by Darrell Waltrip

Think about the success he has already enjoyed in only 14 races in 2009. He won the All-Star Race a few weeks ago, he won Sunday at Pocono and he continues to be our point leader.

Oh by the way, his teammate Ryan Newman is also in the top five in points. Mark my words, Ryan Newman is the next guy who is going to win a race.

Probably the only thing that has gone wrong for Tony was his charity race at Eldora Speedway was rained out last Wednesday. Man I love that race. It's one of the most fun things I get to do all year, but hey, Mother Nature rules all. So we will just have to wait until September now.

I sure am happy for Tony. Tony has always been a grouch at times and it normally was early in the year. I always thought it was because of the Indianapolis 500 in May and he couldn't race in it. It just seemed that once Indy was over, he always picked up his game and the wins and points started flowing his way in the second half of the season.

Whatever it was, well, it's not there this year. I have never seen Tony so calm and cool. We really haven't seen him lose his cool except a couple weeks ago towards David Reutimann. Other than that, Stewart has been a perfect gentleman. The interviews he has done have been insightful, thoughtful and fun. It's just going great for him right now.

At this point, can anyone imagine things going any better for him?

The challenge for any new operation, or sorta new operation like they are, is they have to keep it up. I am sure Tony will agree that it's going really well now, but he likes to look at the big picture and what's out there on the horizon. There's still a long way to go. The mark of true champion is how you handle things when they aren't going your way.

Seeing Tony's dad Sunday at Pocono was pretty cool. Its fun to watch that whole organization enjoy the success they are earning right now. Trust me, I mean earn it. Think about Tony starting dead last Sunday in a backup car, no less, and still leaving Pocono at the end of the day with the checkered flag, the big check and the trophy.

If you remember last year when Stewart was thinking about this opportunity, I said back then that he would make a great owner/driver. He's made me look pretty smart, huh?

Stewart's not the only one celebrating

How about my buddy David Reutimann? He had another great run Sunday. In fact, MWR as a whole had a good weekend. David finished third and Marcos Ambrose finished sixth. David's third-place finish also vaulted him back up into the top 12 in points. David and Marcos are running really well right now. Michael is also working very hard on his program too. He had a good strong top-20 finish and also got himself solidly in the top 35 in points.

Oh, by the way

Around the track

Follow the action:

• Michigan schedule
• Michigan practices

Watch:

• Video Central

Picture perfect:

• Action at Watkins Glen

Read all about it:

• Dale Jr: Changes needed in NASCAR
• Vickers edges Martin for Cup pole

Analysis:

• White: Chasers feel the heat
• Spencer: Drivers to watch at Michigan

You know, following the crew chief swap on the No. 88 car after the Charlotte races and Lance McGrew took over, I thought maybe they had hit on something. After Sunday's 27th place finish, I am not so sure anymore. The car wasn't very good and Junior is still fighting the same issues. For all the progress and momentum they came out of Dover with, they lost it all obviously when they got to Pocono.

This Sunday is Michigan — the site of Junior's last win — so we will see how that goes.

Maybe instead of McGrew, they need MacGyver? You remember MacGyver — he was the guy that could make airplane fly with a paperclip and a rubber band. Remember how he used to make something out of nothing? I think that's who they need to go find. Why not let him be the crew chief for a while and see if he can turn that program around.

Oh, by the way II

Sunday was the first of the double file restarts. But you aren't going to see a whole lot of action with them until we get to the smaller tracks. The big wide tracks like Pocono and Michigan this week, just don't lend themselves to the kind of action we saw in the restarts during the All-Star Race. Once you get away from the big wide superspeedway type tracks, then you are going to see it come into play.