Release allows Stewart to pursue own team
From his seat in the bright orange No. 20, Tony Stewart spent a decade driving his way to superstardom while helping Joe Gibbs Racing become one of NASCAR’s top teams.
The partnership produced 32 victories, two Cup championships and more than $68 million in winnings. It also survived a flurry of storms created by one of the most tempestuous drivers in NASCAR history.
It was the perfect union, yet it left Stewart wanting more.
More than he could get at Gibbs, where an ownership stake wasn’t an option and Stewart was simply the driver. So Stewart secured his release from the organization Wednesday, paving the way for him to purchase his own NASCAR team.
“While this moment is bittersweet, we’re parting on good terms and we know that each of us has benefited greatly from the other,” team president J.D. Gibbs said in a statement.
The remarkable and often emotional 10-year run will end for Smoke, Zippy and the JGR boys at the end of the season.
Gibbs had hoped to sign Stewart to an extension that would keep the 37-year-old driver in his seat past 2009 and until he retired, but Stewart stalled during contract talks.
Franchitti receives ride
Dario Franchitti will be back behind the wheel in a NASCAR race this weekend when he races in the Nationwide Series at Chicagoland Speedway.
Franchitti will pilot the No. 40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing. Ganassi shuttered Franchitti’s Sprint Cup Series team last week because of a lack of funding, leaving the 2007 IndyCar Series champion’s future in doubt.
But Ganassi has sponsorship for his Nationwide car, and is giving Franchitti the option to drive that until they figure out a long-term plan.
Around the track
Veteran crew chiefs Jimmy Elledge and Peter Sospenzo landed new jobs. Elledge is taking over AJ Allmendinger’s team while Sospenzo gets Michael McDowell’s crew. … Indy Racing League rookie E.J. Viso withdrew from the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville, Tenn., this weekend after being diagnosed with mumps and his HVM Racing team will not field a car for Saturday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway.