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Filed under: Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup

Tony Stewart owns just about everything there is at the Prelude to the Dream.

He's won it the most (3 times), is the only driver to lead all 30 laps of the feature (2008) and holds the one-lap qualifying record at 116.845 mph.

One other thing: he owns the track. Literally. Bathrooms, concession stands and all.

 

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Filed under: Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup, Stewart-Haas Racing

THE SEASON: Anyone contemplating the story of Tony Stewart's 2009 season before the fact might easily come away with the thought "career suicide after the two-time champion pulled up his roots at Joe Gibbs Racing to become a co-owner of an oft-struggling Sprint Cup Series team.

Stewart, incredibly, decided to leave behind his legacy as a consistent winner at Gibbs Racing, where he won Sprint Cup championships in 2002 and 2005, when he made the official announcement at Chicagoland Speedway creating Stewart-Haas Racing.

 

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Chase for the Sprint Cup, IRL, Danica Patrick

Unlike some so-so motorsports seasons earlier in the decade, 2009 was abundant with major story lines and compelling plots. Lackluster it was not.

For as much excellence behind the wheel -- Jimmie Johnson, Tony Schumacher, Mark Martin -- there was equally as much drama off the race track -- Kyle Busch smashing trophies, Danica Patrick's "would-she? wouldn't-she?" NASCAR foray, Tony George's Indianapolis ouster and then the great Michael Schumacher punctuating the year with his comeback announcement.

Here are FanHouse's selections for the top-10 motorsports stories of 2009:

 

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Filed under: Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR Awards

LAS VEGAS -- Imagine Vegas icon Wayne Newton dropping the green flag for a race car parade on a shut down Las Vegas Strip, NASCAR pit crews performing demonstration stops in front of Bally's and the ultra-lux Bellagio resorts and four-time champ Jimmie Johnson doing victory burnouts on Las Vegas Boulevard.

This over-the-top scene is NASCAR's reality this week and the thousands of fans that have gathered here for NASCAR Champion's Week couldn't be more supportive of the sport's decision to move west after more than a decade spent holding the Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony in New York's famed Waldorf-Astoria.

"You couldn't pay me to leave this city right now,'' two-time cup champion Tony Stewart said Thursday, offering rave reviews. "I'm a million times happier out here. ... I don't like cabs blowing horns at two o'clock in the morning. It's just so much more relaxing and there's so much more to do here.''

 

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Filed under: Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- If pressed to find one thing Ryan Newman would change about his season, of course, he'd like to score a win in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway.

After being close to victory circle a half-dozen times this season, that's about the only thing he feels is missing from a stellar debut season with the essentially start-up Stewart-Haas Racing team. Newman won two pole positions in the No. 39 U.S. Army-sponsored Chevrolet and, after an ominous start at the season-opening Daytona 500, still qualified for the 12-driver Chase for the Championship.

In our last installment of Inside the Chase for the Championship with Ryan Newman, FanHouse looks at the evolution of the season and how Newman evaluates his fresh start.

 

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by FanHouse Newswire

Filed under: Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Tony Stewart is off to such a strong first season as a team owner, he's already open to expansion.

The Sprint Cup Series points leader said Friday he'd consider adding a third team to Stewart-Haas Racing next year if the right combination was available. Although he promised his team not to expand too quickly, their success so far this season has made him consider his options.

"I wanted to make sure we had two cars that were competitive and had a chance to win a championship," he said Friday at Infineon Raceway. "I'm proud of the fact that I think we're at that point. So if the right situation came along, we would entertain it."

Tony Stewart Open to Adding 3rd Team originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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by Steve Byrnes

Filed under: Chase for the Sprint Cup, Speed TV

Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway could very well make or break the season of two underrated drivers who are teammates by virtually all definitions of the word.

Marcos Ambrose, who drives for JTG-Daugherty Racing, essentially a satellite of Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR), and David Reutimann, who won his first Cup race for MWR last month at Lowe's Motor Speedway, are two humble and subdued drivers making a lot of noise on the track this year. But the road course in Sonoma, Calif., could mean totally different things to the duo.

Surprising Teammates Face Crucial Test originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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by FanHouse Newswire

Filed under: Mark Martin, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- The most surprised person to find Mark Martin in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway was the driver himself.

The 50-year-old NASCAR star has run well but has had to deal with considerable bad luck this season. It looked like more of the same Sunday when the battery in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet began to fail before the halfway mark in the LifeLock 400 Sprint Cup race.

Martin turned off everything in the car that he could, nursing it as best he could. Then he realized the race was going to be a fuel economy run.

Mark Martin Wins LifeLock 400 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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by Dave Despain

Filed under: Sprint Cup, Speed TV

If I had said this six months ago, you would have insisted that I'd lost my last marble. But now the notion doesn't seem so crazy, does it? I pick Tony Stewart to win the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

That's right - my money's on "Smoke" and I'm feeling pretty confident given the way he's behaving lately. Taking the point lead at Dover, and winning for the first time as a car owner a week later at Pocono, sealed the deal for me, but let me point out that six months ago I was in the minority who believed in the notion that Stewart-Haas Racing would actually succeed.

Smoke Will Win It All This Season originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:38:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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