I'm aware of his new woman (who's not exactly new btw), but as I said in the chat too, he needs to get rid of her if she's taking away the fiery Tony that I love! I'll get used to it again, I got used to it in '05.
Well anything that brings another championship is fine by me It's good to see the man happy though... much more likely to stick around if he's happy.
I read a quote the other day where he denied he'd go back to try and win the INdy 500 because when his contract expires he'll be 39 and tha'ts too old to move. HOpefully it's not too old to stay in NASCAR.
Home Depot Driver Overcomes Pit Road Speeding Penalty
True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
Date: Feb. 25, 2007
Event: Auto Club 500 (Round 2 of 36)
Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location: California Speedway in Fontana (2-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 11th/8th (Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)
Winner: Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing (Ford)
Tony Stewart ran three races in one during Sunday’s Auto Club 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at California Speedway in Fontana. The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet led four times for 28 laps, but had to overcome a pit road speeding penalty that sent him from first to 21st with 90 laps remaining. Stewart rallied his way to eighth when the checkered flag dropped to score his sixth top-10 finish in his 11 career Nextel Cup races at California.
“We had a good car, that’s for sure,” said Stewart after the race, still bristling from the pit road infraction. “I was 300 rpm below what I needed to maintain pit road speed. So, unless the line (where a timing light is set up) is in a spot where I don’t know it’s at… I don’t know. NASCAR has all that computer stuff and it tells you exactly when and where, so I’ll be interested to see it.”
Stewart’s first drive to the front came quickly. He started 11th, but by just the third lap around the 2-mile oval, he was fourth.
A caution-filled start to the race altered the team’s strategy, as three cautions for 12 laps in the race’s first 23 laps went against California’s history of providing long, green flag runs right from the start.
As a result, Stewart had to pit under caution on lap 21 for four tires and fuel. This sent him back to 30th, as many of his competitors had pitted during the two previous caution periods.
But the trip backward was of little matter, as Stewart climbed to 15th by lap 48. With a long, green flag run finally presenting itself, Stewart drove his Home Depot Chevrolet to fifth by lap 53 before a caution ended the stint.
Thanks to quick pit work by The Home Depot over-the-wall crew, Stewart restarted in third on lap 59. A lap later he was second after passing Bobby Labonte for the position, and on lap 66 Stewart took first from eventual race winner Matt Kenseth.
Stewart ran up front for the next 100 laps, trading the lead with other challengers such as Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer. But when Stewart was called by NASCAR officials for speeding on his entry to pit road en route to a scheduled pit stop on lap 159, he was jettisoned to 21st via a pit road pass-through penalty on the following lap.
“It’s still a long way to go,” said crew chief Greg Zipadelli over the radio. “We’re still on the lead lap. Take care of that thing.”
Stewart did just that, rising to 16th with 75 laps to go. By lap 190 he was 11th, and again with quick pit work by his crew, was able to re-enter the top-10 after a four-tire pit stop on lap 198 gained him a position.
Stewart climbed to seventh before the red flag waved for rookie driver David Reutimann’s hard crash on lap 243. With only seven laps remaining, Stewart and Zipadelli discussed their options once the red flag was lifted – stay out or pit, and if they pitted, change two tires or all four?
“We had to do something,” said Stewart. “We knew the guys behind us were going to take tires. We were kind of right in the middle of a cut-off point. We knew a certain amount of guys were going to take four, and the rest of them were going to stay out since they were a little further up there. So, we just took the chance.”
The No. 20 team changed four tires and filled the tank with fuel, dropping Stewart to 11th when the green flag dropped for the final time on lap 246. In five laps Stewart passed his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate J.J. Yeley, Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch to creep up to eighth.
Stewart’s JGR teammates – Denny Hamlin and Yeley – finished 11th and 13th, respectively, in the Auto Club 500.
Yeley continues to lead the trio of JGR drivers in the championship point race, as his 13th-place finish moved him up two spots to eighth in the standings. Hamlin and Stewart occupy the 18th and 21st positions, respectively. Hamlin gained 10 positions via his 11th-place result, while Stewart gained 18 positions care of his eighth-place finish.
Kenseth’s victory in the Auto Club 500 was his 15th career Nextel Cup victory and his second at California. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson finished second and third, respectively, while Jeff Burton and Mark Martin rounded out the top-five. Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Stewart, Kyle Busch and Vickers comprised the remainder of the top-10.
The Nextel Cup Series takes a weekend off before heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the March 11 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. The race starts at 4:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX.
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Second at Atlanta Brings Stewart to Sixth in Points
Second at Atlanta Brings Stewart to Sixth in Points
Home Depot Driver Scores 11th Top-10 in Past 12 Atlanta Races
True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
Date: March 18, 2007
Event: Atlanta 500 (Round 4 of 36)
Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 13th/2nd (Running, completed 325 of 325 laps)
Winner: Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Tony Stewart led five times for 121 laps in Sunday’s Atlanta 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and while that kind of performance would merit a trip to victory lane on most occasions, the 325-lapper on the 1.54-mile oval was not one of those times. Stewart finished second to race winner Jimmie Johnson, who managed to lead nine times for 135 laps.
Despite Johnson’s edge in laps led, his win didn’t come easy. It took a side-by-side battle with Stewart that ended on lap 322 when Johnson pinched Stewart’s No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet into the turn two wall. While the damage to Stewart’s car was minimal, the speed lost from scrubbing the wall allowed Johnson to motor on to a 1.311-second advantage when the checkered flag dropped.
“He (Johnson) was faster than us right there. I just wish he would’ve given us enough room to race him for it,” said Stewart, whose runner-up result was his 11th top-10 finish in his last 12 Nextel Cup races at Atlanta. “That’s racing, and that’s why everybody loves coming to Atlanta. I wish we could have won it obviously, but we had a run like we needed today. We gained a lot of points and gave this Home Depot team a boost.
“My Home Depot guys did an awesome job. We fought back after a bad pit stop to take the lead later in the race,” said Stewart, referring to a long pit stop on lap 144 when a lugnut fell off the left rear tire. “We just didn’t have enough there at the end. We were both racing hard with three laps to go. It is what it is. He’s in victory lane and I’m here talking about finishing second.”
While disappointed with the near miss, Stewart could take solace in his standing amid the championship point race. The two-time Nextel Cup champion picked up seven positions to climb to sixth in points, where he’s now 122 markers arrears series leader Mark Martin. Stewart’s rise in points can be credited to his three straight top-10 results since finishing 43rd in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Stewart’s Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates – Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley – finished 19th and 22nd, respectively, in the Atlanta 500. Hamlin held steady at eighth in points while Yeley dropped three spots to 12th.
Johnson’s win in the Atlanta 500 was the 25th of his Nextel Cup career and his second of 2007. Finishing behind Stewart in third was Matt Kenseth, while Jeff Burton and rookie Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top-five. Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Reed Sorenson and Martin comprised the remainder of the top-10.
The next event on the Nextel Cup schedule is the March 25 Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT with live, high definition coverage provided by FOX.
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True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
ATLANTA (March 21, 2007) – The phrase “On a wing and a prayer” means that one is in a desperate situation, where relying on hope is the only way to see through to the finish. Appropriate words for any NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, but even more so in Sunday’s Food City 500, where drivers will actually sport a wing on their race cars as they hope to see the finish.
The .533-mile Bristol bullring is known for beating and banging and the resulting hot tempers of it combatants. It’s a throwback venue to the kind of short track racing where NASCAR built its popularity. But this weekend Bristol is home to a racing version of Back to the Future, as it’s the debut of the Car of Tomorrow, the much ballyhooed next generation of Nextel Cup race car.
Beyond the fact that Tony Stewart’s No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet is now an Impala instead of the soon-to-be-discontinued Monte Carlo, Stewart’s new ride features a splitter on the front of his car that juts out several inches below the bumper, a taller greenhouse that allows for more room inside the cockpit, and the most noticeable difference, a rear spoiler that would make the rear wings of cars in the movie The Fast and the Furious seem mundane.
Stewart’s car, and those of 42 other Nextel Cup drivers, will represent a rolling Futurama, as the Car of Tomorrow gets ready for 500 laps at Bristol on Sunday.
You’ve won a lot of races in a lot of different styles of race cars at a lot of different tracks. How much do you want to win the first Car of Tomorrow race?
“I want to win every race. Bristol’s not a landmark race for me, by any means. I’m treating it just like any other race. It’s the same cast of suspects and we’re all out there trying to do the same thing. Any time you can win at Bristol, it’s big. Bristol is one of those races every year that I’d like to win. I remember when I won the night race there. I’ve only won at Bristol once. It’s just a huge feeling when you can accomplish a win there, let alone with the challenges we have with the Car of Tomorrow.”
You’ve been on the record in that you’re not a fan of the Car of Tomorrow. Will that affect your performance when you have to race it at Bristol?
“I’ve raced for 27 years and I’ve won championships in cars I didn’t like, so I’m not too worried about having to try to trick myself into embracing something that I’m not very fond of so far. If we hit the combination, we can go out there a win a championship with it. If we hit the combination right, we could win 16 races with a new car like that. I don’t think it’s anything that’s psychological. I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s going to be all about. I think when we go to Bristol that it’ll be interesting to see where everybody stacks up and see who’s really done their homework so far this year.”
Could the Car of Tomorrow be the “X” factor for who wins the championship this year?
“Absolutely. I think whoever can stumble on the combination and figure out the Car of Tomorrow first is probably the team that’s the leading candidate to win the championship this year.”
Why aren’t you a fan of the Car of Tomorrow?
“It’s hard enough just to run one type of car, and it’s going to be extremely hard to have to shift your focus between two different brands of cars this year just trying to figure out the new car. It’s not like we have the whole year just to dedicate to that car. This is an engineer’s dream and a crew chief and driver’s nightmare. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.”
You’ve proven to be very versatile, as you’ve won in every single racing series you’ve competed in with the exception of sports cars. Do you feel that gives you an advantage with the Car of Tomorrow?
“In this day and age, the technology is so much more important. It’s getting like Indy car and Formula 1 racing. The technology and the engineers in the sport make it harder for the drivers to be the deciding factor. In this day and age, it’s a 3,400-pound car and it’s either right or it’s wrong. If it’s not right, it’s hard to carry a 3,400-pound race car and make it do what it doesn’t want to do. In Sprint cars and Midgets, because they’re lighter, it’s easier to throw them around and you can kind of make them do what you want. But in this day and age with NASCAR being as technical as it is and as advanced as it is technology-wise, it’s going to be hard for the drivers to make the difference.”
GREG ZIPADELLI, crew chief on the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing:
How different is the Car of Tomorrow from the previous generation of race car you’ve brought to Bristol?
“It’s just so different. The aero packages, the suspensions, the wheel travels are so much different, so much less than what we’ve had in the past. It’s definitely a learning curve. It’s definitely going back to things that were years ago as far as wheel travels and things. I’m still trying to figure it out. It’s hard to explain. It’s a different thought process than what we’ve been doing.”
In terms of working with Tony Stewart and his response to driving the car, does the Car of Tomorrow have a different overall feel to it, or is it still, from his perspective, a race car with a steering wheel, seat, engine and four tires?
“He says it feels heavier. It feels like it’s got more body movement, which it should just because the center of gravity’s up because the roll center is so much higher. It doesn’t seem like it has the grip and the downforce he’s used to, and that’s at race tracks that are pretty slow, so it’s definitely different.”
For someone who prides themselves on preparation and knowing as much as you possibly can before heading to a race venue, is dealing with the Car of Tomorrow frustrating because you have so many unknown variables?
“Yes. There are issues and worries about parts and parts failures because the loads are so much different. The current cars are so much different than what we’re going back there to race with. There are a lot of things that we’re unsure about. Pit stops are different. Getting in and out of the pit box is different. The back of the car is longer. It’s harder for the tire changers to get around, and we have to worry about the (air) hose getting caught under the splitter. There are just so many things. There are so many details that until you just go through some of them and have some problems, they’re almost impossible to see or fix.”
Has the pit crew practiced doing pit stops on the Car of Tomorrow?
“Yes. We’ve been practicing all week with it. Still, it’s a little different. You can’t get the wedge wrenches in like you used to, because with the trunk being longer, the fuel man and the catch can man can’t do it. The rear tire carrier has to do it, which slows down the pit stop just a little bit. There are a lot of little things that all of the teams are working through right now.”
Do bigger teams have an advantage because of your technical partners?
“I think the advantage we have with the multi-car teams is that we’ve got teammates to lean on. If you go different directions, you know you can collect data quicker. If one guy is good or better, you can look at what he’s doing to get yourself some baselines.”
With the Car of Tomorrow, are there new things that you have to look out for when heading to Bristol?
“It’s everything. It’s all unknown. We’ve never run a car 500 laps. We’ve tested here and there. We’ve never gone out and banged wheels. We’ve never gone out and ripped the splitter off and seen how bad it drives and how hard it is to fix it during race conditions. That’s all something that we’re going to have to go through and figure out as time goes by.”
Are Bristol and Martinsville (Va.) not as important in terms of Car of Tomorrow races? Will it be more important in terms of knowing what kind of package you have when you run the car at Phoenix and Richmond (Va.), where aero does play a little bit more of a role?
“I think that will be a lot bigger difference as far as how the cars are going to respond in traffic, but Bristol and Martinsville are two important races, because at the end of the year, one’s in the Chase and the other one’s right before you get into the Chase. To run well at both of those and have a little bit of momentum or confidence knowing that you’re going back later in the year is a good thing. And a lot of things will change between now and then, and that car will progress quite a bit from there, but just having a good starting point is important. Where we’re at right now, we just need to go and get some good solid races.”
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True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
ATLANTA (March 28, 2007) – The Car of Tomorrow debuted last weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and despite much hand-wringing and consternation, it performed exactly the way it was intended – it went fast and turned left.
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) took the Car of Tomorrow and did what it does best – they made it go faster and turn left better than many of their counterparts. Problem was, mechanical glitches unrelated to the Car of Tomorrow’s design thwarted the strong runs made by JGR’s trio of drivers – Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley.
JGR cars led 443 of the 504 laps available at Bristol (88.6 percent), but posted an average finish of 28th. Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet, led the brigade by leading four times for a race-high 257 laps. But a broken fuel pump cable derailed his dominant run, replacing his shot at career win No. 30 in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series with a 35th-place finish.
Even with the disappointing result, Stewart and Co. are cool. They’re still 12th in points entering this weekend’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, which 21 races from now would be good enough to make the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup.
Martinsville marks the second race for the Car of Tomorrow, and if Bristol was any indication, Stewart and his JGR brethren will again be competitive.
Stewart has been competitive all season, despite having up and down results. Just five races into the 36-race marathon that is Nextel Cup, Stewart has led the most miles (466.82), the most laps (441) and has the highest driver rating (108.5) while still posting two finishes of 35th or worse.
With eight months of racing still ahead and an ocean of points to be earned, Stewart, crew chief Greg Zipadelli and the rest of The Home Depot Racing Team know that their strong runs will eventually pay off with equally strong finishes. And it will probably happen sooner rather than later, for Martinsville is a track where Stewart excels.
The two-time Nextel Cup champion is a two-time winner at Martinsville, and he returns to the .526-mile paperclip-shaped track as the defending winner of the spring race. Stewart has a total of nine top-10 finishes at Martinsville and has led 1,182 laps, which has been helped in large part by Stewart’s ability to start up front. The nine-year Nextel Cup veteran has scored three poles at Martinsville and has six other top-10 starts.
While Martinsville’s tight confines rattle some, Stewart stays cool – a fine trait to have for the Goody’s Cool Orange 500.
Despite your end result at Bristol, were you pleased with where Joe Gibbs Racing is with its Car of Tomorrow?
“Absolutely, and it’s what made Bristol so hard to take. I mean, we were really, really good. It’s rare when you have a car that good anywhere, never mind at Bristol. On our last stop before we had the problem with the fuel pump cable, all we did was change tires and put in fuel. Normally, you’re making some sort of change, even something minor. But we didn’t even mess with air pressure. The car was perfect. It made how the race ended for us hurt even more, but in terms of the confidence it gave us for where we are with the Car of Tomorrow, it let us know that we’re where we needed to be. Granted, it’s only one race, but to deal with so many unknowns and to have not just my car run well but all three Gibbs cars up front, it’s a testament to the hard work everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing has put into the Car of Tomorrow.”
Martinsville and Bristol seem to have a lot in common. They’re both short tracks, where good days seem to be great and bad days seem to be horrendous. Is that a fair assessment?
“They’re the kind of tracks where if you have a good qualifying run and you have a great race car, then the race is a lot of fun. If you have a car in the race that’s not driving well and you have a bad qualifying run and a bad pit selection and you end up fighting the car all day, then a place like Martinsville becomes a very tough track. But that’s also one of the reasons why when you do win there it means so much. Plus, their grandfather clock is one of the coolest trophies around.”
No matter what kind of race car you’re driving, brakes are incredibly important at Martinsville. How does a driver conserve his brakes for 500 laps?
“You try to stay off the brakes as much as possible. You always hear the crew chief talking about floating the car into the corner, and what they mean by that is instead of driving it really deep into the corner and using a lot of brake pressure, the theory is to lift a little earlier and use less brake pressure. You’ll end up running virtually the same lap time as you would if you drove hard into the corner. But when you’ve got a 500-lap race at Martinsville and you’ve got to use the brakes hard twice a lap, that’s 1,000 times during a race where you’re asking that brake system to slow down a 3,400-pound race car. If you can be easy on those brakes for the first half of the race or first three-quarters of the race, then when you really need those brakes to battle for the win at the end – you’ve got ‘em.”
GREG ZIPADELLI, crew chief on the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing:
Have you had a chance to diagnose what happened to the fuel pump cable at Bristol?
“It broke, plain and simple. But after looking at how it broke, we think we’ve found a way to make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s what we do here. We push parts and pieces to their limits, and when they break, we find out why and make them better.
“It’s a cable that gets driven off of the oil pump, that then runs to the fuel pump, which is in the trunk of the car. All of the Chevrolet teams are having to go with this setup, because with the new motor we’ll be running (the Chevrolet R07), it doesn’t have a fuel pump on it, so you can’t run it old style.
“The way we have it set up, it’s not new. We ran it the last 10 races last year, and the 18 car ran it in about 20-22 races. Our Busch cars ran it most of last year and all of this year, so it’s not a new thing. We’ve been running it a lot, even at places we didn’t have to just because we wanted to perfect the new system. Because once we start running the new engine, a cable driven fuel pump is all you can run.”
Despite the result at Bristol, are you happy with where the No. 20 team is and really where all of JGR is in relation to the Car of Tomorrow? Did it give you a sense of relief, but also a sense of pride to see how well the No. 20, the No. 11 and the No. 18 cars ran before they had their mechanical problems?
“Yes. It did, but Bristol’s an animal of its own. I think Martinsville and the next couple of races will be the true tale of do we have what we need figured out. We hit Bristol. We had a great car. The No. 11 had a great car. We don’t have the finish to show how good are car really was. Some days it’s more important where you finished then how you ran.”
Were you surprised by how dominant you were? With all of the laps that you led and the dominating fashion in which you led, was that a surprise or was that more an affirmation of the work you and the team had put into the car?
“Without being cocky, I’d like to think it was due to everybody’s hard work. I knew we had a good car when we unloaded on Friday. We were right in the ballpark. We qualified well. We went out early and still ended up fourth, which shows you how good the lap was. On Saturday we had a pretty good car in Happy Hour. After the first practice, we made some changes and we really hit on some things in Happy Hour that I think kind of separated us from most cars.”
Prior to Bristol there was some concern with pit stops, because the Car of Tomorrow’s dimensions changed the dynamic of the pit stop. With a full race’s worth of pit stops under your belt, did you find that the pit stops changed a lot with the new car?
“We didn’t change much. As far as making adjustments, it was a little bit harder on the right rear. Our tire changer would have had to make the wedge change if we needed it. Fortunately, our car was good enough we didn’t have to adjust on it a lot. The guys did a great job adjusting to the overhang off of the wheel base. We’ve got some things that we want to try that I think will make us better. They did so well in practice just doing it the old fashioned way that we said we’d go the first two races like that. The pit stops are so important that I’d rather have a pit stop be a tenth, two-tenths, or a half-second slower, but know that it was going to get done right at Bristol and Martinsville then lose a bunch of track position. After Martinsville, we’re going to try some different things to try to pick the speeds up, but some of the guys did a phenomenal job on Sunday with the car. I don’t know how much better we can make them because they were pretty good already.”
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Keeps Leaders in His Sights All Day in Goody’s Cool Orange 500
True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
Date: April 1, 2007
Event: Goody’s Cool Orange 500 (Round 6 of 36)
Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 7th/7th (Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
Winner: Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
For Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway was an exercise in getting the most out of a good race car after cold, hard reality revealed that it just wasn’t going to be a winning one.
After all was said and done during today’s 500-lap excursion around the .526-mile oval, which was interrupted for some 30 minutes on Lap 353 because of a brief rain shower, Stewart found himself right where he started – seventh. The Home Depot Chevrolet proved to be strongest on longer runs, of which there were several today, and Stewart remained a fixture in or near the top five for the first 450 laps.
He led twice for a total of 11 laps shortly before and after the race’s midpoint. But subtle handling issues proved to be a frustrating handicap in the closing sprint to the finish as Stewart was just was not able to challenge for the race win. The seventh-place finish did, however, move him from 12th to eighth in the Nextel Cup Series point standings heading into the second off-weekend of the season.
“The longer the day went, the better everyone made their cars, but the more we were stuck with what we had,” said Stewart, who has scored two of his six career short-track wins at Martinsville and still holds the track qualifying record he set at Martinsville in October 2005. “We fought tight in the center of the corner (in practice) yesterday and also center-to-late in the corner today, and it was a problem we just weren’t able to fix. It was something that the typical changes you can make during a race just weren’t going to fix. I guess the positive outweighing the negative today is that we jumped up in the point standings.”
Stewart’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin started from the pole and finished third in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500. He picked up three spots in the standings to occupy the sixth position. JGR teammate J.J. Yeley finished 23rd after starting fifth and dropped three positions to 18th in the standings.
Jimmie Johnson held off his teammate Jeff Gordon to win the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 to score his 26th career Nextel Cup victory and his third at Martinsville. Gordon finished second, followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Burton, Stewart, Scott Riggs, Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth comprised the remainder of the top-10.
The Nextel Cup Series takes a weekend off in observance of Easter before heading to Texas Motor Speedway for the April 15 Samsung 500. The race starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live, high definition coverage, provided by FOX.
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Two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet, is scheduled to visit the Arlington Texas GM Assembly Plant on Wednesday, April 11, 2007. The focus of the plant visit is to showcase the introduction of the new Chevy Tahoe Police Package Vehicle (PPV) and for Stewart to meet and greet the 2,700 UAW Local 276 employees who build the Tahoe in Arlington.
Stewart will have the opportunity to take a trial run in the newly released Chevy Tahoe PPV and "ticket" violators he finds on the grounds of the plant. His "citations" will be 10 pair of tickets to the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Busch Series on Saturday, April 14, 2007 or an autographed PPV badge.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is one of the first law enforcement entities to take delivery of the Tahoe PPV, which was designed from its inception as a law enforcement vehicle. Escorts from the DPS will accompany Stewart on his patrol of plant property. Stewart will also take a test drive in one of Chevy's Hybrid vehicles.
Stewart will begin "patrolling" the premises in a Tahoe PPV on the lookout for violators to cite with his special "tickets" at 1:30 p.m. Media members will be invited to film Stewart as he performs his "duties". An short interview period from 2:20 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. will give the media an opportunity to talk to Stewart about his impressions of the Tahoe PPV and the day's events. A pep rally with plant employees, UAW leadership and invited VIP guests will be the final event on Stewart's schedule.
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True Speed Communication For Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release
ATLANTA (April 9, 2007) – Tony Stewart is back in the saddle in his return to Texas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing enters this weekend’s Samsung 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile oval back in the top-10 in points with the same car he used to pistol-whip the field last November at Texas when he won after leading eight times for a race-high 278 laps.
In fact, Chassis No. 120 has two other wins to its credit – Kansas and Atlanta – as Stewart used it to win three of the last eight races in 2006. It has run three times in 2007 and finished in the top-10 on each occasion, including a stellar second-place result at Atlanta – Texas’ sister track – where Stewart led five times for 121 laps.
Stewart and Co. bring their thoroughbred racer back to Texas with two very important updates. One produces power and the other produces pride.
The No. 20 Home Depot Monte Carlo SS will be powered by Chevrolet’s new R07 engine, a piece that’s been nine years in the making, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s head engine builder Mark Cronquist has been a part of its development since day one.
And with new strength under the hood, it’s only fitting that the No. 20 machine carries the spirit of strength on its exterior. A special NASCAR Day paint scheme will adorn Stewart’s Home Depot ride at Texas, as the world’s largest home improvement retailer is the exclusive retailer of NASCAR Day pins. The paint scheme kicks off Home Depot’s role with NASCAR Day, with pins available at stores nationwide April 16.
(NASCAR Day is a one-day celebration of the NASCAR spirit and its fans, and this year’s edition will be held on May 18. In exchange for a $5 donation, participants will receive a commemorative 2007 NASCAR Day lapel pin. Proceeds from the sale of NASCAR Day pins at The Home Depot will equally benefit The NASCAR Foundation Family of Charities, which is comprised of more than 30 nonprofit organizations supporting children’s causes, animal welfare and conservation efforts. NASCAR Day began in 2004 and celebrates its fourth observance in 2007. In 2006, NASCAR Day raised more than $1.3 million.)
You’ll be running a special NASCAR Day paint scheme on your car this weekend at Texas as your sponsor – The Home Depot – is the exclusive retailer of NASCAR Day pins, which will be available in all Home Depot stores on April 16. What’s your racing luck been when you’ve run a special paint scheme?
“I’ve won a couple and I’ve crashed a couple, so I think I’m back on the upswing of being ready to win with a couple of them. I think we started off really good with some special paint schemes, then we went really bad for a while. I think it’s time to go back to being good again.”
NASCAR Day is an annual, charitable celebration of the spirit of NASCAR fans. You’re no stranger to charity, having given $2 million to Victory Junction Gang Camp and by having your own foundation – the Tony Stewart Foundation. What do you get out of philanthropy?
“My career, especially before I became a Nextel Cup driver and an Indy car driver, when I decided I was going to quit working and strictly try to make a living driving race cars, there were a lot of times I either had to borrow money to get to the next event or somebody would let me stay overnight in their house. You realize what’s been given to you and the help you’ve gotten along the way. It’s nice to be able to return that favor by finally being able to give back. It really completes your life when you’re able to do something like this and be able to give something back to the community.”
In your last race at Texas back in November, you completely dominated, leading eight times for a race-high 278 laps to secure your 29th career Nextel Cup victory and your first at Texas. Were you surprised by how dominant you were?
“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. We had a car that was good all day long from start to finish. In my 28 years of racing it’s rare that I’ve had a car that good. 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 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 I had them undo a tire pressure adjustment when we came in for a two-tire stop. After that, it was right back to being really fast and we had a straightaway lead with less than 10 laps to go. We had the strongest car all day and we finished it off.”
In your last four races at Texas you’ve led 437 of the 1,341 laps available (32.6 percent) and run in the top-15 for all but 89 laps. How have you been able to adapt to Texas’ layout?
“I’ve found that 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.”
MARK CRONQUIST, head engine builder for Joe Gibbs Racing:
Explain the difference between the new R07 engine and the SB2 engine you’ve been running?
“With the motor we’ve been running, the block part of it was actually designed in 1955. We’ve made a few modifications to it, but it would still bolt into a 1955 Chevy Bel Air. The new block has got a lot more technology in it. It’s a more updated block than what we’ve ever had before.”
What makes the R07 better? Does it produce more horsepower? More torque? Is it more fuel efficient? Or is it just better overall?
“It’s just better all over. There’s a little bit of performance advantage. I don’t think we’ve tapped into where we can go with it. We’re finally more even with what Dodge and Toyota have. It kind of got us back in the same playing field, back in what’s considered NASCAR’s box. We were outside of the box, actually below the box. We had disadvantages and they finally let us get the same advantages that other manufacturers had over us. I don’t think that we’ve really gotten into much of the performance part about it. A lot of it is that the shop needs just a lot less time to work on the parts and pieces of it. There’s a lot of stuff in this block that’s already cast into the block that we used to have to make ourselves and try to fit into our blocks. A lot of that took a lot of time and effort to do. If the performance comes, it will come because we’re going to have a lot more time in our shop to work on it.”
As an engine builder, do you feel that the R07 gives you a blank slate where you can really get creative?
“Absolutely. It’s a whole new ballgame for us. We’re going back to test some things that we used to test before. Things that we couldn’t get to where we wanted them to get to, we can now do that with this block. It’s a re-birth almost. It’s cool to work on something new since we worked on the other one for so long, but at the same time it’s in the right direction to make our jobs easier and better. The way the motor looks after 600 miles off of our dyno looks a lot better than our old SB2, so we hope that there’s better durability and performance.”
Has this new engine been like your version of the Car of Tomorrow? You had to develop it, but you also had to continue developing the older technology since Texas will mark this engine’s debut.
“This engine now called R07 actually started out as R99 because we ran it the first time in 1999. There was an R03. There was an R05 that never got off of the chalkboard, basically. We never made that block. We had it all designed, but never made it. Then there’s this one, R07. So really, this R07 has been worked on by GM teams since 1998. I’ve got notes in my office from the very first time we talked about this engine. It was January 1998.”
How satisfying is it to see this engine develop from 1998 when there was a drawing and theories and ideas, to actually see it come to fruition and power three Joe Gibbs Racing teams at Texas?
“Really good. The awesome thing is that if you look at R99 and R07, they don’t even look alike, so I’m glad NASCAR never approved it. It had some updates, but every time NASCAR didn’t approve it, we went back and worked harder on it and changed more things on it. It’s very satisfying that we get to run it, and it’s really satisfying how the motor’s been looking coming off of the dynos power-wise and durability-wise. They’ve been looking really good.”
With all that being said, on a scale of one to 10, how nervous will you be this weekend?
“Over any other race weekend? I’ll be honest. The way the things have been looking here, I’m no more nervous than I ever am at any other race track. We’ve got a lot of time invested here in the shop and have done some really good durability running on our dyno. The way the motors are coming off, they look good. I’m 95 percent positive. We always have that other five percent no matter what we do.”
Have the drivers given any feedback as to whether they notice a difference with the new engine?
“We’re not expecting the drivers to feel a lot because we have made it more like our engine style. There is a little bit of an increase in power, but not as much as we think there is in the future. Basically, the torque curve and horsepower curve is based off of our SB2 engine. We made it that way because we think we know what makes the car go around on the race tracks, and we’ve catered it to that. It’s not like we picked up 20 horsepower and lost 10 ft. pounds of torque. We’re basically the same. We’re a little bit better everywhere, but it’s on the same curve. We just raised the bar up a little bit.”
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!! To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
It's good to see the man happy though... much more likely to stick around if he's happy. 
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