Tony Stewart stole the spotlight from his Hendrick Motorsports buddies and most everyone else at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.
The ripple effect from Smoke’s first win as the owner of the No. 14 Chevrolet in his 14th start is more far reaching than most fans might realize.
After Stewart took the points lead from Jeff Gordon at Dover, Rick Hendrick was asked how he felt about the situation.
“What do you want me to say? I mean, I think Tony has done a super job, ” Hendrick said. “He’s run good every week. I hate to see Jeff have the problem that he had (wrecking in qualifying, losing two laps early after an untimely caution), but again, you’re going to have these things where halfway through the Chase, I think Jimmie said this before, those guys have done an unbelievable job, and the information flows both ways.
“You know, it’s just good to see all of our guys, the teams we support with motors and cars run well, too. We’re proud of that. But at the end of the day, when it gets down to the Chase, we want to win with these guys. “
Gordon has watched a similar scenario play out before with JGR. His ire at that time was certainly fueled by his ultra-competitive crew chief Ray Evernham. Those behind the scenes at Hendrick say Evernham disciple Chad Knaus, has adopted a similar stance with the current situation.
But it was Gordon who was the most pragmatic after Stewart’s announcement last summer.
The four-time champ predicted that “under the right circumstances, it can be a great relationship because we can get more from them, they can utilize our resources better and they can continue to stay a great customer.
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