Tony Crew #14 Car History Racing Blog
 
Moved to SHR in 2009 after 11 years with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR)…First began with JGR’s No. 44 NASCAR Nationwide Series team as second gas man and Tony Stewart’s motorcoach driver in 1998...Served as gas man for the No. 20 JGR Sprint Cup team with Stewart from 1999-2008…Before joining JGR, worked with Ranier-Walsh Racing as the transporter driver and gas man for the No. 20 car of Greg Sacks (Sprint Cup) and the No. 15 car of Stewart (Nationwide Series)…Prior to Sprint Cup career, worked as a mechanic for a variety of World of Outlaws teams.
Came to SHR on Dec. 1, 2008 after spending the 2007-2008 Sprint Cup seasons as a front-end mechanic on Clint Bowyer’s car at Richard Childress Racing…Broke into NASCAR after several seasons as a mechanic in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series with drivers Sammy Swindell and Jac Haudenschild…Began racing career working on a variety of cars at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Came to SHR in 2009 from Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates’ NASCAR Nationwide Series team, where he served as a front- and rear-tire carrier in 2007-2008…From 2005-2006, was front-tire carrier for Richard Childress Racing’s No. 21 Nationwide Series team… Also has worked on pit crews at Michael Waltrip Racing and Ultra Motorsports…Motorsports career began at Tucson (Ariz.) Raceway Park where he worked on Super Stocks and Super Late-Models.
Came to SHR in January 2009 after one year at Dale Earnhardt Inc.…Worked in commercial trucking industry before entering NASCAR.
Has been at SHR (formerly Haas CNC Racing) since 2003…Worked with Sabco Racing from 1999-2001 and remained with the team when it merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2001…Left Ganassi after the 2002 season…Began in dirt racing working on Modifieds and Sprint cars.
Began at SHR on Jan. 1, 2009 after two years at Hendrick Motorsports… Spent 2008 season as the race engineer on the No. 5 Sprint Cup car driven by Casey Mears and the 2007 season as race engineer for the No. 5 Nationwide Series cars driven by Mears, Kyle Busch and Mark Martin…Spent more than six years at Roush Fenway Racing as a shock specialist, car chief and setup plate specialist for drivers such as Martin, Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray… Spent the 2000 season at Galaxy Motorsports with driver Wally Dallenbach.
An employee of Hendrick Motorsports’ engine department who is assigned to the No. 14 team via SHR’s technical alliance with Hendrick…Began working in racing as a teenager and worked on Late-Models for several years before joining Hendrick in 2007.
Has been a tire-carrier at SHR (formerly Haas CNC Racing) since July 2004 after graduating from the 5-on-5-off program at the Performance Instruction & Training (PIT) facility in Mooresville, N.C.…Joined SHR full-time in September 2004 after graduating from the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville…Racing career began as a teenager at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine, where he drove and prepared cars in the 4-cylinder “Rebel” class.
Joined SHR (formerly Haas CNC Racing) in 2006 after working as a jackman and suspension expert for a variety of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams…Graduated in 2002 from the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C.
Joined SHR in February 2003 and has served as both a front- and rear-tire changer for the team…Prior to his time at SHR, spent four years at Dale Earnhardt Inc., and changed tires for cars driven by Steve Park, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Martin Truex Jr., in each of NASCAR’s top three series…Spent 1997-1998 seasons as an engine tuner at Fischer Engineering…Prior to his time at Fischer, spent three years at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in the engine department…Also while at JGR, changed tires for NASCAR Nationwide Series car driven by Tony Stewart.
Spent six years at Hendrick Motorsports before joining SHR in January 2009…Served as tire specialist for the No. 24 team of Jeff Gordon from 2003-2007…Spent 2008 as a mechanic on Gordon’s team…Worked at Evernham Motorsports from 2000-2002 as a tire specialist on the No. 19 car driven by Casey Atwood and Jeremy Mayfield...Worked for various NASCAR Nationwide Series teams in the late 1990s before moving to Sprint Cup.
Hooters Pro Cup Series with driver Shane Huffman, who won the 2003 championship on the strength of eight wins…Began career working on a variety of cars at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Tri-County Speedway in Hudson, N.C.…Graduated in 1996 from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Joined SHR in November 2008 after nearly seven years at Penske Racing where he worked as a tire-changer and mechanic on Ryan Newman’s car…Spent 2000-2001 seasons at MBV Motorsports as a tire-changer and mechanic for Johnny Benson…Worked at Petty Enterprises from 1997-1999 as a tire-changer and mechanic on cars driven by John Andretti and Buckshot Jones…Began NASCAR career at Dave Marcis Racing before moving to Stavola Brothers Racing…Got into racing by working on Street Stocks and Late-Models in Wisconsin.
Joined SHR in November 2008 after two seasons as a transporter driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc,…Prior to his time in racing, spent many years in the commercial trucking industry.
Came to SHR after spending 2008 as Sprint Cup crew chief for Bobby Labonte at Petty Enterprises…Spent 13 years at Hendrick Motorsports, working first in the chassis shop before moving to the setup plate for the No. 24 team of Jeff Gordon in 2001…Spent 2002-2003 as head of the setup plate for Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team…Began traveling with the No. 24 team in 2004 as a mechanic before becoming car chief for the 2006-2007 seasons…While car chief for the No. 24 team, helped Gordon to eight victories, nine poles and a runner-up finish in 2007 Sprint Cup point standings.
Began working at SHR in May 2008 after four years at Kevin Harvick Inc., where he worked as a mechanic, gas man and tire-carrier...Also has worked at Morgan-Dollar Motorsports and Ultra Motorsports…Racing career began at South Boston (Va.) Speedway and Orange County Speedway.
Joined Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) in November 2008 from Hendrick Motorsports…Rose from team engineer with the No. 48 Sprint Cup squad in 2003 to engineering manager for the Nos. 5 and 88 Sprint Cup teams…Interim crew chief for the No. 48 team during the first four races of the 2006 Sprint Cup season...led driver Jimmie Johnson to victory at Daytona 500…Johnson went on to win the Sprint Cup championship in 2006…Spent 2007 Sprint Cup season as crew chief for Casey Mears, leading the young driver to his first career Sprint Cup win in the prestigious Coca-Cola 600.
Joined SHR (formerly Haas CNC Racing) in 2004 after graduating from the 5-on-5-off program at the Performance Instruction & Training (PIT) facility in Mooresville, N.C....Has been a tire-changer for the team since 2004…Graduated from First Assembly Christian School in Concord, N.C., and attended East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
SHR is his first full-time Sprint Cup experience…Came to SHR in June 2008 after spending three and a half years with the NASCAR Nationwide Series teams of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates …Worked for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nationwide Series teams from 2003-2005 after working for Ganassi from 2001-2002… Began in NASCAR with Sabco Racing in 1999 after working in the ARCA Series in his native Georgia in the mid-1990s.
Has worked at SHR (formerly Haas CNC Racing) since June 2004 and has toiled in a variety of engineering roles with the team…Graduated in June 2004 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) with a degree in mechanical engineering…Racing career began as a teenager working on a variety of cars at South Boston (Va.) Speedway.
Began at SHR on Jan. 1, 2009…Spent the last three seasons as spotter for Matt Kenseth...Prior to that spent more than 10 years as spotter for Dale Jarrett and was on the spotter’s stand for Jarrett’s 1999 Sprint Cup championship, two Brickyard 400 wins (1996 and 1999) and two of his Daytona 500 wins (1996 and 2000)…Spotted in Nationwide Series events for Bobby Labonte, David Green and Dale Earnhardt.
 

February 12, 2010

Second in Duel Gives Stewart Sixth in 500

Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy Has Speed, Needs Handling

Tony Stewart manhandled his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala to a strong second-place finish in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. He finished .014 of a second behind race winner Kasey Kahne, and in doing so, earned himself a solid, sixth-place starting spot in Sunday’s Daytona 500.

“We’ve got a little bit of work to do, but I’m proud of our guys,” Stewart said. “The first half of the race we weren’t very good, but we made a lot of ground on it the second half of the race.”

Stewart ran outside the top-10 for much of the 60-lap race as he battled his car’s handling. Crew chief Darian Grubb called for a major chassis adjustment during a scheduled pit stop while under caution on lap 28. After that, the car responded, and with 15 laps to go, Stewart worked his way to third behind the cars of Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers.

With 10 laps to go, Stewart drafted with Vickers past Busch. And when Vickers’ Toyota got loose coming off turn four of the 2.5-mile oval, Stewart dove low to take the lead. The Office Depot/Old Spice pilot paced laps 55-58 before Kahne got a run by him, and despite a massive push from Juan Pablo Montoya, Stewart couldn’t quite catch Kahne as they crossed the finish line fender to fender.

“Our only shot is to stay in clean air, and we got lucky enough to be in the right line and that got us to the top three, then got Brian (Vickers) up in the lead and got us to second, and he (Vickers) was just really loose on the outside,” said Stewart, who won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona last July. “We were too tight for the bottom, really good on top. He was really good on the bottom and really loose on top. That gave us the opportunity to make him work a little bit there, and man, he had two great saves. The first one was good and people probably didn’t see it when he was trying to pass the ‘2’ car (Busch), but the second save was pretty impressive. We just didn’t have enough.

“We’ve struggled with getting the car to handle since we’ve been here, for some reason. I don’t know what’s so different this time around, but we go from winning the race back in July to where we can’t even make our car turn. So, we’re still working on it.

“But the great thing about this place is that it’s about handling. It’s been so frustrating running at Daytona for so many years and having to worry about who was helping you (in the draft). You still need to have help, but if you don’t have a good-handling car, I don’t care who’s pushing you, it’s not going to matter.”

Stewart has proven that his No. 14 machine is fast. If he can just get it to handle to his liking, he’ll be a force in the 52nd Daytona 500. Two more days of practice will allow him and the Office Depot/Old Spice team to fine-tune it for 500 miles of racing on Sunday.

“We’ve still got a little bit of work to do, but that’s what we have two more days of practice for.”

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala and Stewart’s teammate at SHR, was in the first Gatorade Duel. Newman started second by virtue of his third-fastest qualifying time in last Saturday’s time trials. The 2008 Daytona 500 winner finished eighth, which means he will start 17th in the Daytona 500.

Four-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson won the first Gatorade Duel by .005 of a second over Kevin Harvick. Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer and Regan Smith took spots three through five. The rest of the top-10 consisted of Jamie McMurray, A.J. Allmendinger, Newman, David Ragan and Jeff Gordon.

Finishing third in the second Gatorade Duel to Kahne and Stewart was Montoya, while Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler rounded-out the top-five. The rest of the top-10 consisted of Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Marcos Ambrose, David Reutimann and Vickers.

With the Gatorade Duel races now complete, the field for the Daytona 500 is set. On the pole is Mark Martin and alongside him is his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. By notching the two quickest times during time trials, both drivers were able to lock themselves into the front row for the Daytona 500. All the remaining drivers, however, had to race their way to a starting spot via the Gatorade Duel.

Those who didn’t make the cut and will be forced to watch the Daytona 500 from the sidelines are Casey Mears, Todd Bodine, David Gilliland, Terry Cook, Derrike Cope, Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Reed Sorenson, Mike Wallace, Norm Benning and Jeff Fuller.

The 52nd Daytona 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 14 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

 
 
 
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