When Tony Stewart Starts Rolling, Watch Out!
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I told you so.
I’ve been saying since Atlanta, the fourth race of the season, that Tony Stewart was a win waiting to happen. And Saturday, in the 25th annual Sprint All-Star Race, Stewart fulfilled my prophecy.
But don’t think Smoke is going to stop there. Now that he’s earned the first one, look for him to win at least two or three more races from here on out to the end of the season, because there are few better momentum drivers than Stewart (other than maybe Jimmie Johnson).
As we’ve seen over and over throughout his career, when Stewart gets on a roll, he keeps rolling along. In 2005, after finishing runner-up at the June race at Michigan, he went on to win five of the next seven races, eventually going on to win his second Cup championship.
And then one year later, in 2006, he missed qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup by 16 points, but then went on to win three of the 10 Chase races, thus stealing a significant amount of thunder and attention from the 10 drivers that made the Chase that year.
In 2007, he won three of four races in the middle of the season. And then, going back to his sophomore season in Cup racing (2000), he won six Cup races, including two pair of victories coming back-to-back.
Given his penchant for getting hot and staying hot, I’m not going to be surprised if Stewart parlays his all-star race win into a victory Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600.
He has a great sense of confidence and an incredible momentum that has spread across the entire Stewart Haas Racing organization. That’s why I’m not going to be surprised if Stewart doesn’t win, look for teammate Ryan Newman to pick up the slap and take the checkered flag for himself, crew chief Tony Gibson, and the entire SHR shop.
In a season that has seen some distressing news, including TV ratings being down more than 10 percent, Carl Edwards’ dramatic flip into the catch fence at Talladega, and Jeremy Mayfield’s indefinite suspension for alleged illegal drug use, Stewart’s story is a feel-good tome that we really need to hear.
In fact, in a sport that seems to revolve so much around guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR would be smart if it celebrated Stewart’s success at the all-star race, as well as if/when he earns his first points-paying win as an owner/driver.
It seems we’ve been on a real downer of late, with the sanctioning body having to defend itself about one thing after another, and fans continuing to lose interest.
NASCAR would be foolish not to commend Stewart from here on out, because I have a funny feeling that with the possibility of a major and ugly legal challenge between Mayfield and NASCAR, Stewart is going to be one of the few good things we have left to talk about for quite some time to come.
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