TONY STEWART
Lookin’ for a Three-Peat
ATLANTA (July 2, 2007) – Tony Stewart joined some elite company last July when he scored his second consecutive win in the Pepsi 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
After leading a race-high 86 laps in last year’s Pepsi 400 and all but nine of the 160 laps in the 2005 Pepsi 400 to score his only two restrictor plate wins in Nextel Cup, the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing joined David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and his racing idol A.J. Foyt as the only drivers to win back-to-back 400-mile races at Daytona in July.
And as Stewart and Co. prepare to defend their race victory in this year’s Pepsi 400, a potential three-peat would put them in a category reached only once before. Pearson scored three straight wins in what was then known as the Firecracker 400 in 1972, 1973 and 1974 behind the wheel of a Wood Brothers-prepared Mercury.
In what will be the last restrictor plate race for the older generation Chevrolet Monte Carlo before the Chevy Impala Car of Tomorrow makes its restrictor plate debut at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October, the No. 20 Home Depot Racing Team will roll out a soon-to-be extinct dinosaur in one last gasp at Daytona.
Chassis No. 119 – the car that carried Stewart to victory at Daytona earlier this year when he won the non-points-paying Budweiser Shootout – will be the mount Stewart will use in the Pepsi 400. The car Stewart used in his dominating performances in past Pepsi 400s – Chassis No. 70 – is no more after a lap-153 crash while leading this year’s Daytona 500 rendered it obsolete.
But since all of the older generation cars designed for restrictor plate racing are obsolete after Saturday night’s 400-miler, the loss of Chassis No. 70 was little cause for concern. After all, its fill-in – Chassis No. 119 – acquitted itself well with its Budweiser Shootout win. And the one constant with each chassis is the men who built it and the man who drives it.
Those who have worked on the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet since the team’s debut in the 1999 Daytona 500 has remained relatively unchanged, just as the driver/crew chief combo has been intact. Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli have the longest active driver/crew chief relationship in the Nextel Cup garage, and together they’ve secured two championships and 29 point-paying victories.
The duo is hungry for career win No. 30, and with a shot at a three-peat in the Pepsi 400, they’re looking for some champagne to compliment the dinner reservation they’ve made for 11 p.m. on Saturday in Daytona’s ultra-exclusive victory lane.
How difficult is it to win one race at Daytona, never mind two in a row?
“The restrictor plate races at Daytona are always a wild card race. You never know who’s going to win. We were fortunate enough to win two years ago and last year we were able to back it up. To do it back-to-back like that is something we’re really proud of.”
Knowing how well you ran in the Daytona 500 this year (led twice for 35 laps), does that give you even more confidence to do something extremely rare – win three Pepsi 400s in a row?
“Yes, to a certain degree. The car that we’re going to run the 400 this time is the same car that we won the Shootout with. It’s already a proven winner at Daytona. It does give me confidence. We feel that our cars are better at Daytona in July than they actually are in February because the track is so much hotter and slicker. We seem to be able to find a balance that our car really likes. So yes, we have a lot of confidence that we can go back and win again.”
Is Daytona drastically different in July than it is in February? Does it become even more of a handling race track?
“Yes. Absolutely. It’s probably five times more of a handling race track in July than it is in February because of the heat. Even though it might cool off a little bit at night, there’s so much heat in the race track that it just stays there and soaks in the asphalt.”
For someone who appreciates the history of the sport, would it mean something to be the winner of the last restrictor plate race with the old generation of car before we go to the Car of Tomorrow full time?
“It really doesn’t matter. You’re still racing with the same group of guys. The goal every week is to beat the guys that you’re there racing with. It doesn’t matter what type of car it is. You just want to win.”
In order to win a restrictor plate race, you’ve got to have drafting help. How do you get that help? Is it something you develop over time?
“I think it’s more a situation of guys finding the fast cars, and you finding the guys that you know are going to go with you because they know you’re quick. If they go with you, they’re going to get you to the front, which is going to get them to the front. It’s kind of ‘help me, help you.’”
How important is it to be part of a multi-car organization at a track like Daytona, where you have two teammates to draft with and you have an extra set of notes?
“It definitely helps, but it doesn’t always work out that way. You’ve still got 40 other guys out there that are trying to get in between you and break your cars up. It doesn’t always work out the way you want it to.”
Are there certain guys you’ve worked with at restrictor plate races in the past that you know you’re going to draft with in each restrictor plate race?
“You have a list of guys that you know you’re drafting with, and then there’s another list of guys that you’re all right with, and there’s another list of guys that you don’t want to be around. So you always know who the guys are you want to be with and who you’d rather not see anywhere near you.”
You’ll be competing in the NASCAR Busch Series race for Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday night. How much does running the Busch Series race help with the Nextel Cup race on Saturday night?
“It doesn’t. Those cars drive so differently from each other because the rules packages for the two series are so different. The packages are so different that it really doesn’t equate. You can talk between the Busch team and the Cup team about what changes you made to the car and why you made them, but the set-ups don’t exactly match up.”
Is there any strategy involved in running a restrictor plate race, or is it just a matter of taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented?
“The strategy is making sure you’ve got somebody you can draft with. You have to take the opportunities as they come, but with those opportunities you have to make a very quick decision. You’ve got to think, ‘What happens if I try this and it doesn’t work? What are the ramifications going to be?’ You don’t have the luxury of sitting down and taking the time to analyze the situation. You’ve got to make a split-second decision. A lot of times it’ll work, but there are times when the decision that you made doesn’t work. But once you’ve committed yourself to doing something, there’s not much you can do about it.”
Patience is an obvious virtue on the short tracks, but how important is it at a restrictor plate track?
“It’s the gospel, basically. There are a lot of times when you think you can pull out and pass, but if you do, once you get there you realize that you can’t pass. It makes it real critical that you take your time and that you don’t get caught up in trying to make a move too fast. Just stay in line, and sometimes you’ll have more patience than 20 other guys.
“It’s such a chess match. You can be leading the race one second and you can be fifth the next second. I think it’s just a matter of timing and getting yourself in the right place at the right time.”
Is a fast car all you need to be successful in restrictor plate races?
“You have to have a fast car. But with that fast car, you’ve got to have a good team that gets you in and out of the pits fast, and you’ve got to have a driver who knows what he’s doing. Get all that together, along with a little bit of luck, and you can have a good day.”
Chassis No. 119:
This car debuted at Daytona in last year’s Budweiser Shootout, where it enjoyed a strong showing, starting third and leading seven laps before finishing third. Its only track time before that came at Daytona during January testing. Since last year’s Shootout, Chassis No. 119 sat idle as a backup until participating in this year’s January test session at Daytona. The test session paid off, as Chassis No. 119 led twice for 11 laps to carry Stewart to his third career Budweiser Shootout victory and the fourth for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Joe Gibbs Racing Daytona Anecdotes:
Joe Gibbs Racing has three Nextel Cup wins at Daytona, including its first NASCAR win – the 1993 Daytona 500:
2006 July race was won by Stewart
2005 July race was won by Stewart
1993 Daytona 500 was won by former Joe Gibbs Racing driver Dale Jarrett
Joe Gibbs Racing has three Nextel Cup poles at Daytona:
2005 July race pole was won by Stewart
1998 July race pole was won by former Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bobby Labonte
1998 Daytona 500 pole was won by Labonte
Joe Gibbs Racing has four Busch Series poles at Daytona:
2007 February race pole was won by Aric Almirola
2006 July race pole was won by J.J. Yeley
2006 February race pole was won by Yeley
2004 July race pole was won by former Joe Gibbs Racing driver Mike Bliss
Notes of Interest:
The Pepsi 400 will mark Stewart’s 302nd career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start and his 18th career, point-paying Nextel Cup start at Daytona.
Stewart is currently sixth in the Nextel Cup point standings with 2,185 points, 428 markers behind series leader Jeff Gordon as a result of his 12th-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire. The result maintained Stewart’s position in the Nextel Cup point standings. At this point last year Stewart was fifth in the standings with 2,202 points, 299 markers behind series leader Jimmie Johnson. Stewart has scored 17 fewer points this year than he did last year heading into the 18th race of the season.
Stewart has 11 wins at Daytona (10 on the 2.5-mile oval, one on the 3.56-mile road course):
2007 Budweiser Shootout
2007 Gatorade Duel
2006 Pepsi 400
2006 IROC race (road course)
2006 NASCAR Busch Series season-opener
2005 Pepsi 400
2005 NASCAR Busch Series season-opener
2005 Gatorade Duel
2002 IROC race
2002 Budweiser Shootout
2001 Budweiser Shootout
Of the 661 laps Stewart has led in the 34 point-paying restrictor plate races he has run, 516 have been at Daytona (78 percent). The remaining 145 laps led have come at Talladega. Stewart has made 17 starts at Daytona and 17 starts at Talladega.
Of the 747 laps available in the four restrictor plates run in 2005 – 203 laps in the Daytona 500, 194 laps at Talladega in May, 160 laps at Daytona in July and 190 laps at Talladega in October – Stewart led 325 of those laps (43.5 percent). And in those four races, Stewart finished seventh, second, first and second, respectively, to log an average finish of third.
Of the 739 laps available in the four restrictor plate races run in 2006 – 203 laps in the Daytona 500, 188 laps at Talladega in April, 160 laps at Daytona in July and 188 laps at Talladega in October – Stewart led 118 of those laps (16 percent). And in those four races, Stewart finished fifth, second, first and 22nd, respectively, to log an average finish of seventh.
Of the 1,880 laps available in the past 10 restrictor plate races (2005-2007), Stewart has led 485 of those laps (25.8 percent).
What happened in Stewart’s most recent trip to Daytona? – After scoring back-to-back wins in the two non-point races held this year at Daytona – the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duel – Stewart was intent on capping the week with a victory in the Daytona 500, thereby becoming the only driver to ever sweep all three Nextel Cup events held during Daytona Speedweeks. But after leading twice for 35 laps, including laps 150-152 when Stewart paced Kurt Busch around the 2.5-mile oval, a nudge from the nose of Busch’s Dodge into the left rear bumper of Stewart’s No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet sent Stewart hard into the turn four wall. Stewart emerged from his mangled race car unscathed, as did Busch, who also smacked the turn four wall after his contact with Stewart. However potent Stewart’s run had been, it ended with a 43rd-place finish, 50 laps off the pace.
In his Nextel Cup career, Stewart has two point-paying victories in restrictor plate races – the 2005 July race at Daytona where Stewart won the pole and led all but nine of the race’s 160 laps (94.4 percent) and last year’s July race at Daytona where Stewart started second and led a race-high 86 laps (53.8 percent).
Stewart has five other Nextel Cup wins in non-point restrictor plate races. All have been at Daytona, with three victories in the Budweiser Shootout (2001, 2002 and 2007) and two victories in the Gatorade Duel (2005 and 2007).
Stewart won his eighth career Nextel Cup pole at Daytona in July 2005. Stewart has 10 poles altogether, with the last one coming 58 races ago at Martinsville in October 2005.
Home Depot EXPO store No. 1042, located in Oakland, Calif., will be represented on the lower rear quarterpanel of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet during the Pepsi 400. Store No. 1042 was judged to be the outstanding store of the past week, thereby earning its place on the No. 20 car.
NASCAR Busch Series Notes of Interest:
Stewart will make a return to the NASCAR Busch Series on Friday night driving the No. 18 Slim Jim Monster Stick Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona. It will be Stewart’s seventh career Busch Series start at Daytona. Stewart only has two Busch Series victories, and both of them have come at Daytona via the season-opening race in 2005 and 2006. The Winn-Dixie 250 will mark Stewart’s eighth race as part of his 12-race Busch Series schedule for 2007. Stewart has a total of two wins, four poles, 18 top-fives and 24 top-10s in 72 Busch Series starts.
2 starts for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2007 (finished 11th at spring California; finished 10th at spring Atlanta)
5 starts for Kevin Harvick Inc. in 2007 (finished 8th at spring Daytona; finished 3rd at Las Vegas; finished 2nd at spring Talladega to KHI teammate Bobby Labonte; finished 7th at Darlington; finished 4th at New Hampshire)
1 start for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2006 (finished 2nd at Fall Texas)
1 start for Dale Earnhardt Inc., in 2006 (finished 16th at Fall Charlotte)
10 starts for Kevin Harvick Inc., in 2006 (won at spring Daytona; 12th at Las Vegas; led 25 laps at Talladega before a crash left him with a DNF, finished 39th; led 12 laps at Darlington before a crash with a lapped car dropped him to 29th; DNF at Charlotte, finished 42nd; 12th at Daytona; ninth at Chicagoland; 11th at Michigan; sixth at fall California; fourth at Kansas)
11 starts for Kevin Harvick Inc. in 2005 (won at spring Daytona; 2 poles – California & Watkins Glen; 2nd at Atlanta; 4th at Watkins Glen; 5th at Phoenix; 15th at Spring Richmond; 23rd at Indianapolis; 5 DNFs – California, Texas, Talladega, Charlotte and Richmond)
1 start for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005 (crashed while contending for the lead at Fall Charlotte)
1 start for Richard Childress Racing in 2004 (2nd at Spring California)
1 start for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2004 (led a race-high 115 laps at Kansas but crashed while leading last lap – finished 25th)
2 starts for Kevin Harvick Inc., in 2004 (5th at Spring Charlotte and 11th at Atlanta)
1 start for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2003 (led a race-high 46 laps at Michigan but finished 11th when rain cut race short)
22 starts for Joe Gibbs Racing in 1998 (2 poles – Spring & Fall Rockingham; 5 top-five finishes)
5 starts for Joe Gibbs Racing in 1997 (1 top-five – 3rd at Fall Charlotte; two top-10s – Fall Charlotte and Fall Rockingham)
9 starts for Harry Ranier in 1996 (best start and finish were at Spring Bristol, 7th and 16th, respectively)
In the five Busch Series starts Stewart has made for KHI this year, he has finished in the top-10 each time, with two of those finishes being top-three efforts – the most recent of which was second at Talladega, where Stewart was runner-up to his KHI teammate Bobby Labonte.
In the seven Busch Series starts Stewart has made this year – five for KHI and two for Joe Gibbs Racing – he has finished in the top-10 six times. The lone finish outside the top-10 was an 11th-place result at California.
