Stewart ready to bet big
LAS VEGAS – He suffered his first meltdown one day before the season even started. He nearly won the Bud Shootout and his Gatorade Duel. He was a serious factor in the Daytona 500, then posted a solid eighth-place finish last week at California. And now, heading into Sunday's Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he sits fourth in the Sprint Cup standings.
Nope, ownership hasn't changed Tony Stewart. He's still the same ornery cuss whose passion for racing is matched only by his disdain for answering questions about it. Not that anyone expected that to change.
However, what no one knew going into this season, including Stewart himself, is how competitive he would be on the track. When you take ownership of a team, one that's never been competitive in the past, then have to assemble an entirely new crew of people all in the course of a few months, the odds are stacked against you.
In fact, Vegas didn't even buy into the idea that Stewart the owner/driver would be competitive out of the gate. Oddsmakers put the two-time champion's chances of winning this year's title at 30-1 – the same line as David Ragan, who only two years ago Stewart described as a "dart without feathers."
Granted, we're only two races deep into the 2009 Sprint Cup schedule, which is hardly enough evidence to come to any certain conclusions. But even at this early stage, it's fair to say 2009 will be more than just a building year for the man they call Smoke.
"We're going to have to wait until halfway through the season before we can sit there and really evaluate anything," Stewart said Friday. "It's just going to take awhile."
From the beginning, Stewart's decision to leave Joe Gibbs Racing to start his own team has always been about the future – about what Stewart would do after he hangs up his fire suit.
Unlike Jeff Gordon, who happily flits off to New York City to find reprieve from life at the track, Stewart's release is racing. He's had his own World of Outlaws team for years; owns and operates the legendary Eldora Speedway, a half-mile dirt track in rural Ohio; and even includes a custom R/C company in his portfolio.
Owning a Sprint Cup team is a logical step toward assuring Stewart, 37, a connection to the life he seems to be in no hurry to leave.
But what would happen between now and then?
In taking half ownership from Gene Haas, Stewart knew he was gaining an equipment partnership with Hendrick Motorsports, which presumably would give him a boost. But that partnership has been in place in the past, and Haas has nothing to show for it. Prior to this season, Hass-CNC Racing had just one top-five finish in 284 starts.
There were other reasons why the oddsmakers showed little confidence in Stewart – namely that no one has won a Cup race driving for himself since Ricky Rudd did it at Martinsville way back in 1998.
Was Stewart forsaking the back end of his Hall of Fame career for the next stage in his life?
"We think we should be Chase contenders right out of the box," said crew chief Darien Grubb, who knows about winning. Stewart brought him over from Hendrick Motorsports, where Grubb served as an understudy to Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson's championship-winning crew chief. "I think we're competing for top fives right now; I think we have the capability to win."
Friday, standing only a few miles from the Las Vegas strip, Stewart was asked if he gambles.
"I do gamble," he replied. "I started owning race teams."
And maybe that's just it: To win big, you have to bet big.
Stewart's already accomplished just about everything one can in the sport. Winning another race, another championship with Joe Gibbs Racing would be icing on a cake that's already been baked.
But taking risks, facing unknowns and beating long odds – that's how you enhance an already massive legend. That's what the next few years will be about for Tony Stewart.
