Tony Stewart
- Tony Stewart
- 14
- Chevrolet
- Height: 5-9
- Weight: 180
- Born: May 20, 1971, Columbus, IN
News and Notes
Nov 18
This week: Stewart is 74 points out of fourth but is only four points ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya. Stewart has won at Homestead twice, as a rookie in 1999 and again in 2000, and has three top-five finishes and five top-10s in 10 starts. He was ninth last year, but that was his first top-10 there since he was fourth in 2004. In between top-10s were two 15th-place finishes and a 30th in 2007. "We're just going out there to try to win the race. That's all we can do," Stewart said. "We're not in a championship battle, but we're still in a battle for points. We still have to go out and do the best we can to get as many points as we can. I think it's hard to be disappointed, no matter where we end up in the points. Just by getting two cars in the Chase and winning the races we've won this year exceeded more than many could've anticipated and what we could've anticipated. We knew on paper that it was possible, but the reality of it was going there and competing against great race teams every week. To be able to accomplish this goal has been an awesome year for us. It's still no different than it was when everybody talked to us after Richmond about losing a 200-point lead or whatever it was. We knew that when we took the point lead. We knew that's what the situation was. We're not disappointed because of that. It just shows that we still have work to do. We were able to exceed our expectations for the year, but at the same time, we won't stop at that."
Last week: Stewart was involved in a multi-car crash on lap 172 that was triggered by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stewart was overheard on the team's radio calling Earnhardt a "no-driving (expletive)."
Etc.: Stewart was asked if the lack of testing in NASCAR has affected how teams prepare for the next season. "When you're working with a new group of people, the testing would help," Stewart said. "But I can't say that I really feel like it's hurt us a lot this year, not as much as we would have thought it would have. But as far as areas we need to focus on, obviously we have an engine package at Hendrick that they worry about; we don't really have to worry about it. That's a variable in our equation that we don't have to concentrate on this winter because they'll do that for us. But we'll try to make our cars lighter and try to make our bodies better and we'll try to make sure that we're utilizing our resources with our seven-post shake rig and making sure that we're trying to find every little thing that we can during the offseason to make sure that when we show up in February that we're as prepared as we can be."
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