By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Ever wonder about Tony Stewart’s abilities to be a NASCAR team co-owner?

Hoosiers who have followed his career know about his USAC, IndyCar and NASCAR championships as a driver, but only a few are on the inside as his team drivers.

First-year Stewart-Haas Racing driver Clint Bowyer provided a great insight as he recalled that Stewart was Santa Claus at the team Christmas party last year.

“He was jolly ol’ St. Nick,” Bowyer said. “He made all the employees there feel like family.”

Then Bowyer grinned and said, “By the way, Tony fit perfectly in the outfit.”

Bowyer is Stewart’s replacement in the No. 14 Mobil I Ford for the NASCAR Cup Series with teammates Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick.

Harvick, in his fourth year at SHR, said, “When you’re around Tony you know how he can be (with) the competitive element. He’s good with people, gathering information, processing it and going out and making things happen … he just says something when he has his thoughts gathered.”

Stewart retired from NASCAR driving after 18 years, three championships and 49 wins, including two Brickyard 400 triumphs.

Nevertheless, Stewart’s desire to race finds him looking at 60-plus sprint/midget races, mostly on dirt, including two quarter-midget events at county fairs close to home. The earth-shaking Little 500 at Anderson Speedway on the night before the Indianapolis 500 is on his bucket list too.

“It’s going to be fun trying,” he said to reporters at the recent Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Okla., where he helped prepare the dirt surface.

His sprint car efforts will be sponsored mainly by Rush Truck Centers, an associate sponsor of his recent seasons. He will stick with longtime Chevy power until Ford develops an engine.

He will have an involvement in the Indianapolis 500 with the Tony Stewart Foundation emphasis on Team One Cure for cancer as car sponsor on the No 77 Schmidt Peterson Dallara-Honda entry.

Earlier this month at his racing headquarters, he explained the team’s historic NASCAR switch from Chevrolet to Ford. SHR is building its chassis and aligned with Roush-Yates engines for the first time.

“When we first started meeting with Ford it was very apparent that there were a lot of things they had to offer that we hadn’t seen before and were huge asset for us,” Stewart said. “That’s why we made a serious look at it and ultimately made the decision to switch over.”
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SHR will field an Xfinity Series car for the first time.

By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

“Retirement – I never used that word but others did.”

Indiana’s Jeff Gordon made that statement during an interview on a Charlotte radio station less than a month before winning the 55th Rolex 24 at Daytona on the four-driver Wayne Taylor Cadillac team.

Gordon stepped away from full-tine NASCAR Cup competition after being in contention for the 2015 championship but drove in eight races last year while Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered from concussion symptoms.

Gordon, who grew up in Pittsboro and was honored by his hometown in 2015, talked about leaving NASCAR after four championships and 93 wins for Rick Hendrick.

“When you do that for 23 years, it’s a grind,” Gordon said on a “Charlotte Talks” show with Mike Collins, “I was ready to stop driving full time.”

Gordon, 45, cited his family, his back problems and his many business interests.

Last month, Gordon and Ricky and Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli drove the Cadillac to victory. Gordon finished third in his only previous Rolex 24-hour Daytona in 2007. He joins the few drivers who have won the Daytona 500 and the 24-hour road course race.

“This is very surreal for me,” Gordon said. “I love driving this car; I love driving with this group.”

Gordon took part in NASCAR’s publicity rollout of its new playoff system to decide the 2017 Cup Series championship. He represented his varied interests from driving champion, team owner and Fox broadcaster.

“We agreed we needed to make more moments happen within the race and this, breaking it up into stages really did that,” Gordon said. “That was part of that enhanced experience for the fans as well as more green-flag racing.”

Gordon said the segments would make it easier for scheduled commercial breaks.

He never won a championship under The Chase format, but he embraces the new playoff system that awards championship points to each segment winner and top-10 finishers as well as the regular 40-point structure at the end of the race. Drivers also can earn playoff points.
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The new playoff system, Gordon contends, will take NASCAR racing to its next level.

By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

All Dale Earnhardt Jr. expects is the same that any employee expects from his hard work: the ability to go out on your own terms.

Driving stock cars has been his occupation for 25 years, but concussion symptoms of poor vision and balance drove him to the sidelines from NASCAR racing for the second half of last season. He voluntarily sought medical attention three weeks after an accident at Michigan International Speedway.

After months of rehabilitation, Earnhardt recently tested at Darlington and was deemed medically fit to race again. Since then he has tested at Phoenix in preparation for the Daytona 500 – NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl.

At 42 he could step away from the driver’s seat. He still would be involved with Hendrick Motorsports and his JR Racing plus his business interests. He married Amy Reimann on New Year’s Eve and wants to have a family.
 
“I don’t know when I’m going to stop racing,” he said at the annual NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway. “But I want to be able to make that choice and not have it made for me.”

All eyes will be on Junior and his No. 88 Chevrolet as NASCAR teams arrive in Daytona. He had four runners-up finishes in 18 races last year. He raced in three more events, including Kentucky Speedway, before seeking help for his symptoms.

“Being approved to race is one thing, but deciding to race is another thing,” he said. “If you’re going to be out there, you can’t do it without being 100 percent.”

It’s hard to believe that he would be able to push the limit the same way when he stormed from sixth to first in the last two laps to win the 2001 Pepsi 400.

“You hope you can come back and not miss a beat,” he admitted. “Any time you are away, you’re getting behind. I’m anxious to whether we shake things up early in the season or whether there is any learning curve for me.”

He has 26 Cup wins and should make his 600th start March 26 at Auto Club Speedway in California.

Earnhardt revealed many of his observations of not racing: missing the interplay with team members; being jealous of other drivers at the track; avoiding burn-out; and finally, not taking what he does for granted.

“I got to see the sport from a whole different view,” Earnhardt said. “I’m more self-aware of going down the road and not taking it for granted.”
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Earnhardt wears his emotions on his sleeve; he is uniquely honest when answering questions from the media. A few years ago he was coming off a disappointing season with Hendrick Motorsports and was even more pessimistic about the coming season. 

By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

NASCAR’s new race format and playoff system is supposed to end the boredom of previous years.

Events in all three series will have three segments with championship and bonus points awarded – that’s about all fans need to know. The 16 drivers in the playoff keep their bonus points for the same eliminations as in The Chase, a term that no longer is to be used.

The final segment in each race will be the longest segment. The Daytona 500 has segments of 60, 60 and 80 laps; the Brickyard 400 has 45, 45 and 70 laps. 

The first two segments may end under caution, but the race itself may end under green-white-checker, if necessary.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. commented, “I think that for all the folks that have been asking us to get rid of The Chase for years, this is a great day for them.”

A 26-race champion will be honored and top-10 drivers will receive points.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin said, “Every lap of every race matters.”

A marketing guru

Danica Patrick has an autobiography, “Danica--Crossing the Line,” a new line of athleisure called Warrior by Danica Patrick, an acclaimed diet and exercise program, a desire to write a recipe book and has appeared in photos in health and sports publications.

At the NASCAR Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway, Patrick emphasized, “The things I’ve done outside of racing ... that all really is happening because of racing.”

Her newest venture is a line of leggings, joggers, hoodies and jackets that began with a discussion with G3 reps to find ways to enhance her NASCAR apparel sales at Cup events. 

The former IndyCar veteran is a Cup teammate of Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and team newcomer Clint Bowyer at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Patrick is gearing up to improve her results with SHR, a team that has switched from Chevy to Ford and is building its chassis in house. She was a disappointing 24th in points last year but posted the best average finish of her career.

And team attorneys are trying to obtain sponsorship monies owed by her prime sponsor, Nature’s Bakery. SHR claims they are owed more than $15 million and has filed a $31 million breach of contract lawsuit. 

Meanwhile, three associate sponsors on her No. 10 Ford are expected to take up the slack.

“A few years back we were really strong, and I felt like that’s where I was running by the end of the year was up in the top 15,” Patrick said. “So hopefully we can get back to that and work from there. The goal is to do better all the time.”

Dates to remember

Events at Daytona: Saturday, Advance Auto Parts Clash, 8 p.m., Fox Sports 1; Sunday, Daytona 500 qualifying, Fox, 3:10 p.m.; Feb. 23, Twin Duel 150s, 7 p.m., FS1; Feb. 24, NASCAR Camping World Truck 250, 7:30 p.m., FS1; Feb. 25, NASCAR Xfinity 300, 3:30 p.m.; Feb. 26, Daytona 500, 2 p.m., Fox.

By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Ryan Newman is among rare Midwest drivers competing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The South Bend native is the only driver with Indiana roots after the retirement by Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Throw in Missouri’s Carl Edwards, who retired suddenly, and that leaves only Newman, Kansas’ Clint Bowyer and Michigan’s Erik Jones from the Midwest. Indiana’s Dakoda Armstrong of New Castle and Chase Briscoe of Mitchell compete in the Xfinity Series.

Newman is not concerned where the competitors come from. “It’s important to have diversity,” he said. “Really it doesn’t matter what area they come from if they are good drivers and put on a good show. “If they’re from the Midwest, open wheel or the South, I just want to know that I’m competing against the best drivers in the world in a stock car.”
The Purdue University grad with an engineering degree also looked at NASCAR’s race format changes. He foresees different strategies in the way drivers race each stage, but the last stage remains the most important.

To create more competition, Newman, 39, believes the key is how well Goodyear and NASCAR combine efforts.
“The big difference is finding the right tire compound,” Newman said. “The biggest challenge lays on the shoulders of Goodyear and NASCAR to put something out there that matches old-school racing.”

He explained that the tire must wear so that handling becomes more of an issue late in each run between pit stops when a driver’s talent rises.

Newman yearns for his next NASCAR win, which would be a first for him with team owner Richard Childress. Newman’s last win was in the 2013 Brickyard 400. He has raced 124 times since without a win but with the notoriety of coming close to the 2014 Cup championship for without winning a race.

Newman was 18th in points last year with a best finish of third at Kentucky Speedway. “It’s tough to work through the mental part of it (not winning),” he said. “We have the right people and the right parts to do it.”