yep, that's pretty much zero.

NASCAR Crash Video of the Week: Bristol

The concrete surface at Bristol Motor Speedway was re-done over the summer of 2007, with variable banking added in the already steeply-banked corners.

The change ultimately changed the form of racing at the legendary bull ring from single groove knock-em-to-pass-em racing to multi-groove, pass-em-high-or-low racing. Or, that change was in effect until the final restart on Sunday during the waning laps of the Food City 500 when Kevin Harvick body slammed Tony Stewart in to the wall. Watch below:

Harvick took blame for the accident as he should have. Stewart -- who is on probation -- was awkwardly calm though he got flat taken out by Harvick.

Stewart Says Goodbye to Back Hair

Although it would have been much more fitting for Tony Stewart to wax the guy's back who wrecked him during last Sunday's Food City 500, that didn't matter.

Stewart, in a stunt for charity on his radio show, got his back hair waxed to the smoothness of a baby's bottom thanks to over $100,000 in donations that will go directly to the Victory Junction Gang.

"Operation: Wax Smoke" was started last season over a bet between friends Stewart and Kevin Harvick. Stewart put up his back hair in return for fans raising $100,000 for the NASCAR-themed camp for disabled children. The fans put up quite a bit of the cash and "Happy" Harvick matched their donation with one of his own to secure the rights to Stewart's back mane.

Harvick and regular show co-host Matt Yocum provided the play-by-play.
"It looks like you waxed someone's dog," said Matt Yocum.
Stewart was in a little bit of pain from the process, which you can see a few pics of here.
"I'm telling you, I'd rather you kick me in the balls right now," said Stewart during the show.
Jimmie Johnson gave another $10,000 and J.D. Gibbs $15,000 during the show to bring the total to $125,000.

Tony Stewart Has to Hate Spring Bristol Races


For the past three seasons at Bristol Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart has led a combined 769 laps during the famed short-track's springtime races.

And for the past three seasons, Stewart has walked away without so much as a lump in his throat about "what could have been."

The No. 20 has led 51.3% of all Food City 500 laps in the past three years but has only managed an average finish of 20th thanks to horrible luck or on-track incidents.

Sunday, Stewart had the familiar Bristol swagger going throughout much of the race and even showed plenty of patience in letting cars by him at times. Towards the end, it was shaping up to be a great finish with Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin.

Stewart isn't Finished With Goodyear Yet

Earlier this week, there was a video of Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart ripping into Goodyear after last Sunday's race at Atlanta.

Stewart was furious after exiting his car -- despite finishing 2nd to a teammate that won -- because he felt Goodyear's tire combination for NASCAR at Atlanta was simply "crap".

By Thursday, Stewart still hadn't seemed to cool down about the issue:
"We felt like, as drivers, we were let down this particular weekend worse than some of the other weeks when it may not be a huge complaint but it is a complaint. When year after year the same problems keep creeping up, and some years it seems like its getting worse and worse, like the technology in NASCAR keeps growing but Goodyear is starting to fall behind in that category, we're not saying it because we want to hurt them. We're saying what we said this past weekend because we want to get somebody's attention in the company to where they're going to do something," said Stewart.
And that's not even close to the entirety of his comments.

Video: Tony Stewart Slams Goodyear Tires

Though he finished second in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 won by teammate Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart still wasn't happy.

Instead, Stewart felt extremely lucky to have even finished the race in his No. 20 car thanks to the new compound the Goodyear, NASCAR's sole racing tire supplier, brought to Atlanta for the Sprint Cup race. After exiting his car on pit road, he proceeded to rip Goodyear to shreds on network TV:



I think the single best line from all of Stewart's comments was "Goodyear can't build a tire that's worth a crap". (If you weren't able to watch the video, click the link below to read the transcript of Stewart's quotes.)