Tony Crew #14 Car History Racing Blog
 
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    About Tony

    Tony Stewart is a racer’s racer. If a greyhound, a fighter pilot and a chainsaw sculptor were somehow genetically welded together, reengineered with gasoline and cloned to form a half-carburetor, half-human racing man/machine, Tony would be that man/machine. Tony Stewart was born to race. In other words, if when Tony Stewart was born the doctor told him racing hadn’t been invented yet, he would crawl to the library, teach himself how to read and begin studying how to cryogenically freeze himself long enough for racing to be invented. In 2005, during a race, Tony Stewart got tired and, while taking a nap in the backseat, passed eight cars to clinch the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

    If Tony Stewart were in a presidential race, his campaign bus would be a 50-passenger Camaro and people would vote for him because he would promise to do donuts on the White House lawn. The point is: Tony Stewart is a racer.

    In fact, Tony Stewart once raced in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same day and then drove home to Indiana so he could watch the race highlights of himself racing, only to fall asleep and dream about losing a 40-yard dash to a puma only to wake up, rent a puma and race it in real life.

    What can we say? The guy likes to race.

  2. 2009 Stats

    No.
    Race
    Start
    Finish
    Points
    Pos.
    Laps
    Winnings
    1 Daytona 6 3 n/a n/a 78/78 $60,000
    2 Daytona 6 2 n/a n/a 60/60 $38,188
    3 Daytona 500 5 8 147 7 152/152 $371,371
    4 Auto Club 500 11 8 294 4 250/250 $139,748
    5 Shelby 427 10 26 379 8 283/285 $100,173
    6 Kobalt Tools 500 11 8 521 6 330/330 $96,048
    7 Food City 500 15 17 633 7 502/503 $101,648
    8 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 7 3 798 7 500/500 $119,273
    9 Samsung 500 7 4 963 5 334/334 $219,146
    10 Subway Fresh Fit 500 6 2 1138 4 312/312 $183,223
    11 Crown Royal presents the Russ Friedman 400 16 2 1402 3 400/400 $172,773
    12 Southern 500 presented by GoDaddy.com 18 3 1572 2 367/367 $171,696
    13 Charlotte 15 1 n/a n/a 100/100 $1,058,656
    14 Charlotte 28 19 1678 2 227/227 $109,973
    15 Dover 31 2 1853 1 400/400 $215,398
    16 Pocono 1 1 2043 1 200/200 $238,798
    17 Brooklyn 11 7 2189 1 200/200 $109,923
    18 Sonoma 4 2 2364 1 113/113 $211,096
    19 Loudon 1 5 2524 1 273/273 $134,548
    20 Daytona 1 1 2719 1 160/160 $349,873
    21 Joliet 32 4 2884 1 267/267 $165,373
    22 Indianapolis 7 3 3054 1 160/160 $314,573
    23 Pocono 1 10 3188 1 200/200 $105,673
    24 Watkins Glen 13 1 3383 1 90/90 $234,648
    25 Brooklyn 18 17 3500 1 200/200 $97,698
    26 Bristol 30 33 3564 1 489/500 $101,718
    27 Atlanta 12 11 3694 1 325/325 $118,823
    28 Richmond 27 17 5030 2 400/400 $93,473
    29 Loudon 2 14 5156 6 300/300 $100,973
    30 Dover 22 9 5294 5 400/400 $111,423
    31 Kansas City 5 1 5484 4 267/267 $332,498
    32 Fontana 20 5 5644 4 250/250 $143,248
    33 Charlotte 5 13 5768 4 334/334 $100,373
    34 Martinsville 13 9 5906 4 501/501 $99,923
    35 Talladega 4 35 5969 5 183/191 $85,648
    36 Fort Worth 4 6 6119 5 334/334 $181,098
    37 Phoenix 8 25 6207 5 310/312 $86,423
    38 Homestead 5 22 6309 6 267/267 $90,098
  3. Photos

 

TONY STEWART – Great Expectations

Who knew? It is a question that resounds vividly in the hearts and minds of Tony Stewart and his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammates precisely one year after they first made the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series scene on the hallowed grounds of Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

As the two-time Sprint Cup champion gets set to start his second full season as a driver/owner, who knew that in its first year Stewart’s two-car racing operation, built on the foundation of Haas CNC Racing, could win five races and sit on the pole twice before all was said and done? And it would add another 14 top-three, 20 top-five and 38 top-10 finishes, lead 628 race laps and, to top it all off in grand style, qualify both of its teams in the Chase for the Championship?

Who knew? Certainly not Stewart, and certainly not in his very first year as a driver/owner behind the wheel of his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala. After all, it had been two decades since a Sprint Cup driver/owner showed it was possible to win races and contend for championships with regularity.

But in his first year, Stewart did just that, starting with his team’s maiden victory in the non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway on May 16. First-year Sprint Cup teams aren’t supposed to do such things, are they? Who knew?

Then, two weeks later came a milestone seven-day stretch during which SHR trumpeted its arrival as no typical driver-owned, first-year operation. With his runner-up finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway on May 31, Stewart became the first driver/owner in 556 races to lead the championship standings. And with his breakthrough first points-paying victory one week later at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, he became the first Sprint Cup driver/owner to lead the championship standings in 375 races. The last to lead the standings was Alan Kulwicki, who clinched the championship over Bill Elliott on Nov. 15, 1992, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The last to score a victory was Ricky Rudd on Sept. 27, 1998, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Stewart went on to occupy the top spot in the standings for 13 consecutive races until the start of the Chase in September, when the points were reshuffled and seeded him second. He added victories in the July 4 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona (his 14th career win at Daytona in Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and IROC competition), on the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in August, and at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City in October.

Finally, who knew that first-year Sprint Cup teams could become models of consistency and reliability right out of the box? It certainly didn’t take long to iron out whatever wrinkles needed to be ironed out as Stewart and his SHR teammate Ryan Newman each completed an astounding 10,468 of a possible 10,492 laps (99.8 percent) over the 36-race season to lead all Sprint Cup drivers. Next best was David Reutimann, who completed 60 fewer laps than Stewart and Newman.

As the page turns to a new season, one filled with perhaps no more anticipation but understandably greater expectations than the last one for Stewart and his SHR brethren, the focus turns to the high banks of Daytona and the prospects of the driver/owner’s first career Daytona 500 victory. Who knows? The sound of hoisting the prestigious Harley J. Earl trophy on Feb. 14 for the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet has a pretty nice ring to it.

 
 
 
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Showing 2 Comments
  • Posted by: Ken on February 7, 2010 at 11:14am #

    Tony
    Why do you quit racing when your car gets scratched. Like last night in the Budwieser Shootout. You were first and second most of the race then when they pushed you into the wall and you scapped the right rear quarter panel you quit racing and fell back to 16th with no apparenet damage. You started doing that last year, is it because you now have to worry about the cost of a paint job. It’s obvious the other drivers get nervous when you get on their tail and most appear to think twice before they pass you, unless your last. Look at Edwards and Harvick last night. It’s also obvious you still posses the skill and talent to out drive most so….what happen to the aggression to win. You belong in the winners circle, even with scapes on the car.
    Still think you’re the best……..

  • Posted by: mike nunn on February 28, 2010 at 11:42am #

    Tony im your biggest fan i wish i had a dollar 4 every time u here it i mean sence u drove #44 shell i have your og rookie card plus #20 and now 14 i will follow you as long as you drive i also think flyin Rayn was a Damn good choice as far as ateam mate he 2 will see victory lane as well this year p.s. yall boys keep jimmy johnson from the champonship he is good no doubt just sick of his ass

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