Here we are after the fifth race of the season and still no victory for the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet. After a 15th-place start, in front of a sold-out Bristol Motor Speedway, Stewart dropped two places to finish 17th, a lap down. We’ll give a shout out to the fact that he was the first car one lap down. Perhaps, if it had been the Food City 600, he could have moved within striking distance, but, as it was only a 500, Stewart ran out of race.
Again, Stewart had to deal with a slippery race car. He’d reported loose conditions and slowed by lap 240. Then, by lap 269, he was the last car on the lead lap. Some long, green-flag runs never gave him the break he needed to get back into contention. Maybe he needs to speak to his team owner about those handling issues.
Although his teammate, Ryan Newman, garnered a seventh-place finish, giving that team some much-needed momentum, Stewart dropped one position in the standings to seventh —161 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.
Our old friend Juan Pablo Montoya finished the day in ninth. This may actually be one of those rare instances in which Stewart wishes he actually had finished one position ahead of the No. 42.
CORRECTION: In my last blog, I mistakenly stated that Stewart had claimed his fourth eighth-place finish of the season. In fact, his finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway was only his third eighth-place finish of the season. Sorry, Tony.
The motorsports media seem all abuzz over Tony Stewart’s fourth eighth-place finish of the 2009 season. It is a testament to Stewart as a driver that he survived early trouble and raced back to a top-10 finish. But, are we really that excited over eighth?
Stewart started the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the 11th spot. It wasn’t long before all 43 drivers were dealing with ill-handling race cars. The problems with the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet had Stewart two laps down by lap 100 — the first lap was lost after a green-flag pit stop that was quickly followed by a rare caution for crew-member safety. The second was lost after the restart, when he was in 18th, the last car on the lead lap, and his car continued to handle poorly.
Crew chief Darian Grubb continued to work on the No. 14 and Stewart began to make up some time. As a result, he was able to stay in front of leader Kurt Busch to get one lap back following a restart. He finally got back on the lead lap after getting the “lucky dog” pass. A two-tire stop on lap 221 put Stewart back on the track in the 13th spot.
He worked his way up to eighth, but couldn’t get around Kasey Kahne for seventh before the checkered flag waved.
The eighth-place showing gained him two positions in the standings; he’s moved to sixth.
If that’s the measuring stick, then Stewart is, indeed, having a successful season. But, we are celebrating eighth? It’s better than ninth — or 27th, like Juan Pablo Montoya.
Before beginning this entry, let me apologize to my one reader — and it’s not my mother; she doesn’t own a computer. It was my original goal to blog on Mondays following a race. However, my real job got in the way this week. I’ll keep it short in hopes that Tony will show me up next week.
In race number 3, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series boys ran at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tony Stewart has a perfect record there (0 for 11). His best finish was a second place in 2000.
Sunday didn’t help his cause at the desert track. Stewart started 10th, but led no laps. He did rise to second briefly, thanks to quick action by his pit crew. He could be found running with the leaders most the day. Late in the race, the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet developed a vibration, which the team could not overcome.
Stewart came across the stripe in 26th place behind hometown favorite Kyle Busch. Juan Pablo Montoya finished 31st.
“The finish doesn’t show the performance that we had,” Stewart said after the race. “There’s still question marks, I’m sure, with a lot of people, ‘Can we do this?’ and three weeks in a row we’ve gone out and run well. We didn’t get the physical finish today that we deserved, but we had a good performance on the racetrack. Every time I leave the racetrack, it just gives me confidence that we’re going to be something to contend with at the end of the year.”
I know I'm watching.
It’s true that Tony Stewart kept the nose of his No. 14 Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet clean at Auto Club Speedway, but that’s not what racing is about. In the second race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, any smoke Stewart generated was blown away by Matt Kenseth and the six other drivers who finished in front of him.
Stewart started 11th and improved three spots to finish eighth. For comparison sake, Juan Pablo Montoya started 15th and moved up to 11th by the time the checkers waved.
Stewart didn’t go home empty handed, though. He did win the O’Reilly People, Service and Performance award; the Tissot Pit Road Precision award; and the WIX Filters Lap Leader award.
At least it’s something.
Stewart Still Daytona 500-less
The Daytona 500 history book is safe for another year. There will be no Tony Stewart entry in the winners’ list just yet.
He’s not winless overall at Daytona —he did win the 2005 Coke Zero 400. And, he’s won four NASCAR Nationwide Series races at the historic track, including Saturday’s Camping World 300. But, wait, he was driving a car owned by someone else. Hmmmmmm.
The NASCAR season opening events at Daytona International Speedway held some success for the driver of the new No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet. He qualified 10th on the Sunday preceding the big events (that’s six positions behind Juan Pablo Montoya), then finished second behind Jeff Gordon in the first Gatorade Duel. But, was it Dale Earnhardt who said that finishing second only makes you the first loser?
When the green flag waved in “The Great American Race,” Stewart started 14th. After leading laps 54-68, he made a few charges, but was unable to regain the top spot. When rain ended the event on lap 152, Stewart sat in eighth.
Of course, the caveat, fans will say, is that he was driving a back-up car — the one he’d driven to a third-place finish in the Budweiser Shootout. This came about because he and teammate Ryan Newman crashed during practice Saturday. And, that was all Goodyear’s fault. A cut tire on Newman’s car sent him spinning, and he caught Stewart on the way. The mishap left the Stewart-Haas Racing tandem both in back-up cars.
In the end, Speedweeks wasn’t a total wash for Stewart. He did get to spend some time with his hero and good friend A.J. Foyt.
And, in case you are keeping score, Montoya started eighth and finished 14th. Maybe Juan and Tony planned that.
I’ll admit it right up front: I don’t like Tony Stewart. I know there are plenty of NASCAR fans on both sides of the Tony fence, so I’ll not waste my space on justifying my dislike.
But, it’s partially for this reason that I’ve decided to embark on this journey. I will spend the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season chronicling the ups and downs of the new Stewart Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet.
I’ll make my prediction early that the only thing Tony Stewart will be holding at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November is the Juan Pablo Montoya Flash in the Pan Award. You see, like Montoya, I think Stewart is going to be a lot of hype up front only to fade to the back of the pack by the time the Cup boys come back to Daytona in July.
If he’s going to leave behind all of the success he had with Joe Gibbs Racing – two Sprint Cup Series titles, 33 victories, 129 top fives, 207 top 10s and nearly $2.3 million in winnings – and set off as an owner-driver, he deserves what he gets. The great ones stayed with their teams through good and bad; Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon, and others. When Earnhardt and Gordon decided to dally in team ownership, they put other drivers in the cars and stayed with their teams.
But, I digress.
I will dedicate this space each week to reviewing Stewart’s most recent performance – good, bad or indifferent – much in the same spirit in which Winston Cup Scene (as it was then known) recapped Darrell Waltrip’s performance during his farewell season.
Despite my dislike of him, I will be fair. If Stewart finishes in the top five in the standings come November, I’ll eat the paper on which this column is written. So, good luck, Tony. If you finish at least one spot ahead of Montoya in every Cup appearance in 2009, I think my diet will be safe.
Budweiser Shootout
Although it was not a points-paying race, drivers take it seriously. If two drivers were sitting on Big Wheels, I think they would take it seriously. And, Stewart wasn’t too shabby Saturday night.
As most probably know, the starting positions were determined in a draw Thursday night, so his 14th place on the grid was no reflection on Stewart. He quickly moved from the middle of the pack to lead the Shootout briefly. But, he was passed by Carl Edwards and dropped to 15th.
Stewart spent much of the second half of the race in the middle of the pack where he was able to avoid several caution-inducing accidents. He managed to move up to third with 25 laps to go, before falling back to 14th again. But, he wouldn’t stay there.
With two laps remaining, Stewart was second, but fell to third as a final caution locked the field.
“I’ll take that for a debut night,” Stewart said after the race.
He qualified 10th in Sunday’s session to set the top two spots of the Daytona 500, which means he’ll start the first Gatorade Duel in sixth on Thursday.
I’ll see you after the Daytona 500.