For those who might have believed, and eaten up, that there was trouble brewing at Stewart-Haas Racing between co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, would have been sorely disappointed after listening to Stewart address the media on Tuesday.
An upbeat and healthy looking Stewart spoke for the first time on Tuesday since the sprint car accident that broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg, ending his Sprint Cup Series season.
Stewart said his recovery is coming along as schedule and doctors have diagnosed him with a full recovery by February, when he’ll be able to climb back aboard his No. 14 Chevrolet. It hasn’t only been Stewart’s injury that has kept SHR in the news however, as an announcement last week has made the company the most talked about on the circuit.
Kurt Busch will be at SHR next season in a fourth car. Brought in by Haas and in a car that will be funded with is name on it, Haas made some interesting comments last week. Since that time speculation has run wild as to whether Stewart, who was injured as the deal come about and was finalized, was completely on board with the decision. That speculation ended when Stewart made sure to set the record straight.
“It wasn’t as dramatic as he made it sound,” Stewart said about Haas’ comments.
“When Gene came to me about the fourth team, he told me on a Monday, and then on Thursday I was told that they had a contract ready. So it definitely moved a lot faster, but in that time frame there were a lot of meetings in three days. And the biggest thing was having Greg Zipadelli sit there and say we can do this and we can get it done in a time frame. That was my concern. It wasn’t that I was against the idea of what Gene had in mind.”
Much has been written and spoken about Haas saying he was going to sign Busch regardless of what Stewart wanted. Yes, Haas is used to working on his own, a one-man show and success story from CNC Racing. Stewart might be the first real partner he’s ever had and had to work with.
Busch is a driver that Stewart knows is fast every weekend and has just as much desire to win a race as he does. He called Busch a huge asset to the organization and he and a fourth car are something that Stewart is 100 percent behind.
It’s also something Haas wanted since the day SHR began. And Haas has become more engaged as the years gone on, wanting his hand in things and to take direction. Which is what he did with signing Busch, on his time and dollar. It was just a matter of when it was all going to come along and when it did, Stewart was against the timing of it.
“It was just me getting caught up more than anything, and when he asked me about it, I wanted to make sure that we had the time – the timing is very tight, and we’re going to have to get a lot done in a short amount of time to accomplish this,” Stewart continued about the deal.
“We never argued about it. He asked my opinion, and it was just Gene being – Gene was so excited about doing this and having his hand involved in it, and that’s great. For me as his partner, I love seeing him engaged now. I’m really proud of him for being as active in this process as he was. I was just worried about the time frame, and that’s what he hired me for.”
SHR now has to build an expansion in order to fit all four cars under the same roof. It won’t be complete however, until this time next season. Construction has already begun on the project. There’s also the job of putting together a new team, more work for the company as they focus on getting one car, Ryan Newman, in the Chase.
And Newman, Stewart wanted to add, has not been deceived as some in NASCAR believe. A fourth car was out of the question when Stewart said it was back in New Hampshire, but things changed when Haas decided weeks later in Indianapolis – upon hearing Busch was going to be available – that he wanted him. What Haas wants is what Stewart wants as well and they’re moving forward with excited and on good terms for 2014 and beyond.
“This is something that he came up with and it happened all at once, and Gene had made the decision that he wanted to make a change. We’re partners in this, and Gene wanted to make a change, and I’ve got to go with that,” Stewart said.
“The rest of it about everybody’s perception that we’re fighting and arguing, there was never one argument between us. I just expressed my concern about the timing of it, and it was no more elevated than the conversation you and I are having right here. It was literally trying to figure out the facts of can we feasibly do this in the time frame that we have and can we do it to the level that we want to accomplish in that short amount of time.”
