Tony Stewart couldn’t ask for better conditions to try to blast out of a winless first half of the Nextel Cup season. One of his patented second-half streaks could be on the horizon.
He’s coming off a victory two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway in the 19th of the 36 races, and after a rare weekend off, he’s at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Allstate 400.
“If you have to have a streak where you don’t get a win, and then you get your first win [just] before you come here, it’s the perfect week,” said the native of nearby Columbus, Ind. “That, plus the vacation time. That’s just a bonus for us to get ready for this weekend.”
So does he sense one of those midsummer Stewart storms building, like the one in 2005 when he won five of seven races, including his first 400 victory here, and went on to win his second Cup championship?
“I feel like we’ve got more opportunity to have one than to not have one right now,” he said.
Reed Sorenson and Juan Pablo Montoya took the first two spots in qualifying Saturday for owner Chip Ganassi. Sorenson had a lap of 184.207 m.p.h. that gave him his first pole in 58 races. Montoya was second at 183.494, and Ryan Newman took the third spot. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne and Newman’s Penske teammate Kurt Busch were next. Stewart was 14th.
Jeff Gordon is taking the Stewart storm warning seriously, even though Gordon leads the point standings and has four victories this year. Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports team has 10 wins among its four drivers, including four victories by reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.
Stewart and young teammate Denny Hamlin, who have been working out friction between them in recent weeks, have but one victory each. Hamlin broke his own drought this month at Loudon, N.H.
“While [the media] were writing about the Hendrick domination, those two guys were dominating the laps led,” said Gordon, who will start 21st.
“They were the cars to beat. They just weren’t getting the wins. So I feel like they are definitely a real threat to win this thing. … And when you see them get the wins under their belts, as they have recently, that only gives them more confidence.”
Simmering tension between Stewart and Hamlin, who qualified 10th Saturday, boiled over at Daytona during the Pepsi 400. Stewart, running second, rear-ended Hamlin, who was leading, and they both wrecked. Stewart blamed Hamlin, claiming he “checked up,” or slowed suddenly. But Hamlin would have none of that.
So at Chicagoland their team owner, Joe Gibbs, also coach of the Washington Redskins, called them into a meeting to settle their differences.
Hamlin has been talking openly about the meeting, while Stewart mostly has declined.
“[Gibbs] brought up situations where a wide receiver and a quarterback hate each other, but they have to get along,” Hamlin said. “Tony and I don’t have that kind of relationship, but we need to learn to respect each other on the racetrack.”
Hamlin said he told Stewart “there was no way, nothing he could possibly say, to make me think [the Daytona wreck] was my fault. He was not going to convince me. … But I put all the issues out on the table that I had with him, and he put some out with me.
“We needed something like this to happen,” Hamlin said. “It’s a shame it took us out while we were running 1-2. Why couldn’t we have been 30th and 31st?
“But I think in the long run it happened for the best.”
Stewart agreed, saying:
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“Absolutely. The thing about Denny and I is that we get along really good, and occasionally we have to sit down and hit the button and get back to square again if there are little things that are a little bit off par. But we’ve never had any big problems, and we never will.”
Although Stewart has mellowed a bit here since he finally got an Indy victory in ’05 — after being frustrated for five Indy 500s and six 400s — he remains, notoriously, the most intense driver at the Brickyard.
Consumed as Hamlin knows Stewart is with this race and this track, he won’t be intimidated.
“I’m definitely not going to race him any differently, even though he’s probably going to wish that we all would,” he said.
Hamlin thought a moment, then couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
“God forbid anybody gets in an incident with Tony this week,” he joked.
Allstate 400 Lineup
In Indianapolis; race Sunday
(Car number in parentheses)
%% POS, DRIVER CAR M.P.H.
1. (41) Reed Sorenson Dodge 184.207
2. (42) Juan Montoya Dodge 183.494
3. (12) Ryan Newman Dodge 183.475
4. (8) Dale Earnhardt Chev. 183.419
5. (9) Kasey Kahne Dodge 183.374
6. (2) Kurt Busch Dodge 183.079
7. (31) Jeff Burton Chev. 183.050
8. (16) Greg Biffle Ford 183.024
9. (25) Casey Mears Chev. 183.012
10. (11) Denny Hamlin Chev. 182.804
11. (96) Tony Raines Chev. 182.756
12. (40) David Stremme Dodge 182.708
13. (01) Mark Martin Chev. 182.656
14. (20) Tony Stewart Chev. 182.648
15. (26) Jamie McMurray Ford 182.604
16. (10) Scott Riggs Dodge 182.434
17. (19) Elliott Sadler Dodge 182.400
18. (5) Kyle Busch Chev. 182.201
19. (48) Jimmie Johnson Chev. 181.826
20. (29) Kevin Harvick Chev. 181.748
21. (24) Jeff Gordon Chev. 181.723
22. (33) Scott Wimmer Chev. 181.605
23. (18) J.J. Yeley Chev. 181.602
24. (66) Jeff Green Chev. 181.174
25. (83) Brian Vickers Toyota 181.127
26. (07) Clint Bowyer Chev. 181.116
27. (22) Dave Blaney Toyota 181.057
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28. (15) Paul Menard Chev. 181.046
29. (43) Bobby Labonte Dodge 180.894
30. (6) David Ragan Ford 180.879
31. (17) Matt Kenseth Ford 180.854
32. (21) Bill Elliott Ford 180.785
33. (1) Martin Truex Jr. Chev. 180.734
34. (00) Dave Reutimann Toyota 180.625
35. (99) Carl Edwards Ford 180.618
36. (49) Ken Schrader Dodge 180.498
37. (88) Ricky Rudd Ford 180.007
38. (38) David Gilliland Ford 179.881
39. (70) Johnny Sauter Chev. 179.712
40. (4) Ward Burton Chev. 179.655
41. (45) Kyle Petty Dodge owner pts
42. (7) Robby Gordon Ford owner pts
43. (55) Terry Labonte Toyota champion %%
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