TONY STEWART
Time to Mess with Texas

ATLANTA (April 4, 2006) - The slogan "Don't Mess With Texas" falls on deaf ears within the confines of Joe Gibbs Racing, specifically in regard to the #20 Home Depot Racing Team. Tony Stewart, driver of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, enters the Lone Star State ready to take on all comers in Sunday's Samsung/RadioShack 500 at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway.

The two-time and reigning Nextel Cup champion is the series' most recent race victor, having won last Sunday's DirecTV 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in dominating fashion. There, Stewart led five times for a race-high 288 laps to notch his 25th career victory and his first of the season. The Indiana native is now eighth in points, 142 markers arrears championship point leader Jimmie Johnson.

But even with the point gap between Johnson and Stewart, a telling statistic proving Stewart's up-front prowess is his series-leading 40 lap leader bonus points. In a single race, NASCAR awards drivers five points for leading a lap and an additional 10 points for leading the most laps. Despite Johnson's perch atop the standings, Stewart has scored 25 more lap leader bonus points than Johnson. In fact, Stewart is the only driver to lead a lap in all six races run this season. His total of 685 laps led dwarfs his nearest competitor in that category - Greg Biffle with 355 laps led.

If everything is indeed bigger in Texas, then so too is Stewart's potential.

He comes into round seven on the 36-race schedule leading three important statistical categories - driver rating, average running position and fastest driver early in a run.

The driver rating is akin to a quarterback's rating, as it measures a driver's worth by tabulating wins, finishes, top-15s, average running position while on lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, laps led and lead lap finishes. Stewart's driver rating is 117, 6.2 points higher that that of second-best Matt Kenseth.

Aiding that driver rating is Stewart's average running position of 7.226, 1.927 points better than that of the next best driver - Kenseth.

And Stewart's ability to put some distance between himself and his challengers following restarts - which was on display in impressive fashion following the final restart at Martinsville where in the remaining three laps Stewart opened up a 1.083-second lead over runner-up Jeff Gordon - is validated by his season rank of 2.8. Stewart's lap times within the first 25 percent of green flag laps after a restart are, by far, the best amongst Nextel Cup drivers. His nearest pursuer in this category - Biffle - carries a 4.8 rating while third-best Gordon has a 7.3 rating.

Even the most ardent math phobic can see that Stewart's numbers so far this season are quite good. And the momentum couldn't come at a better time for Stewart, whose track record at Texas - while fine for many drivers - is considered sub-par by a man consumed with winning.

In eight career Nextel Cup starts at Texas, Stewart has earned five top-10 finishes with a best result of fifth back in April 2002. In that race, Stewart led three times for 15 laps to mark the first time he had ever led laps in a stock car at Texas.

Prior to becoming a posterboy for NASCAR, Stewart was the posterboy for the IRL IndyCar Series. During a three-year IRL tenure that resulted in the 1996 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year title and the 1997 IndyCar championship, Stewart raced at Texas three times. He earned the pole twice and the outside pole once, and while blown engines and mechanical malfunctions kept him from ever finishing a race, he proved quick, leading 208 of a possible 624 laps (33.4 percent). Ironically, 208 was the exact amount of laps in each of Stewart's three IRL races at Texas.

Be it in Indy cars or stock cars, Stewart has been fast - a trend The Home Depot driver looks to turn into a win at Texas.

You've led laps in every single race this season and have been in contention to win every race this season. You won last Sunday at Martinsville to score just your second win before the month of May in your eight years of Nextel Cup competition. Obviously, your season has gotten off to a great start. How different has the start of this season been to last season?

"Last year at this time we were all scratching our heads and asking what we had to do to get caught up. This year we've had a fast car everywhere we've been to and finally got a win last Sunday at Martinsville. Just knowing you're competitive and having your program where it needs to be is the toughest battle. It's those days when you aren't running good and you aren't winning races but you don't know what you need to do to get yourself into those situations is when it gets frustrating. We've been in a good situation all year because we've had really good race cars. But that doesn't mean we can stop working to make ourselves better, because we know that's what everyone else is doing."

How has the Chase for the Championship altered your outlook on the beginning of the season?

"It's still early in the season, and knowing that all you have to do is get yourself in the top-10 by the 27th race of the season gives you the flexibility to try new things. Even now, if something that we try this weekend at Texas doesn't work, we still have 19 races to get caught up. That's an entire season in some racing series.

"It takes a little pressure off at the beginning of the season as far as looking at the points sheet. We can just concentrate on where we're at and what we need to do to make ourselves better so that we're ready to go for that last third of the season."

Has Texas been one of the tracks on the Nextel Cup circuit where getting comfortable has been hard to achieve?

"It hasn't been a good track for us historically. It just seems like Texas is one of those places where we haven't figured out how to be a top-flight car. We've never set the world on fire at Texas - just me last year. But we've had some solid runs. It's one of the places where we have to try and pick up our performance. For me, it comes down to just feel more than anything. A driver has to like the feel of his race car and the feel of the track. If one of those things doesn't mesh right, then you're probably not going to be as successful as you want to be." (In last year's Samsung/RadioShack 500, Stewart was running eighth on lap 297 when his engine blew, sending flames into the cockpit and Stewart to the infield care center. He was treated for second-degree burns on the back of his right leg. He was 31st when the race ended in what was the #20 team's only DNF in 2005. - Ed)

Where are the passing zones at Texas?

"I think you can pass anywhere, really. If you get a guy that misses the bottom of the corner and he bobbles, you can get around him. But even if someone doesn't make a mistake and you've got a little better car than they do, the groove has moved up enough over the years to where the track's a little wider, so you have more room to get a run on a guy. But as the tires wear out and grip goes away, drivers will make mistakes and a car's handling will become more important. And when a guy makes a mistake you need to be there to capitalize on it. You can really pass anywhere as long as the right opportunity comes up."

Despite the relative youth of Texas Motor Speedway, it's had a history of being a treacherous race track. Why is that?

"I've run there in a Busch car, an IRL (Indy Racing League) car and in a Cup car with this Home Depot team. I never looked at it as a treacherous race track. For some reason, it seemed that the track's transitions were very line-sensitive. The entries and exits to the corners are very tricky, and that's what makes Texas difficult. I don't think it's treacherous. You just have to hit your marks every lap. Texas doesn't leave a whole lot of room for error."

Before you raced at Texas in a stock car, you raced there in an Indy car. What was the difference?

"The IRL car was nothing like driving a stock car. You could go anywhere on the track with the IRL car that you wanted to, and you could run wide-open while doing it. It was as easy as riding down the interstate, whereas with a stock car, you're not off the gas very long, but you do have to lift. With the track being so line-sensitive, it's really important that you're doing the same thing every lap, and making sure you're very consistent in how you're driving the car."

GREG ZIPADELLI, crew chief on the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet:

How similar is Texas to its sister tracks in Atlanta and Charlotte (N.C.)?

"We had a package last year at the mile-and-a-half ovals that we were able to take to a lot of different places. That's what we're trying to develop right now. On race weekends, our practices are so short that we really don't have time to fine tune the car with springs and bars and shocks. You don't have time to deal with A-frame lengths and spindle heights and all those other things. We're just trying to develop those packages, so that when we go to a place like Texas, we can just throw some springs and shocks at the car and fine tune it. That way we're not way off, searching and wasting a lot of time."

Can your history of strong runs at Atlanta and Charlotte translate into a good run at Texas?

"Texas is different. It's always been a place that's had a lack of grip. You don't have enough grip to get into the corners as hard as you want, and then it makes your car tight in the center and on exit. Unless you have a really well-balanced race car, Texas is a place where you can struggle. We've struggled with getting our driver comfortable in the car, to where he has a lot of confidence like he does at Atlanta, where he can just sail that thing down into the corner and know that it's going to stick."

Chassis No. 122:
This car debuted Feb. 26 at California Speedway, qualifying 12th and leading twice for 28 laps before a late race engine failure relegated it to a 43rd place finish. Prior to California, its only track time had been at Las Vegas during January testing. It returned to Las Vegas for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, where it qualified a strong second and led six times for 54 laps before a flat right rear tire relegated it to a 21st place finish. The spring Texas race marks Chassis No. 122’s third career start.

Notes of Interest: