Stewart: Ownership offers intriguing, but JGR still an option

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Friday, April 25, 2008

Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart discusses his contract negotiations with gathered media at Talladega Superspeedway Thursday.

David Griffin
NASCAR Scene

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TALLADEGA, Ala. – Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart said Thursday that he has offers of ownership from other existing teams and is considering those offers, but he did not rule out a return to Joe Gibbs Racing next season and beyond.

Stewart said he has discussed his various offers with JGR officials and has talked to JGR about the possibility of, if he were to go somewhere else starting in 2010, whether he could leave after this season instead of waiting until after his contract ends in 2009. He said, though, that he has not made a decision about what he is going to do and has not requested to get out of his contract.

“There’s a couple of groups that have thrown some ownership in the mix,” Stewart said. “There’s nothing broke. We didn’t go out and say, ‘Hey, we’re looking to leave Joe Gibbs Racing.’ We haven’t made a 100 percent decision yet of what we’re going to do.

“But we’re going to look at all the options, and the options are exciting all the way around. It’s pretty exciting. … Right now, it’s just a matter of figuring out what we want to do and just being smart. We’ve had a great run at Joe Gibbs Racing, and it doesn’t mean it’s over yet. We’re just going to look at everything that’s out there. A wise person told me it never costs a dime to listen, so right now we’re all ears.”

Acknowledging that Haas CNC Racing was one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams that has talked to him about ownership, Stewart would not name the others nor would he say how many offers he has, although he said the number is closer to five than to 10. He said it would not be appropriate for him to ask Joe Gibbs for part ownership of JGR, but Stewart would be interested if negotiations went in that direction.

He also would not divulge if any of the teams were with manufacturers other than Chevrolet. He said that while he has a strong relationship with Chevrolet through his World of Outlaws team, he also has felt good about Toyota’s rollout with Joe Gibbs Racing this season.

“I’m still passionate about Chevrolet,” Stewart said. “I’ve had a great relationship with General Motors – obviously when I started I was with Pontiac and then won a championship with Chevrolet in ’05. They’re our power plants and our sponsor in the open-wheel series. I still have a lot of connections there.

“But at the same time, we’ve built a great relationship in a short amount of time with Toyota. It’s not an issue where there is something wrong there, but I have a lot of strong ties to Chevrolet, obviously.”

Stewart said ownership intrigued him so he could stay involved in NASCAR after his racing career is over.

The 36-year-old Stewart said he did not have a timetable for making his decision, that he has to do his homework on the offers on the table.

Stewart said talks about his possibly owning various teams has been one of the best-kept secrets in the garage in recent weeks.

“We’re going to do our due diligence and go through looking at every option, looking at the pros and cons to everything and then make a decision,” Stewart said. “The good thing is we have a year left in our contract. We’re not in any rush right now. There is nobody putting any pressure on us to make something happen next week.”

As far as good friend and crew chief Greg Zipadelli, Stewart said he would like to continue working with Zipadelli but hasn’t talked with him and gotten his input on what he should do.

“He knows that we’ve had options, and I’ve told him that we’ve had offers presented to us, but I haven’t went any further than that for the main reason that we still have a job to do and I still fully intend on doing everything I can to win races and win a championship this year,” Stewart said. “We have a long way to go before we worry about what’s going to happen for next year.

“It’s something that I want Zippy to focus on what we’re doing right now.”