Stewart-Haas Racing is tailored fit for Tony Stewart
Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart is leading the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Sunday's LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
// James Rapp, NASCAR Scene
BROOKLYN, Mich. - Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart says it's always nice to come to a track as the most recent race winner.
He earned his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory as a co-owner/driver at Stewart-Haas last Sunday at Pocono Raceway, making Friday at Michigan International Speedway more fun for he and his Darian Grubb-led team.
Stewart's enjoying a somewhat rare season overall. He's the first to both have an ownership stake and a driving role in a points-leading team since Alan Kulwicki at the end of 1992. While Stewart admits he wasn't following NASCAR closely during that period, he does have a lot of respect for Kulwicki and what he accomplished - and admires and respect's Kulwicki's championship run.
He's found that others treat him with respect for what he's accomplished as well.
"It’s just a different time and a different era, but it’s still cool to know how much respect everybody had for Alan because he was an owner/driver and how much respect people have shown us because of the same thing," Stewart said at Michigan International Speedway, site of Sunday's Lifelock 400.
Stewart worked hard to assemble the people surrounding him, and now credits their support for his success.
Some have been surprised by how quickly Stewart has found success with not only his own team, but also that of teammate Ryan Newman (who is fourth in the standings. His former teammate, Kyle Busch, is not among that group. He spent last season working alongside the two-time champion and watched him make the decision to take over the team and try to turn the former Haas CNC Racing into a competitive group.
The fact that he has done just that, says Busch, is what should have been expected.
"Tony didn’t go over there without knowing what he had," Busch said, pointing out that Stewart put together the right people and has an alignment with Hendrick Motorsports. "He was smart about it. He was very smart about it. … He did it right. Obviously, it’s showing - it’s paying off and it’s the first time he’s led the points this early in the season [in his career]. So, who knows what will happen the rest of the way.”
Stewart hopes it is more of the same.
He's slow to make predictions, but does point out that being in the top-10 in the standings after 14 races isn't a fluke for any team. So when he's asked about his chance to win the championship this season, he has to admit that it's certainly possible at this point in the year.
"You don’t get to leading the points by not doing things the right way, especially at this part of the year," he said. "You might get lucky the first couple of weeks maybe, and get some things to go your way, but to do it at this part of the season, I mean we’ve had to do things consistent to get ourselves in this position. So I feel like we’ve got a shot."
And that is making everyone look at Stewart's move in a different light.
Originally, people questioned the gamble Stewart was taking in leaving his two-time championship team at Joe Gibbs Racing to try to build a title-contending effort with a fledgling two-car organization that had never won a Cup race.
Now, Stewart finds himself being congratulated for his decision more often - and given a lot of credit for building the group into a competitive organization.
He says that he shouldn't get too much credit for that, either, pointing out the difference between what he is doing and what other recent owner/drivers, such as Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon, attempted in building their own organizations from scratch.
He gives them more credit than he accepts for his own endeavor - though he is clearly pleased that his effort has worked out so well. In the end, it doesn’t matter how his team evolved. It only matters that it has moved from an organization that spent 2008 fighting for a locked in position in the field to one that has two new drivers – and both of those are in position to earn a berth in the title-determining Chase For The Sprint Cup.
"Realistically, we just sat down and looked at the situation," he said. "Where our situation is different than other owner/driver combinations is we didn’t have to start from scratch. We had a facility that was there. We had equipment and tools there. It was just a matter of tailoring some people to find the right key people for the right key positions. So that made it less scary. If we had to start from scratch and do our own motor program and our own chassis program, we never would have done this. It would have been way too much of a challenge for me and I couldn’t have gotten it right.
"So the guys like Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip that are true driver/owners who have built their programs from scratch, those guys are a lot more impressive than what I am because I couldn’t have done that, I don’t believe. But I had the advantage of having Hendrick resources and great equipment that [team owner] Gene Haas and [Vice President] Joe Custer have given us that was there before I got there. It was just a matter of trying to tie up the loose ends and put people in place that we thought would make a difference. And it’s worked that way.”
