To use a racing cliché, Tony Stewart and his No. 14 team really are hitting on all eight cylinders right now.
Tony’s really never had a bad year since he came to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but right now he is as strong as I’ve ever seen him.
His confidence right now is just through the roof. I think two weeks ago at Phoenix International Raceway, you really saw how Tony has matured over the years. If you remember, he had an electronic fuel injection problem where he shut the car off to save fuel, but it didn’t refire and cost him a potential win.
Tony didn’t get down. He didn’t explode like he would have earlier in his NASCAR Sprint Cup career. He stayed calm and look where he was this past Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – the No. 14 was in Victory Lane.
Releasing the crew chief that guided you to an unbelievable comeback and championship in 2011, such as Stewart did with Darian Grubb, was a huge risk. At least that’s what it looks like to those on the outside. I just think with the way his confidence is right now within himself, his team and his entire company, Tony obviously wasn’t afraid to take that risk.
Tony is just on his game right now at a very high level. He is going to be hard to beat this year, too. If you don’t believe me, simply go look at his restarts Sunday in Las Vegas. I mean restarts used to kill Tony. It used to be his huge Achilles' heel. Now, after what you saw Sunday, he has become the King of Restarts.
If you try to pick things apart, you can always find weaknesses with a driver unless he wins every race, every weekend at every track. But in a broader view, Tony has no weaknesses right now.
He is closing in on 50 Cup wins. In the entire history of NASCAR, he is one of only a handful of drivers to win three or more NASCAR Sprint Cup championships. Just looking at the active drivers, it’s only Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Tony that have three or more championships. All the others that have reached that mark are in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. So that pretty much shows want kind of class Tony Stewart is in.
If all that wasn’t enough, after Sunday’s win at Las Vegas, the list shrinks to two of the tracks remaining on the Cup schedule where he has never won. Of those two, I almost don’t think it’s fair to list Kentucky Speedway, since we’ve only raced once there starting last year. The other place Tony hasn’t won at is Darlington Raceway.
So if I had to bet, I would say aside from winning races and vying for a fourth championship, there are probably two big targets on Tony Stewart's 2012 radar. That would be winning at Darlington in mid-May and Kentucky in late June.
Of course, it is well documented that Tony’s his A.J. Foyt. I mean Tony even drives the No. 14 in tribute to A.J. since that was his number for all those years. It would be safe to say that Tony Stewart is our modern-day version of A.J. Foyt. Tony has that unique ability to climb into almost anything with an engine, be competitive in it and, more importantly, win in it.
We all know that Tony has never been afraid to speak his mind, just like A.J. What has also been part of the maturing process is that Tony now picks his battles. Darrell Waltrip mentioned in a USA Today article during the offseason about Tony, how he used to be one that would go start a fight. Now, while he’s still not afraid to push back if you push first, he’s not just going around picking fights.
It all comes with experience, maturity and age. Plus, quite honestly, Tony learned when he became an owner and a driver in our sport that you have to take yourself to a different level in the way you handle yourself and present yourself.
With all that said, trust me: If you want to pick a fight with Tony Stewart, he will be the first to say, “C’mon man, bring it.”
