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Stewart's early success proves his driver skill

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Jeff Hammond

FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond is a former NASCAR crew chief who led Darrell Waltrip to two of his three Cup championships. The duo also teamed up to win the 1989 Daytona 500. Prior to that, Hammond was the jackman for Cale Yarborough for all three of his Cup championships. He has 43 Cup wins as a crew chief.

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Updated Feb 25, 2009 11:21 AM ET
     
 
It's still early in the new season, but Tony Stewart is doing really well so far with his new venture of ownership of Stewart-Haas Racing. More than anything, his success shows how adaptable he is. It just reinforces that Tony can drive anything, anytime and anywhere. Whether it's for his own team, for Kevin Harvick or for Rick Hendrick, Tony will take it to the front. I think you are starting to see the initial results from the way Tony built his organization. I think Tony has to be really pleased because I think the results are meeting his expectations even this early in the season. But we really shouldn't be that surprised because we are talking about a two-time NASCAR champion who can drive anything, anytime. People might point to the results from Ryan Newman, Tony's teammate, and think, "Hey wait a minute — he hasn't even finished in the top 25 so far." But before you start faulting the new No. 39 team, consider that Newman has been the recipient of a lot of bad luck. He lost two race cars in Daytona to no fault of his own and in Fontana he just had an ill-handling race car. To start with, if he wouldn't have had those tire issues at Daytona he would have had a solid finish just like Tony. And at Fontana, in talking to Tony Gibson, Ryan's crew chief, they just missed the car setup a little bit. These guys are still getting to know each other, so it may take them a little bit longer to get good results. But it doesn't mean Newman and Co. need to panic and in talking to them, they really feel they have a good grip on things. Newman's style of driving vs. that of his boss is different. You simply can't put Stewart's setup in the No. 39 car or vice versa. It might take a little bit for Gibson to figure out what Newman needs. When they made the announcement last year that Stewart was taking over ownership of Stewart-Haas Racing and that Newman was going to be his teammate, there were questions as to whether these guys could realistically make the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup. But guess what? Both of these drivers are very determined. They know what it takes to get into the Chase. Add to that, Stewart knows what it takes to win the Chase, so there is no reason to think that they can't. So at this point in time, I think Stewart is definitely paying his dues to put his team in position to make the Chase.

Strange new world

Racing is a numbers game. Number 1 is the Daytona 500 where everyone is gunning to win it. The next number in line is the number 5 — The first five races set the tone for your team to be in the Top 35 in owner points and not worried about having to qualify each week to make the race. The next number up has to be 26 — that's the number of races it takes to qualify for the Top 12 in points to be in the 2009 Chase. After that, the number becomes 10 — the ten races in the Chase that determine who the champion will be. Daytona is over and now the focus is where are you and your team at the end of the fifth race of the season. For Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann and Juan Pablo Montoya, it's trying to keep your car up there so come that sixth race of the season, when they revert to the 2009 owner points, you are solidly in the Top 35. Following last weekend's race, I think everyone has to say that 2009 has started off somewhat bizarre. Who would have bet that Matt Kenseth would have started the season off with two straight wins, especially when you remember he went winless during the entire 2008 season? So that's a very big surprise. How about Jeff Gordon? He was another one that went winless in 2008, but he was a contender to win at Daytona and last Sunday at Fontana. He was there all day long. What was also impressive that he was able to kiss the wall and keep on battling his teammate for the lead. Gordon had the ability to find a groove at the bottom of the racetrack and made it work for him. It's great to see him back up front in 2009 and he is about as hungry as I have ever seen him for a win. That's very refreshing. How about Kurt Busch? Penske Racing has been off the radar, with the exception of the Daytona 500 last year and Kurt's fuel mileage win, for pretty much the entire 2008 season. So it is great to see the No. 2 car have some really strong performances so far this season. Heck, look at Waltrip. The guy has struggled the last couple years starting his own team. He's missed some races and took it on the chin. But now he finds himself seventh in the points this season so far. Michael's teammate, Reutimann, is another one and don't forget Clint Bowyer. I don't think they expected to be that good right out of the box with their new team. So again, it's a very bizarre year already. What I am interested in seeing is how it looks at the end of the first five races. Will these guys be able to hang on? Was it luck that got them off to these fast starts? What's really going to play out here? That's why folks can't afford to miss coming to the races or watching us on NASCAR on FOX.

Speed Mail Jeff Hammond

It's a team sport

I hope now when race fans ask about keys to winning and we talk about winning the race off pit road and not making mistakes there, they have a clear understanding that it's not a cop out. Just look at how important pit road has been the first two races this year. Matt Kenseth's team has been performing flawlessly. It has helped him win the first two races of the season. On the flip side, look at Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s miscues on pit road in Daytona. It cost him a possible chance to win the Daytona 500. Or look at Greg Biffle. The stopwatch showed he had the fastest car on the racetrack, but because of a mistake on pit road, he didn't get an opportunity to show it. The keys to victory should always include good work on pit road. It also reinforces what we tell folks that this is truly a team sport. No one person is more important than the other on a race team and that includes the driver. Everybody needs everybody on a team.

FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.

For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.

For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.

Tagged: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, David Reutimann, Greg Biffle, Michael Waltrip, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer

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