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The Hot Pass: Stewart moves beyond Busch crash

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Lee Spencer

Lee Spencer is the senior NASCAR writer for FOXSports.com. She has provided award-winning coverage of auto racing over the last 15 years. Spencer has lent her expertise to both television and radio and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM Radio and the Performance Racing Network.

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Updated Jul 10, 2009 12:38 AM ET
     
 

JOLIET, Ill.

With all that Tony Stewart has accomplished in the last 12 months, the last thing he wanted to address Thursday was the snarky accusation from Kyle Busch that he "punted" his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate to win last week's race at Daytona. Stewart knocked the subject off the table in his opening statement. He talked to Busch for about 30 minutes by phone. He was pleased with the conversation, but that "Daytona was last week." End of story.
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This week Stewart is at Chicagoland Speedway, where he made his intentions clear to expand his résumé to team owner one year ago. Understandably, with the No. 14 team leading the point standings and his teammate Ryan Newman sitting seventh, Stewart says there's not a thing he would change. However, he admits that he wouldn't have predicted last July that he would be atop the standings or have won three races this early in the season. "It's been a long road — it's been a long year, but one that's been very gratifying and a lot of fun at the same time with a lot of work," Stewart said. There were the clandestine midnight meetings where Stewart could conduct interviews to select the proper people to put in place at Stewart-Haas Racing and the courting of sponsors to underwrite the venture. And all the while, Stewart had to uphold his driving duties in the No. 20 car at Joe Gibbs Racing. Initially, Stewart says he "was about half scared to death." "Obviously, I had made a decision at this point that was definitely a life-changing decision and a career-path decision for sure," Stewart said. "At that time we didn't have a competition director, we hadn't hired a crew chief — we had a lot of variables that were unknown at that point. "Once we got these key people in place, it's made my job a lot easier and been a lot smoother than I thought it would be at this point. We've exceeded our expectations to this point." For Stewart, the keys to his rise have been preparation and consistency. Despite problems in practice and the necessity to unload back-up cars, the teams have never faltered. He credits much of the organization's early success to chemistry that has formed between competition director Bobby Hutchens, crew chiefs Darian Grubb and Tony Gibson, and the staff at SHR. The ability for managers to share knowledge from a variety of disciplines in the weekly competition meetings has expedited the organization's learning curve. "Everybody has come in with a fresh attitude and a very open mind," Stewart said. "That's something that a lot of times when you take people from different organizations, they come in with a mindset that this is how things have to be done." Although Stewart qualified 32nd for Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400, he has two wins and six top-five finishes in eight starts at Chicagoland Speedway. But since the Sprint Cup tour races in Joliet just once a year, Stewart is not overconfident about his chances on Saturday. "Every time we come here, we only come to this racetrack once a year so there's so much in the technology and aerodynamics that change from year to year that it's hard to get a comfort level," Stewart said. "You know that you've been fast in the past and that's the only comfort you have is that what you did in the past was good. "It's no guarantee and no security that what you're going to do this time or what we're going to do in a half hour is going to work the same way or work at all."

Underdog of the Day

Bill Elliott qualified eighth on Thursday with a lap of 181.476mph — his best effort in time trials this season. The former Cup champion, who is running a limited schedule for the Wood Brothers, was also the fastest of the Ford drivers. Elliott said the No. 21 Ford was really fast off the truck but crew chief David Hyder and the team "made some really key changes in practice" that helped the qualifying set-up. "We have come a long way in the last three races," said Elliott, who last raced at Michigan. "We just need to keep working together and improving our communication. I'm just looking forward to racing." The Wood Brothers celebrated with dinner at Steak-n-Shake.

Waiting game

Where will Brian Vickers be next year? Surprisingly, there is no answer to that question yet. The 25-year-old racer reached a verbal commitment to remain with Team Red Bull for another year last winter, yet nothing has been inked as of this week. Vickers called the situation "strange" and expected to have a contract signed before now.

Keeping track

Brian Vickers
Brian Vickers
Team Red Bull
Career at a glance
Starts
Wins
Top fives
Top 10s
Poles
190
1
16
41
10
"We went into the season, with the economy and things the way they were, there were some uncertainties, which is understandable, I think, with anyone in corporate America these days," said Vickers, who won his fifth Cup pole of the year Thursday at Chicagoland. "So, I didn't really think that much about it. Right now, we still haven't agreed on a contract. "There were many times where I went into the week expecting it to be signed and sent to me to sign, and that didn't happen. Why? I can't answer that. That's a question for Red Bull and a question for Jay (Frye)." Frye, Red Bull team manager, is expected to meet with owner Dietrich Mateschitz next week in Austria to hash out details of Vickers' contract and the possible technical alignment with Hendrick Motorsports in 2010. Vickers remains happy with the organization and hopes to have answers upon Frye's return. "I'm proud of the program and excited about the potential moving forward," Vickers said. "The ball's in their court." Vickers is 17th in the standings, 168 markers out of the Chase.
Tagged: Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart

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