Thanks, MrsRyan, that was so funny!!! I didn't know Stew was so close to winning Iroc series championship either, Lizard told me that today too! Go Tony!!!
True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
ATLANTA (Oct. 31, 2006) - For the top-10 drivers competing in this year's Chase for the Championship, the small circular mirror in the lower front corner of their driver's side window used to see traffic coming up behind them may very well be inscribed with the same message found on any passenger car's side mirror - "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear."
That's because while Tony Stewart is out of the Chase, and subsequently out of championship contention, the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing has proven that he is still a championship-caliber driver with a championship-caliber team.
In the seven Chase races held thus far, Stewart has scored the most points of any Chase driver (995 points) and the most wins of any Chase driver (two). If he were in the Chase as the 11th driver via a wild card with 5,000 points heading into the first Chase race Sept. 17 at New Hampshire - just five fewer points than 10th-place Kasey Kahne had at the time - Stewart would be second in points, 13 markers behind current point leader Matt Kenseth, heading into Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
And even though none of Stewart's 28 career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series wins have come at Texas, don't expect a letup from the two-time and reigning series champion.
In his nine career Nextel Cup starts at Texas, Stewart has finished in the top-10 six times. And in his most recent trip to the 1.5-mile oval, Stewart led 99 laps en route to a third-place finish, his best Nextel Cup result at Texas.
But just because there hasn't been a NASCAR win at Texas doesn't mean that Stewart hasn't enjoyed success in the Lone Star State.
Prior to coming to NASCAR, Stewart was the star of the IRL IndyCar Series. In his three trips to Texas as an IRL driver, Stewart started on the pole twice (June 1997 and June 1998) and second once (Sept. 1998). While mechanical troubles beset Stewart's Indy car each time he came to Texas, he ran up front when his car was running, leading 208 of a possible 624 laps (33.4 percent).
Stewart finally broke into Texas' victory lane when he won round two of this year's IROC Series race at the track in April. Stewart followed that win with another victory in round three on the road course at Daytona (Fla.). And with a third-place finish in the IROC season finale last Saturday at Atlanta, Stewart won his first IROC championship.
Apparently, Stewart liked the confines of Atlanta's victory lane, because he showed up there again on Sunday night when he won the Bass Pro Shops 500. It was his second win at Atlanta and his fourth win in a 500-mile Nextel Cup race.
The car that carried Stewart to that win was quickly turned around and prepped for Texas. Chassis No. 120 will make its fifth career start in the Dickies 500, with its past four starts being a ninth-place finish at California in September, a win at Kansas in October, a 13th-place finish at Charlotte (N.C.) three weeks ago and the aforementioned win at Atlanta.
Stewart brings his pedigree, his history, his team and his car to Texas for the third to last race of the 2006 season. And while a championship is out of reach, Stewart is a lot closer than he appears.
If you were in the Chase, you'd be second in points. Does that matter to you?
"But we aren't in the Chase, so it doesn't matter. It isn't any more frustrating, because after Richmond was over, we just weren't in the Chase. The focus changed at that point. It is what it is. If we were in the Chase, we would not have been able to do what we did at Kansas (gamble on fuel mileage to win). We probably wouldn't have gotten as many points. Once we missed the Chase in Richmond (Va.), that was it.
"The guys that are racing for the championship are racing for the championship. There is a lot of pressure on those guys. Sometimes it gets you off your game a little bit, sometimes it forces you to be a little more conservative and sometimes because of the pressure, you make mistakes. Those guys are in a totally different situation than we are. It is easier for us to just go out and try and win races. It is not frustrating at all to me that we have gotten more points than these guys. We are out there to win each race. Those guys are in a totally different situation. It is just two totally different scenarios right now."
Along with just trying to win races, are you trying anything new in preparation for next season?
"We're strictly just trying to win races. We're coming out with a new car next year with the Impala SS when we have the Car of Tomorrow, and of course, we have our regular Home Depot Chevrolet whenever we don't have the Car of Tomorrow. So we've got two totally new cars to run next year. It would be great to say that what we're learning right now is stuff we'll be able to use right away next year, but with the way technology changes, I don't know how useful today's information will be next year. Technology in this sport is in a constant state of change. What's good right now might not be good in February. You have to fight really hard to stay up on what is going on. So for us, it's just a matter of going out and winning races."
When you rolled into New Hampshire and it had set in that you weren't in the Chase, did things become easier because the pressure was off?
"As a team we knew it wasn't the end of the world. When it happened, we were obviously devastated. But when you look at the season we had and the adversity that we overcame, to just be in a position to where we could race to get in the Chase and stay in the Chase, that was a pretty big accomplishment for us. It didn't work out our way. It didn't work out for two of the biggest names in NASCAR last year (Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.). It's just part of the sport. It shows how competitive the series is.
"When we didn't get in, it wasn't the end of the world. We just switched our focus. We didn't have the goal of trying to win a championship anymore, so it was all about going out and trying to win races. It hasn't changed the focus or the attitude of our team. We're happy because the plan we set out for the remaining 10 races, we're on schedule with. We won two races. Last year we didn't win any races when we were in the Chase. I think that is a good accomplishment for our team. We've won four races this year. I think we have a lot to be proud of."
Of the three races left, which ones are your best tracks and which ones are you not looking forward to?
"I'm pretty excited about all of them. This is the part of the season with tracks coming up that are really good to us. Phoenix is one where I think we'll be just as good we were there in the spring (finished second). We've had some good runs at Homestead (Fla.). And at Texas we ran decent in the spring and we've really come on with our 1.5-mile program, so I think we're going to be a lot better. I'm not really concerned about any of them. I'm just excited about all three of them."
You've seemed to have hit your stride in recent races at Texas. You've been able to makes passes and run up front. How have you been able to adapt to Texas' layout?
"I think you can pass anywhere, really. If you get a guy that misses the bottom of the corner and he bobbles, you can get around him. But even if someone doesn't make a mistake and you've got a little better car than they do, the groove has moved up enough over the years to where the track's a little wider, so you have more room to get a run on a guy. But as the tires wear out and grip goes away, drivers will make mistakes and a car's handling will become more important. And when a guy makes a mistake, you need to be there to capitalize on it. You can really pass anywhere as long as the right opportunity comes up."
Despite the relative youth of Texas Motor Speedway, it's had a history of being a treacherous race track. Why is that?
"I've run there in a Busch car, an IRL car and in a Cup car with this Home Depot team. I never looked at it as a treacherous race track. For some reason, it seemed that the track's transitions were very line-sensitive. The entries and exits to the corners are very tricky, and that's what makes Texas difficult. I don't think it's treacherous. You just have to hit your marks every lap. Texas doesn't leave a whole lot of room for error."
Before you raced at Texas in a stock car, you raced there in an Indy car. What was the difference?
"The IRL car was nothing like driving a stock car. You could go anywhere on the track with the IRL car that you wanted to, and you could run wide-open while doing it. It was as easy as riding down the interstate, whereas with a stock car, you're not off the gas very long, but you do have to lift. With the track being so line-sensitive, it's really important that you're doing the same thing every lap, and making sure you're very consistent in how you're driving the car."
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Tony Stewart Leads Team Chevy To Top-6 Finishing Spots
Post-Race Interviews With Johnson, Stewart, Harvick And Terry Labonte
GM Racing Communications, Press Release
ON HIS RUN:
"Yeah, it was a real nice run all night long. We were able to stay in the top five. Never really had anything for the 20 to get up and lead a lap. We did end up getting a lap on the pit cycle but just a strong performance. I had one hair-raiding moment where the window net popped down and I had to get it back up and latch it. It took me a lap or so to get that and I lost a couple of spots. Thankfully I got that up and didn't have a penalty from that but all in all just a strong night."
ON THE DRIVERS IN THE CHASE NOT SEEMING TO HAVE ANY EASY NIGHTS:
"I think we all have near misses out there - if it's on pit road, on the track, crashes around you and what goes on. Tonight it was just amazing to me how hard you could drive your car lap after lap after lap. I'm used to some give up and the cars never game up and as the night went on I had to keep pushing myself to run harder so I didn't lose any spots at the beginning.
"I was just trying to be smart and take car of my stuff. At the end of the night I had the pace under control and could run and do what I needed to but all of us, we'd run flat out almost here for a couple of laps and it was really a hard pace."
HOW MUCH EASIER IS IT FOR A DRIVER NOT IN THE CHASE TO GO AFTER RACE VICTORIES?
"I think you can change your attitude and your mindset but at the same time you've got to do your job as a driver and you've got to have good equipment. I think we've all been shocked the 20 had a slow spot getting close to the start of the Chase and the end of the Chase and now those guys are in the form that we expected them to be in. If it comes down to fuel mileage at the end or two tires since they're not in the points they'll gamble on that. Our call for four tires at the end just because we didn't want to take a chance and put four on instead of taking two. I think that's where the difference comes in."
YOU LED 278 LAPS AND HAVE WON THREE OF THE LAST SIX RACES, TALK ABOUT THE RACE TODAY:
"It was obviously an awesome day. Anytime you can lead that many laps and that percentage of laps in a race, it's a good day for you.
"Today was one of those days when we had a car that was good all day long from start to finish -- last week was one of them and this week was another one of them - but it's few and far in between in 27 years that you can say that you've had less than 10 cars that were that good and that dominant. I'm not even sure Atlanta last week was a car that was that good. We just had such a good car tonight. We could get a straightaway lead at any time. I was loose the whole day, but we were extremely fast being loose. We kept trying to get greedy because we knew at some point those guys would get their cars better and I wanted to see if I could get it tightened up enough to where I could even go faster. We finally got it too tight and that was the run that Kasey (Kahne) could stay with us. The air pressure adjustment that I had them do on the right front I had them undo it when we came in for the two-tire stop. It was right back to being really fast again and we had a straightaway lead there with less than 10 laps to go. And then the caution came out and there was nothing we could do from that standpoint. But the good news was that there were two cars between us and Jimmie Johnson who had four tires. So with the amount of time it took for Jimmie to get through those two guys, I was pretty confident on that last restart that we should be able to hold out own for two laps. If we had to run five or 10 laps, it might have been a different story. But if the caution doesn't come out either one of those two times we win the race anyways. So the woulda, coulda, shoulda's and all that. But we had the strongest car all day and I'm just glad that we finished it off. I wasn't going to give it away with two to go, that's for sure. With the green-white-checkered restart, the biggest concern was not slipping the tires and spinning the tires and letting Jimmie get a run on us in Turn 1. Once I got to Turn 1, I felt confident that the car was good enough to hold him off for two laps."
IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT THE FASTEST LAP OF THE RACE WAS YOURS ON THE LAST LAP. THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT HOW STRONG YOUR CAR WAS. WERE YOU HOLDING BACK UNTIL THE END?
"We pretty much were in a situation the whole race where we didn't have to run as hard as we needed to on the front side and guys could stay with us for about 10 laps, but they really, from lap one, we would have a three or four-car-length lead so we never really had to push it hard at the beginning. I'm surprised to hear that. I didn't know we did that. It surprises me that we were able to run that quick at the end. But I guess that's the track getting cooler and probably more so than anything, was having those two cautions back-to-back. It probably picked up more of the rubber out of the track and gave us more of a green race track to run quicker on. But I am surprised we were able to run that quick on tires that were that old."
HOW DOES THIS STREAK COMPARE TO THE STREAK YOU HAD LAST YEAR STARTING AT SONOMA?
"It was just later. That's the obvious thing. But it's very similar in that we've finally hit our stride it looks like. We hit it three months too late. You look at which teams kind of hit strides this year. Look at Evernham's whole organization and all three of their cars are running much better than they have in the past. You look at the Childress team and all three of their cars are running better than they all have in the past, in recent years. We've just finally hit our stride. We've finally caught up now. It's just one of those situations where we all wish we could turn back the hands of time and get on this string three months early and get ourselves in the Chase. But for us right now, the stress level is a tenth of what those guys in the Chase have and it lets us have the ability to take chances and try things and take the first half of practice and try something that we've been wanting to try but just haven't had the luxury to try. If we were in the Chase, we wouldn't have that ability. It gives us the flexibility to really go all out and try to win races without the fear of losing a bunch of points."
REGARDING SET-UPS, IS IT STUFF YOU'RE TRYING OUT FOR NEXT YEAR THAT'S WORKING, OR IS IT JUST STUFF THAT YOU HAVE BEEN USING THROUGHOUT THE SEASON?
"The stuff that we're doing right now, by the time March gets here and we get through with Daytona and stuff, technology may have already passed this stage up even and we may be on to something else. It's not that we're trying anything for next year, it's just that we're trying to accomplish our goal and that's to come into the Chase and even though we're not in it now, set a new goal since we aren't in the Chase and can't run for the championship, that goal has gone away. So the new goal is just to go out every race and try to win the race and do whatever we can to win the race. It's not that that wasn't the goal before, we just finally have hit our stride and things are clicking and now we're winning races. It's not that we just decided all of a sudden to win races. It's a coincidence that the goal we've put in front of us is a reality now."
ARE YOU TAKING ANY JOY IN BEING A PARTY CRASHER IN THIS THING?
"I don't think I'm crashing anybody's party. I'm still not going to be in the top 10 and I'm still not going to be able to go for the trophy at the end of the year. So I don't think we're crashing anybody's party. Our objective each week is different than those guys in the top 10. At this point in the equation, all 10 of those guys are worried about themselves and who they are racing for position in the standings right now. We're in a totally different position. So somebody said something about did I think I crashed Jimmie Johnson's party and I can promise you not. He was the highest finishing Chase guy today. I don't know. Did he take the point lead? I don't think he's remotely even worried about what we did today. I think he is more delighted and overjoyed with what he was able to accomplish today.
"
YOU HAVE NEVER WON MORE THAN SIX RACES IN ONE SEASON, BUT YOU HAVE FIVE WINS WITH TWO RACES TO GO. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THAT AS A WAY TO MAKE THIS SEASON STAND OUT?
"Absolutely. This car that we ran tonight has three wins and zero losses. I want to sleep next to this car tonight and make sure nothing happens to it each night for the rest of the year. I don't care what cars we took to the tests, I can promise you this is the car that I will race at Homestead in two weeks. For our mile program, we'll run a different car than this one. It'll give the guys a chance to freshen this car again. That will make it easier on those guys. We don't have to do anything to the body. So sure, that's a very good goal to shoot for right now is to try to win these last two races and say we were able to win the last four races in the Chase in a row. So, yeah, it would be a great accomplishment. It would definitely be the saving grace for us for this year to break our own record of wins in a season."
ON TEAM THINKING OF TAKING FOUR TIRES ON LAST STOP:
"Honestly no. We knew none of us were factoring in there would be a caution in the last 15 laps. We had been green for a long time. When the field gets strung out like that, you don't normally have a problem. Realistically, with just 15 laps to go, the decision, to me, was an easy decision just to take two tires, shorten the pit stop, get enough fuel that we needed to get out and get to the end and maintain our track position. Those last two cautions were not what we wanted to see. Even after the first one came out and we restarted, even with four to go when the last caution came out, I was really comfortable with the distance between myself and Jimmie. I felt like I could hold him off at that point, but I didn't want to see the last caution, actually either one of those two, but I was comfortable after the first one. The second one I was just a little bit more uncomfortable knowing he had track position right behind us with fresher tires. The important thing at that point was to make sure I got a clean restart and got to turn one before he did and as long as I could do that, I felt like, that off the previous restart, letting the tires cool down during the caution was going to bring enough life in to them to be able to run hard those final two laps and be able to run the pace I needed to win."
ON NEXT TO LAST PIT STOP, DID YOU KEEP ZIPPY FROM DOING MORE ADJUSTMENTS THAN YOU WANTED?
"I had asked for an air pressure change just to see, the hard thing is when you have a car that is that good and that dominant early, we have been in situations in 500 mile races like this that, I don't want to say that we get lazy, but we get complacent I guess, with the way your car is driving. I felt like my car was really, really drove good, but I knew at some point, somebody was going to get caught up and I kept the thought in the back of my mind that we had lost a lot of races because we were that good that early and were just scared to make changes. Even with us being as good as we were, I kept trying to do really small adjustments, when a car is that good, you don't need to make big changes. You just want to little things at a time. We had tried a couple of things that really didn't work earlier in the day. I finally asked for a sequence of changes that I was hoping would least lead us in a direction, if it was going to be the right way or not, and none of them were trick decisions or anything. The were very basic calls and we finally on that run got the car too tight and so we came in for the two tires, we couldn't take all of the adjustment out, it was air pressure adjustments on both sides. Obviously coming in for just two tires, we could only make the adjustment on the right side tires, we did that, and for 15 laps with new tires, it was a good enough change to balance good enough to win the race"
ON HAVING FREE WHEELING ATTITUDE FOR NEXT YEAR'S CHASE:
"Yes, it seems to be work. It is hard to say that you can keep yourself this way, there is just a lot of pressure and a lot of stress involved in trying to win a championship at this level. That is goal that everybody wants. In my opinion, it is."
WHEN YOU GET BACK INTO THE CHASE NEXT YEAR, WILL YOU HAVE THE SAME ATTITUDE YOU HAVE HAD THIS YEAR?
"Yeah, it seems to work (laughs). It's hard to say that you can keep yourself this way. There's just a lot of pressure and a lot of stress involved in trying to win a championship at this level. That's the goal that everybody wants. In my opinion it's the biggest championship in the United States to win right now. Obviously when you're in it it's harder to keep yourself in this frame of mind but I think more so this frame of mind started because we needed to keep the team pumped up. We were obviously all devastated and none of us would have dreamed that we would miss the Chase. We had never finished worse than seventh in the points so none of us would have dreamed we were going to be in a position where we might not even make the Chase. I think the attitude came from hey we can't change what's happened. There's nothing we can do to get ourselves back in. We've got 10 races to go. What do we do and how do we keep ourselves motivated and see how many races we can in the last 10. The guys responded to that attitude of mine and it seems like they feed off of me a lot. When I came into it with that happy-go-lucky attitude they followed suit and we've had a ton of fun. Even though we'd all like to be in the Chase and we'd all like to have that opportunity to win the championship again, since we don't have that opportunity I think we're all enjoying these last 10 races more not having that stress and not having that pressure but trust me, we would all trade these race wins in and everything to be just back in the Chase right now."
WHAT WILL YOU REMEMBER ABOUT TERRY LABONTE AS A DRIVER:
"I remember my rookie year when I went through the Winston Select and went to the Winston Open and started at the tail and I was running second or something on the last restart and Terry ran me up the race track a little but he wasn't going to give me an inch. To win the Winston million was huge. That's the one time that I remember Terry and I really being wheel to wheel for a win. I heard him speak more today in the drivers meeting than I think I've heard him speak the entire time I've been in Cup. He's just a guy of few words and soft spoken and let's his actions speak for him. I've always had a huge amount of respect for him and you always know where you stand with him by the expression on his face because like I said he won't tell you but you'll see it on his face what's going through his mind."
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH YOUR WINNINGS AND HOW GOOD IS YOUR RACE TEAM RIGHT NOW?
"Obviously winning two weeks in a row I feel like my race team is pretty good. If I said we weren't very good it'd be a joke but I feel like we're doing everything right. Like I said, I think with us having a relaxed atmosphere and attitude, we're all working better with each other than we ever had. We're probably a tighter knit group than we've ever, ever been and I think that's something carrying into next year these guys are going to have to worry about. I'm excited about it. I feel like the team is doing a great job. It's very easy for the caliber team like we have at Joe Gibbs Racing with this Home Depot team to kind of just give up for the year and get ready for next year and that's something that these guys have not done. Their attitude has been let's see what we can do, let's see how many races we can win. We don't feel like we have to prove anything to anybody, don't get me wrong we're doing it purely for our own satisfaction and well being so I'm happy with the guys attitude. We're all happy and having fun and we're running races. You can't ask more out of a race team than that."
Stewart Leads Eight Times for a Race-High 278 Laps to Score Second Straight Win
True Speed Communications For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
Date: Nov. 5, 2006
Event: Dickies 500 (Round 34 of 36)
Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 8th/1st (Running, completed 339 of 339 laps)
Winner: Tony Stewart of Joe Gibbs Racing
With a dominating win in Sunday's Dickies 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Tony Stewart scored back-to-back victories for the sixth time in his eight-year Nextel Cup career.
The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing came to the 1.5-mile Texas oval fresh off a win in last Sunday's 500-mile race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In the same car Stewart used to lead seven times for a race-high 146 laps at Atlanta, he led an even more impressive eight times for a race-high 278 laps at Texas to take his fifth win of 2006, his third in the last six races and the 29th of his career.
"It was an awesome day," said Stewart, who led the most laps for the sixth time in 2006, the most among all drivers. "Anytime you can lead that many laps in a race, it's a good day for you. Today was one of those days when we had a car that was good from start to finish.
"Last week was one of them and this week was another one of them, and it's few and far between where you can say that you've had cars that were this dominant. I'm not even sure that at Atlanta last week we had a car that was this good.
"We just had such a good car tonight. We could get a straightaway lead at any time. I was loose the whole day, but we were extremely fast being loose."
Stewart's win in the Dickies 500 was his fifth victory in a 500-mile race. It was also the 54th Nextel Cup win for Joe Gibbs Racing, but the team's first at Texas.
"Winning two weeks in a row shows that this race team is pretty darn good," said Stewart, who despite being out of the Chase for the Championship has scored more points and more wins in the last eight races than any other driver. "With us having a relaxed atmosphere and attitude, we're all working better with each other. We're probably a tighter knit group than we've ever been, and I think that's something carrying into next year that everybody else is going to have to worry about.
"I'm excited about it. I feel like the team is doing a great job. Their attitude has been, 'let's see what we can do and let's see how many races we can win.' We don't feel like we have to prove anything to anybody. We're all happy and having fun and we're winning races. You can't ask for more out of a race team than that."
Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates - Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley - finished 10th and 20th, respectively.
Hamlin continues to lead the trio of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers in the championship point standings, as he is the lone Gibbs representative in the Chase for the Championship. Hamlin dropped one spot to fall to fourth in points, 80 markers behind new series leader Jimmie Johnson.
Stewart maintained his 11th-place point standing and holds a dominating 357-point lead over 12th-place Carl Edwards.
Yeley gained one spot to rise to 28th in points. He is now 204 points outside the top-25.
Finishing in the runner-up spot, .272 of a second behind Stewart, was Johnson. Kevin Harvick finished third, while Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer secured the rest of the top-five. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Hamlin comprised the rest of the top-10. <> With only two races remaining, the penultimate event on the Nextel Cup schedule is the Nov. 12 Checker Auto Parts 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. The race begins at 3:25 p.m. EST with live, high-definition coverage provided by NBC.
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It looks like all that was added to the photos though instead of him dressing up.
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