NASCAR Cup Series

Holding the team back: Tony Stewart says he has been the problem so far in 2015

Published Jul. 14, 2015 12:59 p.m. ET

foxsports

Heading into the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, three-time champion Tony Stewart was eager to get back to full-time, competitive racing. After two seasons of off-track distractions, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing had confidence on his side as he headed to Daytona.

Yet by the time the series hit the second race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the wind in Stewart's sails was already gone. Hitting the intermediate tracks for the first time with NASCAR's low-horsepower package, Stewart struggled mightily to get a handle on how best to drive the new cars.

Now 18 weeks into the season and Stewart has yet to find the answer. The driver of the No. 14 SHR Chevrolet has just one top-10 finish, a sixth at Bristol in April, and has 12 finishes of 20th or worse, including three DNFs.

"It's been a disappointing year up to this point. It seems like no matter what the package is, we seem to fight the same balance," Stewart told the national media Tuesday morning. "We're desperately trying to figure out what it's going to take to move the needle. You know, you hope you get it done at a race like the Brickyard, for sure. The big thing is trying to figure out what's going on and trying to find out what we got to do to move the needle a little bit."

While some have pointed fingers at Chad Johnston's performance throughout the weekend and atop the pit box, Stewart stood behind his crew chief, saying he is not the problem.

"I still really like working with Chad Johnston. I don't feel like he's what's holding us back," Stewart said. "There's something about the way this package is that just doesn't suit my driving style. So, you know, I'm holding him and the team back versus vice versa. So it's just a matter of me trying to figure it out, figure out how to go forward and get our cars better."

Like many old-school drivers, Stewart is used to driving high-horsepower cars in the Sprint Cup Series, and comes from a background in midget and sprint cars. However, NASCAR's package for the 2015 season has forced the drivers to work with less horsepower, changing how they drive the cars. While some have been able to find success — including Stewart's teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch — Stewart has yet to figure it out.

"It's a scenario that when you drive for so long, you're used to one thing, I mean, coming into this year and taking the amount of horsepower they took out was a pretty radical change for the Cup Series," he said. "I think it was more the horsepower reduction than it was anything that I feel like has hurt me this year. I've grown up driving high-horsepower cars, high power-to-weight ratio cars. This hasn't been what I'm used to feeling."

As Stewart continues to wrap his arms around driving the lower horsepower cars, he still believes they have a shot at turning things around and entering into the Chase conversation. Still, Stewart does not want to back into a win by using pit strategy or fuel mileage secure a spot, which makes the task even more difficult.

"I feel like every weekend, it's the weekend we're going to find it. It's disheartening, takes the wind out of your sails when you realize you haven't found it that week," he said bluntly. "It's not strictly about a win. If we get our car working and win a race because we have our car working well, it definitely can turn the season around. With this format, it can change everything. That's your reason not to give up. That's your reason to keep fighting every week and show up at the track with the same attitude you did the week before. You can go out there, win the race, get everything going."

Despite the struggles on the track this season and the issues off-track the past two seasons, Stewart, 44, is not looking to follow Jeff Gordon's path into retirement.

"Right now I'm just trying to figure out how to get my car working, to be honest with you," the cagy veteran said.

The problem for Stewart and his Chad Johnston-led team is there are more questions than answers at this point in the season. After 18 races, Stewart is 28th in the driver standings, just 55 points ahead of Cole Whitt in 30th. With Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch making a charge up the standings in an effort to make the top 30, Stewart has at least one driver hot on his heels threatening his Chase chances.

However, given how poorly the team has struggled so far this season, concentrating on the Chase seems premature at this point. As Harvick and Busch continue to be among the best cars in the field week-in and week-out, Stewart must figure out the feel of these low-horsepower cars if he wants to be competitive again. With teams stepping up the competition every week, that might be harder than any other time in his NASCAR career.