From Testing to Teammates and Team Changes, Tony Stewart Excited for 2012
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[/media-credit]Tony Stewart doesn’t appear ready to descend from cloud nine, where’s he’s been since winning his third career Sprint Cup Series championship in dramatic fashion last November in Homestead.
Thursday Stewart was among 31 other teams who got a taste of the first on-track action of the year as they began testing for next months Daytona 500. It was there Stewart said he’s really excited about the upcoming NASCAR season because of the many new things ahead for Stewart-Haas Racing.
“Obviously the end of the year last year was – still almost like a fairy-tale for us, storybook ending,” said Stewart. “But this is our biggest race of the year. It starts today. Well, it started the day after Homestead actually for the crew guys and today is the first day that we get an idea of the rewards for their hard work and see these cars on the racetrack and see what kind of speed they have.”
Normally a driver to find other things to do with his time instead of test, Stewart acknowledged that he was having fun. Not as much though as the individuals who put their blood, sweat and tears into building brand new racecars. Testing days are their days, when the hard work during the offseason from crew chiefs, car chiefs and engineers is put into motion.
“Our sport is unique obviously having our biggest race the first race of the year,” Stewart said. “But it’s very fitting at the same time because this race, we have more time during the off season to prepare for this race then we do the others. You bring cars here that you have the extra time to just make them that little bit nicer than you normally have time to do.”
The work Stewart put into the off season as a team owner he hopes will do its part in winning their first Daytona 500. The Indiana native has won everything in NASCAR except its biggest race. He’s won everything there is to win at Daytona – three July classics, three Budweiser Shootouts, one Gatorade Duel race and six Nationwide Series races – but not February’s Great American Race.
When the green flag drops on February 26 it’ll be the 14th attempt for Stewart. Now though, coming off another huge accomplishment he’s looking toward racing momentum (he won in other racing series during the off season) as well as a few key pieces at SHR to lead him into Daytona’s hallowed ground.
First comes new teammate in superstar Danica Patrick. Another drafting partner, one he worked very well with in July during the NNS race, will be there to lend a helping hand to both Stewart and Ryan Newman during Speedweeks. Patrick will attempt to run in the 500 and other Cup races during the 2012 season.
And while Stewart is certainly happy for Patrick, he’s even happier about who her crew chief will be. Some of the biggest news since Homestead has been the personnel changes around the garage. From drivers to spotters and crew chiefs, this was one of the busiest off seasons in recent memory.
First, Stewart hired Steve Addington as his crew chief; with the man he won the title with in 2011, Darian Grubb, moving to Joe Gibbs Racing and Denny Hamlin. As if in return, Greg Zipadelli moves to SHR as their competition director, leaving behind JGR where he and where once upon a time he and Stewart worked together.
Twelve years ago it was Stewart and Zippy, as he’s known, rolling into the garages at Daytona ready to set the racing world on fire. They won two championships together and over 35 races before Stewart left JGR and formed his own team. Zippy stayed behind but now feels the time is right to make a change and reunite with Stewart.
According to Stewart it made sense to have Zippy in both roles, competition director and part-time crew chief. His experience with young and often inexperienced drivers will play a major role for Patrick in her learning process. It’s the best of both worlds for SHR.
It’s also the best certainly for Stewart. During their tenure together the two were very close, fighting like brothers during the bad times and succeeding in big ways during the good times. The two are perfect for each and the reunion has everyone excited, but none more than Stewart to have his best friend back on his side.
“You know, it’s nice having Zippy back,” Stewart said. “I got to work with him for ten years, so seeing him at the track here today was the first big reminder of kind of going back to what it was like to start with him in ’99. I know we’re excited to have him back and we’re not working in the same capacity together that we did for ten years, but he’s right there next door and it feels like home again. So I’m pretty excited about it.”
Jamie McMurray gets a new sponsor for the new season
Belkin, a technology provider based out of California, announced Tuesday that they’re entering the motorsports world and will serve as a secondary sponsor on Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 Sprint Cup Series Chevrolet.
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[/media-credit]The company has revealed a brand new identity and logo on a specially-designed car during the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that the 2010 Daytona 500 winner will drive this season.
Belkin will also serve as primary sponsor on McMurray’s car during the April 1st race at Martinsville Speedway.
“We are excited to join Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Jamie McMurray as a sponsor for the upcoming 2012 NASCAR season”, said the CEO and founder of Belkin, Chet Pipkin. “With tens of millions of fans and legions of devotees and viewers, NASCAR is a sport of the people, so it seems like a natural fit for a company that prides itself on taking inspiration from real people and creating products that enhance the role of technology in people’s lives.”
Here is what Steve Lauletta, the president of EGR, offered on the new partnership:
“Earnhardt Ganassi welcomes Belkin as a new partner of our team, the No. 1 Chevrolet and Jamie McMurray. We hope this relationship will help generate awareness and brand loyalty for Belkin, among our large number of devoted race fans. Belkin’s commitment to innovative design, quality and performance speaks to racing fans and is a natural tie-in with our mission at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.”
Kevin Swindell Dominates Day 3 of the Chili Bowl
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[/media-credit]Night 3 of the Chili Bowl was a rough and ragged night of racing. Caution Flag followed caution flag and there were 3 different races that it required multiple attempts to even get a single lap of competition in. But when the dust settled it was a familiar name in victory lane. That name was Swindell. Not Sammy but Kevin. Following in his father’s footsteps the younger Swindell dominated the evening when he was on the track. The major difference one runs the top one runs the bottom. It makes it very easy to imagine a Swindell road block in the Chili Bowl on Saturday.
The third night of the Chili Bowl was pushing hard to beat its 11:00 PM curfew. The competitors managed to pull it out with 8 minutes to spare. But not before a very scary crash involving J.J. Yeley.
Yeley who bobbled early in the A main and was shuffled back to 10th was charging back up thru the field and had made it back to 6th and was battling for 5th when the 4th and 5th place cars tangled leaving Yeley no where to go. Yeley ended up hard on his roof and then had contact with another car. Yeley who escaped without injury was unable to return to the race and finished a very disappointing 22nd.
There was some question in regards to the track maintenance that was done between the C-mains and the B-mains. The track became very wet and very slick making the surface a dirt covered skating rink. The drivers though concerned put on a terrific show in the B Mains with Tracy Hines showing a number of brilliant top to bottom slide moves to move up to the A main. He was never a factor however in the race starting on the next to last row.
Brad Sweet, driving for Kasey Kahne Racing, had a quietly dominant night leading the points all night and into the A main. Sweet would challenge Swindell the entire race and would run 2nd all night until a late race restart would allow Shane Cottle to slide around him out of 3 to take second. Cottle however was unable to cut into Swindell’s straight away lead in the 3 laps remaining and took home second place with Sweet coming home in 3rd.
The Chili Bowl line up is up to 9 going into the 4th night of qualifying tomorrow. But the closer it gets the more apparent it becomes that if you are going to win the Chili Bowl you are going to have to beat a Swindell. With the father and son team having won 4 of the last 5 it would appear that it will take more than speed and talent. It would appear that if you are to beat the Swindells for the Golden Driller it will take a great deal of luck.
Your 9 lock ins so far are: Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael Pickens, Sammy Swindell, Danny Stratton, Tony Stewart, Kevin Swindell, Shane Cottle, Brad Sweet. We will add three more lock ins tomorrow evening as the Chili Bowl approaches.
Shame Hmiel was in attendance tonight along with his driver for tomorrow’s qualifying action Levi Jones. Hmiel showed great humor and great spirit in an interview conducted in the pit area. It was certainly a wonderful thing to see Shane back at the track and still pushing to improve his ability and status. Hmiel who suffered a severe spinal cord injury last summer that left him a quadriplegic said he has a work out routine that is 6 to 8 hours a day. His goal he says is to be able to take his self out of the wheel chair and put his self in his bed so that his parents don’t have to do it.
Also in attendance tonight were Gary Bettenhausen and Bobby Unser.
The Chili Bowl will resume at 5:30 PM CSTtomorrow at the QT Expo in TulsaOklahoma. The event is a sell out. There is no video available until the tentative Jan 28 2012air date with Speed but you can listen to a live radio stream from .
