Joe Gibbs Racing unlikely to offer Stewart ownership role with team

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Monday, April 28, 2008

Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs (left) and team owner Joe Gibbs (center) talk with driver Denny Hamlin before the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Todd Warshaw
Getty Images

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TALLADEGA, Ala. – Joe Gibbs likely will not offer Tony Stewart part ownership of Joe Gibbs Racing just to keep the two-time Cup champion in the JGR stable, team president J.D. Gibbs said Sunday morning.

Stewart, whose contract with JGR goes through 2009, said Thursday that he has driving offers that are packaged with ownership prospects. Stewart said it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to ask JGR for part ownership of that team but obviously he would consider it if offered.

It doesn’t sound like that will happen.

“Right now, probably not ownership of Joe Gibbs Racing [isn’t on the table],” J.D. Gibbs said Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway as he stood next to his father and team owner, Joe Gibbs. “I think our deal is kind of set the way it is. We could figure some stuff to help him to start up his own team if that’s what he really wanted.”

J.D. Gibbs reiterated statements from earlier in the week that he expects Stewart to remain in the No. 20 car through next season even if he decides before the start of 2009 to go somewhere else starting in 2010.

“He’s been here for so long, he knows how important it is to our team,” J.D. Gibbs said. “And it’s important to him to get out there and run around and try to dominate. I don’t think that will really affect [things]. We’ve seen in the past, a lot of stuff off-track he has dealt with hasn’t really affected on-track stuff.”

Joe Gibbs, the former coach of the Washington Redskins, said that the team’s success with Stewart – two championships and 32 victories – should speak for itself.

“We’ve had 10 years, and that’s the way you look at what we’ve been able to do together,” Joe Gibbs said. “Certainly, Tony has been a big part of that. Tony knows, too, that we have worked extremely hard to get him the best stuff. That’s all we want to do for all of our drivers.”

Obviously, the Gibbs are no strangers to the art of contract negotiations.

“We want to do what’s right [for the team], and we’ll just have to work through this process,” Joe Gibbs said. “Sometimes in a sport like
this, sometimes things get thrown at you that you don’t expect. So it’s something where you just have to work your way through it. “We’ll do our best with that.”

Stewart talked with J.D. Gibbs this past week about the other offers.

“We felt kind of that we were on the back part of the conversations he’s had elsewhere,” J.D. Gibbs said. “We need to take a break, let us spend some time and try to come back to you with some things that we think would be exciting for you down the road. Let us put our best foot forward and then hopefully that will be encouragement and if not, he has a lot of options. We just want to be in the mix.”

While Chevrolet would love to have Stewart back, J.D. Gibbs said that one of the first people the team talked to about switching from Chevrolet to Toyota was Stewart, and Stewart gave his approval if it would make the team better.

J.D. Gibbs said he would like to get the contract issues behind them “the sooner the better,” considering they began negotiating last year.

The team will remain in the mix by running well, J.D. Gibbs said.

“The one thing Tony has always been about for him, each contract we have, financial issues are a concern, but No. 1 is where are you going to perform the best, and run the best and gives you the best chance to win championships and races,” J.D. Gibbs said. “We feel like that would be here. If he feels like it’s something else, there’s something else down the road. … The reality is that’s two years removed from now. We’ve got to make sure we’re going to keep our guys focused on the here and how.”

The fact that Stewart wants to possibly own a Cup team was surprising to J.D. Gibbs.

“That’s kind of surprising just because we do it,” J.D. Gibbs said. “If you want to be on one side, you want to be on the driver’s side. We learned that a while ago. [But] it’s been a great business for us. We’ve been blessed along the way, but it’s a lot of involvement.

“If he’s willing to put that much involvement in it, which it sounds like he might be, I think he can make it work. But it’s a lot more responsibility than he has right now.”

Joe Gibbs said that the possibility of Stewart leaving will not accelerate the development of driver Joey Logano, the 2007 Busch East Series champion who will begin Nationwide Series racing in 2008 once he turns 18 next month.

“Joey is a huge part of our future,” Joe Gibbs said. “We’ve had Joey now for two years and are doing every single thing we can to bring him along. The point is that we want to make sure that it’s the right way, the right timing. He’s hugely important for our future.”