Share
You certainly can't say Tony Stewart believes in letting well enough alone.
Stewart's decision to become a driver/owner in NASCAR's top series is a bold step. The question, however, is whether that step will take him over the edge of a career cliff.
He has won 32 races in nine-plus seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing, with at least two victories each season. He's won two championships and has finished in the top 10 in more than 58percent of his series starts. Those are impressive numbers.
When he announces today at Chicagoland Speedway that he'll move next year to what's now Haas CNC Racing, apparently acquiring at least a 50percent ownership stake, he'll have another set of numbers staring at him.
Of the 2,192 races in Cup history, 456 have been won by a driver also listed as the owner of the car. That works out to about one in every five races.
But 250 of those driver/owner wins were by Lee Petty or Richard Petty for one of the sport's dominant franchises for two generations. Take the Petty Enterprises wins out and the driver/owner win percentage is 9.4percent – 206 wins in 2,192 races.
The last driver/owner to win a race was Ricky Rudd at Martinsville, Va., on Sept.27, 1998 – nearly 10 years ago. Since Richard Petty's final victory for his family's team, at what's now Lowe's Motor Speedway on Oct.9, 1983, a driver/owner has won only 22 of 787 races – 2.8percent.
Bill Elliott owned cars that ran 228 races and had no wins. Darrell Waltrip and Rudd each had six wins as a car owner, but they also wound up selling their teams at considerably less than they had invested. Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip continue to look for a formula that leads to Victory Lane.
Stewart is 37, so he has another five to eight years of prime winning time ahead – if he chooses to drive that long. There is no questioning his talent as a driver, and his success as a businessman also cannot be discounted.
He runs successful U.S. Auto Club and World of Outlaws teams and has kept the legendary Eldora Speedway in Ohio running and relevant after buying it.
We don't know if Stewart can take Haas CNC Racing, a team that has had one top-five finish in 250 starts as a Cup team, and turn it into a winning operation.
We do know he can't do it alone. Stewart knows that, too, because in his tenure at JGR, he's seen first-hand that team's secret to success.
“I've modeled my USAC and World of Outlaws teams the same way they built their NASCAR team – I made it a point to find good people to run those programs,” he said.
“If I've learned anything from my time at Joe Gibbs Racing, it's that Joe Gibbs' saying of, ‘You win with people,' is incredibly true. They always surrounded me with not just good people, but great people. The results speak for themselves.”
Stewart already has a leg up on some recent driver/owners in that he has a lot of resources behind his move. Chevrolet played a major role in making this happen, and Stewart also will be buttressed by Hendrick Motorsports, which will supply engines and other support.
Even though The Home Depot is staying at Joe Gibbs Racing, sponsorship for the two cars Stewart will own won't be an issue, either.
Could his move mark a new beginning for NASCAR?
Frankly, it has been a puzzlement where the next generation of car owners might come from. Richard Childress made the move from driver to owner, and Dale Earnhardt also started a team that has won 24 Cup races.
With the cost of doing business what it is, could a Childress or a Jack Roush or a Rick Hendrick – all of whom built up from single-car teams with relatively humble roots – gain admission to ownership right now?
Perhaps Stewart can use his talent and fan appeal as leverage to clear the barriers to ownership. Perhaps he will change expectations for driver/owners the way he changed expectations for rookies when he won three times in 1999.
Today he takes a bold step toward finding out.
OTHERS: 6 – Ricky Rudd, Speedy Thompson; Darrell Waltrip; 5 – Alan Kulwicki, Marshall Teague; 4 – Geoffrey Bodine, Lloyd Dane, Eddie Pagan; 3 – Eddie Gray, Fireball Roberts, Bob Welborn; 2 – James Hylton, Marvin Panch; 1 – Bill Amick, Bill Blair, Paul Goldsmith, Danny Graves, John Kieper, Harold Kite, Paul Lewis, Dave Marcis, Jimmy Pardue, John Rostek, Frankie Schneider, Wendell Scott, Gober Sosebee, Lake Speed, Tommy Thompson and Cale Yarborough
You certainly can't say Tony Stewart believes in letting well enough alone.
Stewart's decision to become a driver/owner in NASCAR's top series is a bold step. The question, however, is whether that step will take him over the edge of a career cliff.
He has won 32 races in nine-plus seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing, with at least two victories each season. He's won two championships and has finished in the top 10 in more than 58percent of his series starts. Those are impressive numbers.
When he announces today at Chicagoland Speedway that he'll move next year to what's now Haas CNC Racing, apparently acquiring at least a 50percent ownership stake, he'll have another set of numbers staring at him.
Of the 2,192 races in Cup history, 456 have been won by a driver also listed as the owner of the car. That works out to about one in every five races.
But 250 of those driver/owner wins were by Lee Petty or Richard Petty for one of the sport's dominant franchises for two generations. Take the Petty Enterprises wins out and the driver/owner win percentage is 9.4percent – 206 wins in 2,192 races.
The last driver/owner to win a race was Ricky Rudd at Martinsville, Va., on Sept.27, 1998 – nearly 10 years ago. Since Richard Petty's final victory for his family's team, at what's now Lowe's Motor Speedway on Oct.9, 1983, a driver/owner has won only 22 of 787 races – 2.8percent.
Bill Elliott owned cars that ran 228 races and had no wins. Darrell Waltrip and Rudd each had six wins as a car owner, but they also wound up selling their teams at considerably less than they had invested. Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip continue to look for a formula that leads to Victory Lane.
Stewart is 37, so he has another five to eight years of prime winning time ahead – if he chooses to drive that long. There is no questioning his talent as a driver, and his success as a businessman also cannot be discounted.
He runs successful U.S. Auto Club and World of Outlaws teams and has kept the legendary Eldora Speedway in Ohio running and relevant after buying it.
We don't know if Stewart can take Haas CNC Racing, a team that has had one top-five finish in 250 starts as a Cup team, and turn it into a winning operation.
We do know he can't do it alone. Stewart knows that, too, because in his tenure at JGR, he's seen first-hand that team's secret to success.
“I've modeled my USAC and World of Outlaws teams the same way they built their NASCAR team – I made it a point to find good people to run those programs,” he said.
“If I've learned anything from my time at Joe Gibbs Racing, it's that Joe Gibbs' saying of, ‘You win with people,' is incredibly true. They always surrounded me with not just good people, but great people. The results speak for themselves.”
Stewart already has a leg up on some recent driver/owners in that he has a lot of resources behind his move. Chevrolet played a major role in making this happen, and Stewart also will be buttressed by Hendrick Motorsports, which will supply engines and other support.
Even though The Home Depot is staying at Joe Gibbs Racing, sponsorship for the two cars Stewart will own won't be an issue, either.
Could his move mark a new beginning for NASCAR?
Frankly, it has been a puzzlement where the next generation of car owners might come from. Richard Childress made the move from driver to owner, and Dale Earnhardt also started a team that has won 24 Cup races.
With the cost of doing business what it is, could a Childress or a Jack Roush or a Rick Hendrick – all of whom built up from single-car teams with relatively humble roots – gain admission to ownership right now?
Perhaps Stewart can use his talent and fan appeal as leverage to clear the barriers to ownership. Perhaps he will change expectations for driver/owners the way he changed expectations for rookies when he won three times in 1999.
Today he takes a bold step toward finding out.
