TONY STEWART
Good Credit from MBNA
ATLANTA (June 1, 2005) - In 12 career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series starts at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Tony Stewart has notched two wins, nine top-fives, a sixth and a seventh. Stewart's only finish outside of the top-10 was an 11th place result back in the 2002 spring race, giving the driver of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet an average finish of fourth at the high-banked, one-mile oval.
Dubbed the "Monster Mile," Dover's bumpy concrete surface with corners banked at 24 degrees has been the bane of many a driver's existence. But it has proven to be a boon for Stewart.
The 2002 series champion has led 1,066 laps at Dover and has completed all but one of the 4,800 laps available in the past six seasons. The lone Dover race where Stewart finished a lap down was the 1999 spring race, yet he still managed a strong fourth-place finish.
And while most teams in Nextel Cup have seen their investments in cars and equipment chewed up and spit out by the "Monster Mile," the #20 Home Depot Racing Team has been spared such grief. Stewart has never recorded at DNF (Did Not Finish) at Dover, giving Joe Gibbs, his car owner and coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins, one less thing to worry about.
As a result, Stewart has received good credit from longtime Dover race sponsor MBNA. In fact, instead of Stewart writing checks to MBNA to pay for his credit card, MBNA has been writing checks to Stewart - to the tune of $1,485,993 since he first ran Dover as a rookie in the 1999 MBNA Platinum 400. And with his 13th career Nextel Cup start at Dover looming with Sunday's MBNA RacePoints 400, Stewart is looking for some more cash rewards.
While still winless in 2005, the month of June has proven to be Stewart's catalyst for the rest of the season. Of his 19 career wins, only three have come before June. And in his six previous years of Nextel Cup competition, Stewart has won each race held in June - Dover in 2000, Michigan in 2000, Pocono (Pa.) in 2003 and Sonoma (Calif.) in 2001.
With June now upon us and Dover next up for Stewart and Co., The Home Depot Racing Team looks to make history repeat itself.
You've had some strong runs this year and you're solidly sixth in the championship point standings, yet people are still thinking you've had a slow start to the season. Why?
"We just haven't been to victory lane yet, and that's what everybody's looking at. But we're not worried about it, especially with the way the points system is now. I'm not totally satisfied with it, but I don't think anyone is totally satisfied with the way their season is going. You always want to be better than what you are. But it's not like the new points system has changed the way we're racing. We take each race one week at a time just like we've done every other season. You can't be worrying about the points. If you do your job each week and try to win the race, it's like I've always said, the points will take care of themselves - no matter what the format is."
Dover has been dubbed the "Monster Mile". How aggressive are you at a race track with a moniker that exemplifies it's difficult nature?
"I like to be aggressive at Dover. It's one of my better tracks and I feel like we run really, really well there. It's a track where Zippy (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) and I feel like we have a really good package that works pretty well for us. It allows me to be aggressive to where I can go out and lead a lot of laps and put pressure on the leaders when I'm not out front."
Dover's surface is concrete. Do you have to alter your driving style when you race on concrete?
"I don't think you drive it any differently. But because it is concrete the track has a lot more bumps than an asphalt track would. There are seams in Dover's surface and places where they've cut the concrete for expansion. Those sections shift and change, and every year when you go there the bumps are a little bit different than they were the year before. Dover is a track that's constantly changing. But it's one of those places where you really can't change your driving style. You still have to do the same things you always do. It's just a matter of finding the package that's right for that race track. But other than that, you go through the same set of scenarios and challenges you would on any asphalt track - either the car is going to be tight or it's going to be loose."
Does Dover have some characteristics from other tracks that you've raced on in your career?
"Not really. Dover's pretty unique. First of all, it's the only one-mile track that we go to that's concrete. Then it has such big corners. You're in the corner for a long, long time. You really don't get much of a chance to take a break and relax."
How much of a role does aerodynamics play at Dover in comparison to handling?
"Both are important. Air is free, so if your aero program gives you a lot of downforce, that's great. But at the same time, with all the bumps Dover has, you have to work on the mechanical balance too. It's a track that requires every aspect of your racing program for you to be on the money."
Is Dover the type of race track where a driver can make up for a race car that isn't handling well or an engine that's down on horsepower?
"I think so. With the way the cars slide around on the race track late in the day, there are times when a driver can make up for what the car won't do. They can move around on the race track and help themselves out by finding a faster groove."
How physical is a race at Dover?
"It's really physical. The banking, the bumps - it all takes its toll on your body after a race."
How do you feel after a race at Dover?
"I normally sleep pretty good that night after the race is over. It's probably a little tougher on your body than the majority of the other races we run, but that's also why it feels so good when you win there, because you know it's a tough race."
Is Dover a good track to have on the Nextel Cup schedule simply because it's different?
"Absolutely. It's a one-off track. You can't go anywhere in the country and find another track like Dover. I like the one-off tracks. I like the places that aren't copies off of somebody else's race track."
Explain a lap around Dover.
"What you do for qualifying is totally different from what you do in the race. Basically, a lot of the cars qualify down on the bottom of the track, but by the time you're about 40 or 50 laps into the race, there are cars all the way from the bottom of the race track to right up against the outside wall. That's a big difference in between. Basically, everybody just searches around on the race track looking for a spot that makes their car happy."
Chassis No. 100:
This was a brand new race car at the spring Atlanta race, and as the 100th chassis built by JGR, it marked a small milestone in the company’s 14-year history. Prior to the Atlanta race, Chassis No. 100 saw track time via pre-season tests at Las Vegas (Jan. 31-Feb.1) and California (Feb. 2-3).
Notes of Interest:
The MBNA RacePoints 400 will mark Stewart’s 225th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start and his 13th career Nextel Cup start at Dover.
Stewart maintained his sixth-place position in the Nextel Cup point standings despite his 24th place finish last Sunday at Charlotte. With 1,488 points, Stewart trails series leader Jimmie Johnson by 259 markers. At this point last year Stewart was fifth in the standings with 1,587 points, 211 points behind series leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stewart has scored 99 fewer points this year than he did last year heading into the 13th race of the season.
In his 12 previous Nextel Cup starts at Dover, Stewart has finished outside of the top-10 only once. It was an 11th place finish in the 2002 spring Dover race. Overall, he has two wins, nine top-fives, a sixth-place finish and a seventh-place finish. His average finish is fourth.
Of the 4,800 possible laps available at Dover in the past six seasons, Stewart has led 1,066 laps (22.2 percent).
Stewart has led at least two laps in all but two of his 12 Dover starts (2002 spring race where he finished 11th and last year’s fall race where he finished sixth).
Stewart has completed 4,799 of the 4,800 laps available at Dover in the past six seasons. The lone race where Stewart finished one lap down was the 1999 spring race, where he still managed a fourth-place result.
Stewart has never recorded a DNF (Did Not Finish) in a Nextel Cup race at Dover.
Stewart has driven an Indy car, a Busch Series car and a Nextel Cup car at Dover.
Stewart swept both Dover races in 2000 en route to becoming the winningest driver on the circuit that year with six total victories. Eight other drivers have swept both Dover races in a single season. They are David Pearson (1973); Bobby Allison (1983); Bill Elliott (1988); Dale Earnhardt (1989); Rusty Wallace (1994); Jeff Gordon (1996); Jimmie Johnson (2002); and Ryan Newman (2003).
Home Depot store #8723, located in Mexico, will be represented on the lower rear quarterpanel of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet during the MBNA RacePoints 400. Store #8723 was judged to be the outstanding store of the past week, thereby earning its place on the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing machine.
Stewart will make his sixth career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start on Friday in the MBNA RacePoints 200 driving the #47 Chevrolet Silverado for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports. It will be his first Truck Series start at Dover. (The Morgan-Dollar team, led by crew chief Randy Goss, won earlier this year at Martinsville Speedway with Stewart’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte behind the wheel.) In his five previous Craftsman Truck Series starts, Stewart has logged two wins, a third, a 10th and one DNF. Both wins came at Richmond in Chevrolets prepared by Andy Petree Racing (September 2003 and September 2002). The third-place effort came last year at Richmond in Stewart’s first start for Morgan-Dollar, while the 10th place effort came in Stewart’s first career Truck Series start at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1996 in a Ranier-Walsh Racing-prepared Chevrolet. The lone DNF came at Charlotte two weeks ago, when a failed drive train thwarted Stewart’s second race for Morgan-Dollar.
Corporate Notes:
The Home Depot, in partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and the national non-profit organization KaBOOM!, announced in April a commitment to build 10 NASCAR-themed playgrounds through “Racing to Play”. The program’s mission is to bring the excitement of NASCAR to at-risk youth in NASCAR race communities. The “Racing to Play” program will identify and work with 10 organizations in select race markets to build NASCAR-themed KaBOOM! playgrounds in a single day at the organization’s site. The program will target organizations that serve children, including those that support at-risk youth and provide positive after-school and learning environments. The initial kick-off build will be June 16 at the Jackson Arts & Technology Academy in Jackson, Mich., prior to the Michigan 400. The next two builds are scheduled for the Daytona Beach Housing Authority (June 30, Daytona Beach, Fla.) and the Carol Murphy Center (July 7, Markham, Ill.). Sites are still being determined for the seven remaining build markets: Indianapolis; Fontana, Calif.; Richmond, Va.; Talladega, Ala.; Kansas City, Kan.; Atlanta; and Phoenix. Stewart, along with fellow JGR drivers and crews, will participate in the builds.
