Emerging nice guy finishes first: look out, Helio, there's a new Spider-Man in racing

Sporting News, The, July 15, 2005 by Lee Spencer

Imagine the adrenaline it takes to fuel a man up a 20-foot chain-link fence after he has battled a field of 42 racecars in the Florida heat and humidity in a 400-mile race.

Tony Stewart was boiling over with the thrill of conquering the beast that is Daytona International Speedway--so excited he climbed to get the checkered flag.

He was so dominant in the wee hours last Sunday morning that even Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second and third in the Pepsi 400, were awestruck by Stewart's performance and the power of his racecar.

Stewart is a wheelman. The car control he exhibited when taking his opponents four-wide and diving for the lead was nothing short of spectacular. Stewart, 34, not only has hit his prime as a racer, but--at least from most outward appearances--he also has left his childish ways behind.

Yes, it has been a gradual evolution from his early days in NASCAR, when members of the media--myself included--were quick to dismiss his brash behavior and peg him with names such as "Tony the Terrible." It's easy to forget the Tony who races at small dirt tracks generally is a different guy than the one who shows up to race in NASCAR. At those small dirt tracks Stewart doesn't have endless sponsorship commitments, and he's better able to relax.

Stewart traces his new approach in NASCAR to a frank conversation with his team and crew chief Greg Zipadelli at the end of last season. Zippy, a close friend of Stewart, told his driver (I'm paraphrasing here), "You don't realize what your behavior is doing to this team." The message sunk in. Although Stewart still doesn't relish his trips to the media center, he has accepted the task as part of his job. And that has made the media members more accepting of Stewart.

When he entered the postrace press conference last Sunday morning, I looked at him, shook my head and said, "That was amazing."

"It wasn't me," he replied and pointed to Zippy. Stewart was completely selfless and credited the team. He says the key this season is "to not put pressure on ourselves and go out and race.

"If we have a bad day, it's a bad day," Stewart says. "There's a lot of guys out there having bad days. Seems like the worst thing that can happen is to let it get to you and get you down, and that's something that Zippy has worked really hard on--with all the guys and me as well. Now the morale of the team is up even when we have a bad day.

"It doesn't mean we accept losing better, but we don't let it dictate the rest of our week or the following weeks after that. We just shrug it off and say, 'OK, now we have to work on next week and try to find something to make us better than the week before.'"

Stewart has put that philosophy into motion, jumping from 10th in the points standings to third in the past three races. At this pace, the kinder, gentler Tony Stewart will be the new Nextel Cup champion.

Make the Chase more diverse, eh

Half of the races in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup will be run on 1 1/2-mile cookie-cutter style tracks--certainly not the venues most conducive to edge-of-your-seat racing. The Chase needs to be more representative of the 26-race regular season.

Four-time champ Jeff Gordon wants NASCAR to add a road course race to the final 10 events. "I want to see short track, speedway, road course and intermediate--every different type of track in the Chase," Gordon says. "I think that really balances out a true champion by having those challenges. I think the last thing I want to see is the majority being 1 1/2-mile racetracks. We need to shake it up."

How about Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a road course in Montreal? Not only would it add a road course to the schedule, but it would take the Nextel Cup Series international.

speed reads

The Daytona Beach News-Journal ran a poll asking readers: Who will be NASCAR's Danica Patrick? Erin Crocker won overwhelmingly, but Kelley Earnhardt (Dale Jr.'s older sister) came in second. Earnhardt, who used to race late models, is expecting a child in November, but how about reviving the No. 3 for the 2007 Daytona 500?

The next improvement in track safety that NASCAR needs to consider is finding an alternative to the grassy areas on the front stretches. Time and again, drivers' biggest complaint about the tracks comes after they skid uncontrollably across grass, especially after a rain.

INSIDE DISH

Evernham Motorsports announced a partnership with Valvoline that will form Valvoline Evernham Racing LLC and feature primary sponsorship for the 2006 Nextel Cup season. The partnership replaces a similar deal Valvoline is running now with MBV Motorsports with Scott Riggs as the driver. With most of NASCAR's powerhouses expanding to at least three teams, Evernham Motorsports will use a third full-time squad to generate both income and knowledge through additional testing and data. The big question remains: Who will be the driver? Riggs is an obvious possibility. His contract is up at the end of the season, but the driver says he has not spoken with Ray Evernham. Centrix CEO Bob Sutton is going to own half of the MBV team and could very well sponsor the car Valvoline leaves next season. > It's premature to dash Chase hopes for Jeff Gordon, especially after his effort at Daytona. Gordon gained 15 positions in the last 20 laps and finished seventh in the Pepsi 400. More important, he amassed enough points to move within 400 of the leader--the cutoff to make the Chase for drivers outside the top 10. But Gordon doesn't think anybody outside the top 10 will be within 400 points after the cutoff race at Richmond. Gordon is 13th in the standings. > Keep an eye on Kevin Harvick at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend. Despite an admittedly "inconsistent season," Harvick, who is 14th in points, has two Cup wins on the 1.5-miler and is returning with the No. 29 team's best car. > With an eye toward a Busch Series race in Montreal in 2007, NASCAR officials schmoozed last weekend with Normand Legault, the promoter of road course Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. NASCAR also is looking at adding a second Mexico date in Monterrey.

Things are definitely looking up for Dale Earnhardt Inc. After weeks of speculation, Martin Truex finally announced last Friday he had signed his contract to drive the No. 1 car in the Nextel Cup series for DEI next season. Truex, the defending Busch champion, signed a three-year deal with an option year and will race at Indy, Talladega and Texas later this season. "Martin and I have come to rely on each other. He means a lot to the future of our company," Dale Earnhardt Jr. says. Earnhardt also has relied on his team, which he says has taken an undeserved beating this season. "You always wonder how you're going to handle things when you get into a tough rut, and by no means is this the worst rut that anyone has ever been in, but it's pretty tough. I've learned a lot about myself, but I think these guys on the team are more commendable than myself. It has to be really very tough to walk into the track every day with people cussing at you and booing at you and wondering what your problem is and why you can't get Dale Jr. up to the front. To come out here and put forth the effort they do is amazing." After matching his best finish of the season with a third-place showing in the Pepsi 400, Junior moved from 18th to 16th in the points standings. DEI's third driver, Michael Waltrip, appears to be close to signing his deal with DEI and NAPA for next season. Waltrip's team had been on an upswing, but misfortunes at Daytona, resulting in a 40th-place finish, knocked him from 15th to 17th in points.