UPDATED POSTING
RMF READERS!! Please read the comment a loyal reader added to this story for some excellent insight into Tony Stewart's success. We have some follow-up comments too we hope will get gearheads buzzing on the current affairs behind the tool box in Sprint Cup!!!
For the Silver Anniversary of the running of the Sprint Cup All Star race, Tony Stewart’s performance was sterling winning the million dollar prize as the first victory for Stewart-Haas Racing, a feat that was looking more and more likely with each passing race. When running for points resumes next weekend in the Coca Cola 600, here’s something to think about. Tony Stewart, who is known for a strong second half racer, is higher in the standings at close to the one third mark of the season than he has ever been before. Clearly, a lot is going right with his upstart operation. Earlier in the race, teammate Ryan Newman looked like a winner until he cut a tire ruining his night of competition. In the regular season, were it not for some early season bad luck, Newman could be right there with his boss in the standings.
All stars behaved like all stars in the Saturday night thriller in Charlotte. Early on, Jeff Gordon looked unstoppable but his race was ruined by a late race accident. Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch did battle both leading in the middle of the race. Meanwhile, Joey Logano, voted in as the fan favorite showed his recent growth surge with the big boys finishing in 8th place. Jimmie Johnson looked like a champ leading all 50 laps of the first segment, but it was down hill from there. Only four of the starters did not finish on the lead lap. Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, and Greg Biffle wrecked. Jeff Burton’s engine blew up. It’s also interesting to note all four manufacturers placed in the top four: Tony Stewart, 1st, Chevy; Matt Kenseth, 2nd, Ford; Kurt Busch, 3rd, Dodge; and Denny Hamlin, 4th, Toyota.
The All-Star format looked like a winner for great competition and exciting racing for the fans. This would be the kind of race to introduce beginners to the sport rather than an all afternoon marathon of ho-hums at Pocono or Fontana. The first fifty laps serve as a good shakedown cruise for drivers to get a feel for the conditions and how well their can is setup. They then have two twenty lap segments where competition intensifies. The field then gets a ten minute “hot dog break” where final adjustments can get the car loaded up just right for the bold ten lap shootout where it’s “checkers or wreckers” as the TV guys kept opining. Tonight’s action was so exciting, we’re left wondering if this format could be adapted for some points events. Clearly an all afternoon 500 mile race at Pocono and some of the cookie cutter tracks are asking a little too much of race fans to endure. While endurance is a factor that helps determine championship teams, mixing up the racing formats could help attract more fans both at the track and on television. While we offer these suggestions, we’re surely not suggesting that the next event, the Coca Cola 600 be shortened. It is the longest race of the year, but plenty of exciting racing makes it a great event for the hard core race fans who get to enjoy 1,100 miles of racing starting with the action at the Brickyard for the Indianapolis 500, then time to readjust and settle in for the Charlotte survival quest.
We’ll look forward to next week’s race and surely have some issues to discuss as it will mark the completion of the first third of the 2009 Sprint Cup season.
4 comments:
Tony Stewart: The Real DealFor the longest while after Dale Earnhardt Sr. died, I had the toughest time picking my favorite driver. Yeah, I cheered, and still do, for Dale Jr. and Kevin Harvick (Dale Sr.'s replacement in the RCR stable) and typically anyone who drove a Chevy. However, I could never come to the point and say, "He's the man!" for just one driver.
That all changed almost two years ago. I saw something in Tony Stewart that reminded me of Dale Sr. There was a fire in his eyes. There was a passion when he spoke. There was mischief in his smile. Yes, he had some issues, anger issues, in his past. I can't point to the exact day, but I knew he would be "my driver."
That was when he was still with JGR and still driving a Chevy. My feelings didn't change when JGR switch to Toyota, a move I still question. However, I must admit, when he announced last year that he was forming his own team and buying Haas Racing, I was worried. I was thinking, sometimes out loud:
"Tony, what are you thinking? The road is littered with driver/owners who didn't make it work. Did you talk to Ol' DW about the challenges of running your own team? Can't you see what is going on with Michael Waltrip? Tony, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
However, Tony has proved to be quite smart in the way he went about this. Not only smart, but very shrewd, much like Dale Sr. Here's what he did that will make this work:
1. He bought a going concern. Haas wasn't setting the world on fire. However, they had good people and a good infrastructure.
2. He partnered with Hendrick to buy chassis and engines. A stroke of genius. Hendrick has the best package out there for their drivers. Yes, at some point, to make things work economically and to stay competitive in the long run, he'll have to bring this in house. But in the short run, what a great way to jump start the organization.
3. He's powered by Chevy Tony loves Chevy. The powers at Chevy made it quite clear that they missed Tony when JGR moved to Toyota. They would do everything possible to make sure Tony was successful.
4. He put smart people around him. No man can do everything by himself. Tony has been smart enough to put smart and capable people around him to get stuff done. Now, by no means is he hands off. He's at the track long after the race is over, watching the tear-down and pack up...not as an over-bearing owner....but as one of the guys with his still sweaty driver's suit still hanging around his waist.
5. He hired an excellent 2nd teammate. What a coup! Stealing away Ryan Newman from Roger Penske. With a ton of mutual respect for one another, Tony and Ryan are a perfect fit.
As of this writing, Tony sits 2nd in Cup standings and Ryan is in 8th. With 15 races to go before "The Chase", both are poised to make a run for the championship. However, both are going to need to win a race or two before the start of "The Chase" to solidify themselves as true contenders. This All Star event may just be the spring board to make it happen for Stewart-Haas Racing.
RMF has enjoyed watching Tony Stewart as an up and coming star in the IRL series to his rapid move to the top in Sprint Cup Racing. Having seen him dominate the Indy car field the one time they raced at Dover was a sight to behold. In a race dominated by yellow flags since the Indy cars did not do well with the high banks of the Delaware venue. Stewart figured it out and "smoked" the field until mechanical problems took him out of the race.
Tony Stewart has a unique position to be highly successful as a team owner. While Michael Waltrip certainly understands the marketing and promotional aspects of being a team owner having a great television persona, Tony Stewart understands the operational and business aspects with his successful USAC and World of Outlaws operations. Besides that, he has revived the Eudora dirt track into a successful facillity for western Ohio and eastern Indiana gearheads. He's also one of the most active figures in the sport with his charitable fund raising ability. This is a guy who knows how to network and get results.
Tony Stewart concedes that Joe Gibbs was a highly valued mentor on how to lead and motivate people using JGR as his blueprint for how he developed his USAC and WOO teams. As a driver, he seems much more like the second coming of Dale Earnhardt than his own son does.
While some folks certainly are turned off by some of his tantrums and outbursts, these are the rantings of a guy who is so emotionally immersed in competition his civilty might be the short-term victim of pure racing passion. When serving in the roll as owner, he's a very different figure. Consider his supportive comments to Ryan Newman's team as he celebrated in victory lane.
With Brad Keselowski's smooth transition into the #5 car at team Hendricks interupted by Mark Martin's decision to race full-time next year, he spoke of the possibility of being a third driver for Stewart-Haas racing if sponsorship can be nailed down. Keselowski could be the most promising of all the young drivers approaching maturity including Joey Logano. Additionally, if the operation continues with Hendrick supplied technology, that would provide a force of seven highly competitive, technologically superb equipment with as many entries as the entire Ford fleet offers as a manufacturer.
Now we have to trust that the Federal Government doesn't do anything that would compromise Chevrolet's involvement in NASCAR as it would be a tragedy to see the sport reduced to Ford and Toyota as the established manufacturers and then what? Nissan? Honda? Hyundai? Volkswagen?
We understand the economic motives for JGR moving to Toyota, but we don't like it. However, all sports have become internationalized. Look at the lineup for your favorite baseball team.
RE: RMF has enjoyed watching Tony Stewart...
Right Minded Fellow said...
"While some folks certainly are turned off by some of his tantrums and outbursts, these are the rantings of a guy who is so emotionally immersed in competition his civilty might be the short-term victim of pure racing passion."Could not the same be said about Kyle Busch?
With Kyle Busch, he seems to relish in promoting his bad boy persona almost a NASCAR version of the class clown. With Tony, it's pure intensity and marked perfectionism. He might have shot himself in the foot a couple times he took swipes at the media, but who doesn't take shots at ESPN when they act like they are the attraction not the sport? One of Stewart's most publicized outburst was about the tires after the March, 2008 race in Atlanta. He wasn't the only driver upset with Goodyear, everybody's golden boy, Dale Jr. was complaining too. After a race, daddy Earnhardt wouldn't hestitate to give his honest appraisal of who did what and perhaps some hints of how he was prepared to deal with them too.
All-in-all, I admire Tony's passion, but I cringe at times when he gets a little bit uncorked, but what was more entertaining in the old days of Baltimore sports than when Earl Weaver used to take on the umpires!!
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