Exclusive: Stewart talks SHR drivers' title hopes, sponsors, future
While the past two seasons have been difficult for Tony Stewart the driver, they've been very, very good for Stewart the team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.
In an exclusive interview with FOXSports.com on Friday, Stewart said he likes his chances for SHR to win its third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in five years, to go with those won by Stewart himself in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in '14.
With only Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway left on the Sprint Cup regular-season schedule, SHR heads into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with Harvick and Kurt Busch already locked into the playoffs. Stewart and Danica Patrick both need to win at RIR to make the Chase.
Stewart told FOXSports.com that both Harvick and Busch are both ready to contest the championship.
"I don't know, what's he (Harvick) had, like 10 second-place finishes this year?" Stewart said of the defending series champion. "You almost look at those as wins even, because if he can sit there and run that consistent everywhere you go, then it gives you a really good shot those last 10 weeks of making the opportunity and giving you the opportunity to get to Homestead. It makes it a lot easier when you run good at all the tracks."
Likewise, Stewart was bullish on the prospects of Busch, who like Harvick has won two races this season. "I think he's just as solid," said Stewart. "Kurt's been fast all year long, too. He hasn't been quite as consistent as Kevin, but I don't think anybody has.
"They have speed, though," said Stewart. "And Kurt's one of those guys that when it comes down to digging deep at the right time, he knows how to do it and knows how to make it happen, too."
One of SHR's biggest victories this year came off the track, when last month the team announced it had signed Reno, Nevada-based Nature's Bakery as Patrick's primary sponsor to replace GoDaddy.com, which will depart after this season.
Stewart said the team's expansion from two cars when it began in 2009 to its current four-car fleet, has made the sponsor situation more challenging.
"You think of how many partners you have to have to make four teams go like that," said Stewart. "Every one of them is crucial to keep the team running."
But juggling sponsors can be daunting.
"It's a challenge. And the more teams you have, the more challenging it is to get a sponsor," said Stewart. "Because once you have a sponsor on one of the cars, then you basically have locked that category out and you can't go pursue anything else in that category for the other three cars. Once you start getting these partners on board, you start checking off boxes and categories real quick of what sponsor you can go after."
Stewart said the Nature's Bakery deal was big for the team.
"It was really exciting to hear that it was somebody new that we were talking to that hadn't been part of the sport, somebody that had the same kind of background as Stewart-Haas Racing did, starting from zero and working our way up," said Stewart.
"You see all the time, sponsors -- we call them get recycled -- they leave an organization and go to another," said Stewart. "This wasn't one of those scenarios. And I think that's something that for us is a feather in our cap. It's more than just getting a sponsor for Danica. It was bringing a new partner on that hadn't been a part of the sport."
With the future of SHR solid in the short term, what does the future look like for Stewart the driver?
Still unclear, or at least unannounced.
"The future?" Stewart said with a coy smile. "I think about the future every day."
