Stewart settling into his success
Tony Stewart assures anyone who cares to listen that he is a changed man.
The one-time NASCAR Bad Boy has turned a new philosophy off the track into success on the track.
“We learned to eliminate variables that we can’t control,” said Stewart, whose temper has led to confrontations with drivers, reporters and even fans in the past. “We just focus on the (variables) we do have control over.”
Those include the preparation he and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team have been putting into each race. And that preparation is paying off big, with Stewart entering today’s Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. – the fourth of 10 races in the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship – leading the standings.
Stewart will start the race ninth, as Matt Kenseth set a track qualifying record (180.856 mph) to capture the pole Saturday.
Elliott Sadler and Jeff Gordon, both out of the Chase, will start second and third, respectively, followed by Scott Wimmer, Carl Edwards, Kevin Lepage, Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle.
In the past, Stewart might have reacted differently to things he has shrugged off so far in 2005.
After a slow start, mostly caused by bad luck, Stewart got hot at midseason and streaked into the Chase.
At New Hampshire, in the Chase opener, Stewart led the most laps and wound up losing a dramatic battle at the end to Ryan Newman.
The next week, at Dover, Stewart finished 18th, falling all the way to fifth in the points.
Last Sunday, at Talladega, on a day when five of the 10 title contenders were involved in crashes that hurt their title chances, Stewart ran second to surprise winner Dale Jarrett and retook the series lead by four points over Newman.
Through it all, Stewart has stayed calm, a big difference from the way he appeared during his run to the Cup title in 2002.
That year he punched a photographer, was often surly with media and acknowledges he wasn’t having any fun.
“I think, with the controversy we had in our season in 2002, I’m real hungry to win one with a year like we’re having this year,” Stewart said. “We’re all having a great time, we’re all having fun. I guarantee if we win this one it would be 10 times sweeter than winning the one we won in 2002.”