In the old television series ‘Get Smart’, the bumbling lead character Maxwell Smart had many memorable lines, including one where he’d hold up his thumb and forefinger close together and say,
“Missed it by that much.”
That could be the theme for Tony Stewart for 2009. Stewart has come up just a bit short of his first win as an owner-driver on several occasions. Along the way however he’s proven to many that he is a force to be reckoned with.
When the two-time champion made the surprise decision to leave Joe Gibbs Racing last year to become co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing there were many who were skeptical of Stewart’s future success.
The season so far however has quieted many of those doubters. Stewart has amassed a record of four top five finishes and seven top-10’s in the first 10 races of the year.
More recently, Stewart has finished runner-up in two of the last three races and has been in the top five in four of the last five. He’s currently third in the championship point standings.
And oh so close to his first win as an owner/driver.
That first victory, when it does come, will validate what Stewart set out to accomplish and give the entire team a boost.
"Oh yeah, it always gives you more confidence after you get that first win,” Stewart said. “You always wonder if you can win and then once you've won, it's not a matter of can you when, it's when is it going to happen again? Just getting over that hump and getting the first one is a big accomplishment.”
Stewart credits much of his success to this point not only to the support he gets from Hendrick Motorsports, but to his teammate Ryan Newman. Newman has been running well as of late too, having scored two top five finishes in the last two races. Newman is 10th in the points.
“Obviously having Ryan is a huge asset,” Stewart said. “We've worked well together from day one. His depth of knowledge of the car and why things do what they do has been a huge asset to me. It's been a huge asset to the whole organization.”
As NASCAR heads to Darlington for this Saturday nights Southern 500, Stewart knows a first win there would be even more special. Darlington is one of three tracks on the circuit along with Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway that Stewart has never scored a Sprint Cup series victory at.
But he has tasted victory at Darlington before, winning last years Nationwide Series race here.
“With the rich heritage and history at Darlington, to win there – it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe,” Stewart said of his NASCAR Nationwide Series win. “It’s just cool to win at Darlington… This series is just so deep in history, and this is one of those tracks where the history goes as deep as NASCAR does. To finally get a win at Darlington was a huge honor for me.”
And if Stewart does score his first season win this weekend, it will be the first time since 1998 that an owner/driver has won a Sprint Cup series race
“We've got the equipment. We need to do our jobs and the results have shown,” Stewart said. “Both Ryan and I have had good runs this year so far ... I think that success has come much quicker than any of us anticipated that it would happen."
If he does win however, just don’t expect Stewart to take off his shoe and start talking into it in Victory Lane.
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