Round 17 of 36
Pepsi 400
Daytona
Car No.: 20 — Joe Gibbs Racing Home Depot Chevrolet Monte CarloTeammates: Denny Hamlin in the #11 FedEx Chevrolet & J.J. Yeley in the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet
|
Primary Team Members |
|---|
| Driver: Tony Stewart |
Crew Chief: Greg Zipadelli |
| Car Chief: Jason Shapiro |
Engine Builder: Mark Cronquist |
| Engine Specialist: Jarrad Egert (pronounced "Egg-ert") |
Spotter: Mark Robertson |
|
Over-The-Wall Crew Members |
|---|
| Gas Man: Jeff "Gooch" Patterson |
Front Tire Changer: Ira-Jo Hussey |
| Catch Can: Brian "Shaggy" Larson |
Front Tire Carrier: Tom Dean |
| Windshield: Scott Geerts (pronounced "Gurtz") |
Rear Tire Changer: Todd Foster |
| Jackman: Jason Lee |
Rear Tire Carrier: Jody Fortson |
|
Other Crew Members |
|---|
| Truck Drivers: Scott "Scooter" Crowell |
Brent Swim |
| Tire Specialists: Jerold Shires and Bill Byrne |
| Shock Specialists: Ronny Crooks and Dave Hansen |
Engineer: Adam Stevens |
Chassis No. 70
This car debuted in the 2003 Daytona 500 and was responsible for Stewart's first top-10 Daytona 500 finish - seventh. It didn't fare well in its next two races, as it was caught up in an accident at Talladega in April to finish 35th. Its next race came in July at Daytona, where it finished an uncharacteristic 21st. It rebounded at Talladega in September with a strong third-place finish. The 2004 Budweiser Shootout marked its fifth career start, but it was the only action Chassis No. 70 saw in 2004. But after visiting the wind tunnel and testing at Daytona Jan. 11-13, Chassis No. 70 was chosen as the primary car for the 2005 Daytona 500. There, it won its Gatorade Duel qualifying race to secure the fourth starting spot for the Daytona 500. And in the 500, Chassis No. 70 led seven times for a race-high 107 laps before finishing seventh. It resumed its up-front ways at the spring Talladega race, where it finished second to race winner Jeff Gordon. The Pepsi 400 at Daytona, though, was Chassis No. 70's best day. There, in its eighth career start, it dominated, leading a race-high 151 laps from the pole, carrying Stewart to his first point-paying restrictor plate victory and only the second point-paying Daytona victory for Joe Gibbs Racing since Dale Jarrett won the 1993 Daytona 500. The 151 laps led set a record for the most laps led in a 400-mile, 160-lap race at Daytona. Chassis No. 70 continued its front-running ways at the fall Talladega race, qualifying fourth and leading 11 times for a race high 65 laps before finishing second in a tight race with Dale Jarrett. Its first race of 2006 proved no different, as it led 15 laps in the Gatorade Duel at Daytona before finishing fifth. Its strong Speedweeks continued in the Daytona 500 where it led 20 laps en route to a fifth-place finish. And there was no let-up at the spring Talladega race, where Chassis No. 70 was in contention all day, qualifying second and leading twice for 11 laps before finishing second.
|
|---|
| Year |
Event |
Start |
Finish |
Status/Laps |
Laps Led |
Earnings |
| 2006 |
Gatorade Duel (Daytona qualifier) |
10 |
8 |
Running/64 |
15 |
$20,283 |
| 2006 |
Daytona (Spring) |
15 |
5 |
Running/203 |
20 |
$529,661 |
| 2006 |
Talladega (Spring) |
2 |
2 |
Running/188 |
11 |
$260,136 |
| 2005 |
Gatorade Duel (Daytona qualifier) |
13 |
1 |
Running/60 |
12 |
$53,199 |
| 2005 |
Daytona (Spring) |
4 |
7 |
Running/203 |
107 |
$389,411 |
| 2005 |
Talladega (Spring) |
11 |
2 |
Running/194 |
2 |
$243,616 |
| 2005 |
Pepsi 400 |
1 |
1 |
Running/160 |
151 |
$368,261 |
| 2005 |
Talladega (Fall) |
4 |
2 |
Running/190 |
65 |
$212,361 |
| 2004 |
Budweiser Shootout - Daytona |
18 |
7 |
Running/70 |
0 |
$47,000 |
| 2003 |
Daytona (Spring) |
8 |
7 |
Running/109 |
6 |
$310,804 |
| 2003 |
Talladega (Spring) |
19 |
35 |
Running/156 |
0 |
$118,708 |
| 2003 |
Daytona (Fall) |
13 |
21 |
Running/160 |
0 |
$114,128 |
| 2003 |
Talladega (Fall) |
11 |
3 |
Running/188 |
0 |
$163,333 |
|
Team History at Daytona International Speedway |
|---|
| Year |
Event |
Start |
Finish |
Status/Laps |
Led |
Earnings |
| 2006 |
x Daytona 500 |
15 |
5 |
Running/203 |
20 |
$529,661 |
| 2005 |
x Daytona 500 |
4 |
7 |
Running/203 |
107 |
$389,411 |
| 2005 |
Pepsi 400 |
1 |
1 |
Running/160 |
151 |
$368,261 |
| 2004 |
Daytona 500 |
5 |
2 |
Running/200 |
98 |
$1,055,553 |
| 2004 |
Pepsi 400 |
17 |
5 |
Running/160 |
12 |
$149,628 |
| 2003 |
*Daytona 500 |
8 |
7 |
Running/109 |
6 |
$285,828 |
| 2003 |
Pepsi 400 |
13 |
21 |
Running/160 |
0 |
$114,128 |
| 2002 |
Daytona 500 |
6 |
43 |
Engine/2 |
0 |
$162,065 |
| 2002 |
Pepsi 400 |
29 |
39 |
Handling/160 |
0 |
$102,038 |
| 2001 |
Daytona 500 |
24 |
36 |
Accident/173 |
0 |
$113,700 |
| 2001 |
Pepsi 400 |
36 |
26 |
Running/160 |
0 |
$67,325 |
| 2000 |
Daytona 500 |
7 |
17 |
Running/200 |
0 |
$116,875 |
| 2000 |
Pepsi 400 |
7 |
6 |
Running/160 |
1 |
$71,425 |
| 1999 |
Daytona 500 |
2 |
20 |
Running/181 |
0 |
$102,204 |
| 1999 |
Pepsi 400 |
6 |
6 |
Running/160 |
0 |
$52,475 |
* Race cut short due to weather.
x Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.
Notes of Interest
The Pepsi 400 will mark Stewart's 265th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start and his 16th career, point-paying Nextel Cup start at Daytona.
Stewart is currently seventh in the Nextel Cup point standings with 2,012 points, 422 markers behind series leader Jimmie Johnson. Stewart dropped one point position after his 28th place finish last Sunday at Sonoma. At this point last year Stewart was fourth in the standings with 2,052 points, 198 markers behind series leader Greg Biffle. Stewart has scored 40 fewer points this year than he did last year heading into the 17th race of the season. Last year, Stewart won the championship.
Stewart is second in miles led this season, pacing the field for 746.82 miles. Greg Biffle is first with 1,208.56 miles led. Matt Kenseth is third with 697.70 miles led. And Kasey Kahne is fourth with 560.91 miles led. No other drivers have led more than 479 miles this season.
Stewart has led at least one lap in 11 of the 16 races held this season. Stewart's total of 808 laps led is second to Greg Biffle's series leading total of 846 laps led. No other drivers have led more than 528 laps. As a result, Stewart has earned a total of 70 lap leader bonus points, the second-most of any Nextel Cup driver and 35 more than championship point leader Jimmie Johnson.
Stewart has the ninth best average running position (13.759) in the 16 races held this season. Jimmie Johnson leads this category with an average running position of 11.049, just 2.71 positions better than Stewart.
Stewart has recorded the fastest lap on the race track a total of 364 times in the 16 races held this season, second only to Greg Biffle who has recorded the fastest lap 426 times.
Stewart has the fourth-best driver rating 16 races into the season. His 97.2 rating is .7 of a point higher than fifth-place Kasey Kahne (96.5). Greg Biffle leads this category with a 105.8 driver rating. The driver rating is a formula consisting of wins, finishes, top-15s, average running position while on lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, laps led and lead lap finishes.
Stewart is the second-fastest driver early in a run in the 16 races held this season. His season rank of 5.9 is 1.2 points below series leader Greg Biffle (4.7), the best among Nextel Cup drivers during the first 25 percent of laps in a pit window under green flag conditions. Jimmie Johnson and Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin are tied for third-best with an 8.2 rating, while Matt Kenseth is fourth-best with an 8.6 rating.
Of the 532 laps Stewart has led in the 30 point-paying restrictor plate races he has run, 395 have been at Daytona (74.2 percent). The remaining 137 laps led have come at Talladega. Stewart has made 15 starts each at Daytona and Talladega.
Of the 747 laps available in the four restrictor plates run in 2005 - 203 laps in the Daytona 500, 194 laps at Talladega in May, 160 laps at Daytona in July and 190 laps at Talladega in October - Stewart led 325 of those laps (43.5 percent). And in those four races, Stewart finished seventh, second, first and second, respectively, to log an average finish of third.
In his Nextel Cup career, Stewart has one point-paying victory in a restrictor plate event - last year's race at Daytona in July where Stewart won the pole and led all but nine of the race's 160 laps.
Stewart has three other Nextel Cup wins in non-point restrictor plate races. All have been at Daytona, with the most recent non-point victory coming in last year's Gatorade Duel. His two other wins were back-to-back triumphs in the Budweiser Shootout (2001 and 2002).
Home Depot store #1771, located in Blue Ridge, Ga., will be represented on the lower rear quarterpanel of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet during the Pepsi 400. Store #1771 was judged to be the outstanding store of the past week, thereby earning its place on the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing machine.
Stewart will compete in three of the four racing series running at Daytona - Nextel Cup, Busch and IROC. The lone series where Stewart is not driving is the Grand American Road Racing Association.
Stewart has three IROC victories, the second of which came at Daytona in February 2002. His first IROC win came at Michigan in June 2001, and his most recent IROC win was at Texas this past April.
The July Daytona IROC race marks the first time IROC has used the Daytona road course since its inaugural season in 1973, and it also marks the series' return to road racing after a 14-year layoff. The last time IROC raced at a road course was in 1991 at Watkins Glen. Nonetheless, Stewart is very familiar with Daytona's road course, having competed in four Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona races and three Paul Revere 250s as part of the Grand American Road Racing Association. Stewart's best Daytona road course finish is third, earned in last year's 24 Hour race with co-drivers Jan Lammars and Andy Wallace while driving for the Howard-Boss Motorsports team in the Daytona Prototype division.
Stewart will make a return to the NASCAR Busch Series on Friday night driving the #33 Dollar General Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc., in the Winn-Dixie 300. It will be Stewart's fifth career Busch Series start at Daytona. The Winn-Dixie 300 will mark Stewart's sixth race as part of his 11-race Busch Series schedule for 2006. Stewart has a total of two wins, four poles, 13 top-fives and 14 top-10s in 58 Busch Series starts.
- 5 starts for Kevin Harvick in 2006 (won at Daytona; 12th at Las Vegas; DNF at Talladega; led 12 laps at Darlington before a crash with a lapped car dropped him to 29th; DNF at Charlotte)
- 11 starts for Kevin Harvick in 2005 (won at Daytona; 2 poles - California & Watkins Glen; 2nd at Atlanta; 4th at Watkins Glen; 5th at Phoenix; 15th at Spring Richmond; 23rd at Indianapolis; 5 DNFs - California, Texas, Talladega, Charlotte and Richmond)
- 1 start for Joe Gibbs in 2005 (crashed while contending for the lead at Fall Charlotte)
- 1 start for Richard Childress in 2004 (2nd at Spring California)
- 1 start for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2004 (led a race-high 105 laps at Kansas but crashed while leading last lap - finished 25th)
- 2 starts for Kevin Harvick in 2004 (5th at Spring Charlotte and 11th at Atlanta)
- 1 start for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2003 (led a race-high 46 laps at Michigan but finished 11th when rain cut race short)
- 22 starts for Joe Gibbs in 1998 (2 poles - Spring and Fall Rockingham; 5 top-five finishes)
- 5 starts for Joe Gibbs in 1997 (1 top-five - 3rd at Fall Charlotte; two top-10s - Fall Charlotte and Fall Rockingham)
- 9 starts for Harry Ranier in 1996 (best start and finish were at Spring Bristol, 7th and 16th, respectively)
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