Fanhouse Motorsports - Tony-Stewart

Teammate Crashes are Nothing New for NASCAR

Geoffrey Miller — 2010-03-03T19:12:00 00:00

Filed under: Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip, Tony Stewart, NASCAR Videos, Sprint Cup, Scott Speed

As expected, word came from Juan Pablo Montoya's camp this week that he and teammate Jamie McMurray have settled their differences after McMurray wrecked both out of last Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Montoya said McMurray sent him an apologetic text message and Montoya accepted -- coining the situation as one the drivers have to move past, autosport.com reported. Of course, it's rare, really, that drivers -- and especially teammates -- fail to openly "make up" over the next week, even if both are still (and likely are) fuming over the dustup.

In the case of the Earnhardt-Ganassi teammates, this isn't their first run-in involving spinning race cars and bent sheet metal during their NASCAR careers, and for NASCAR as a whole, it certainly wasn't the first time -- and definitely not the last -- that on-track action between teammates has ended in a smoking mess.

Here's a few of the best recent teammate vs. teammate crashes -- and one that stretches back to 1995.

On the Straightaway!

Race: 2005 Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte
Team: Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr. & Michael Waltrip
Scene: With 156 laps to go in NASCAR's longest race, Waltrip & Earnhardt Jr. run 7th and 8th. Then, Earnhardt Jr. gets a run on Waltrip, clips the No. 15, and around they go.

Waltrip left DEI at the end of 2005.

Greg Biffle & Carl Edwards Just Don't Get Along

Race: 2008 AMP Energy 500, Talladega
Team: Roush Fenway Racing
Drivers: Greg Biffle & Carl Edwards
Scene: With each driver trying to supplant Jimmie Johnson as the next Sprint Cup champion, a lot was on the line for a good finish at Talladega. Perhaps that contributed to Carl Edwards doing a little bit of overzealous bump drafting as the laps wound down.

The result? A big crash, and Jimmie Johnson continued to his third-straight title.

Related: Darlington 2009 - 'Nice of my teammate to wreck me' | Dover 2009 - Corner Contact

Carl Edwards Part II: Intimidation Factor

Race: 2007 Subway 500, Martinsville
Team: Roush-Fenway Racing
Drivers: Carl Edwards & Matt Kenseth
Scene: I realize that tagging someone with the word "intimidating" might have a few black No. 3 fans up in arms, but in this video -- the lone video that is more focused on post-race actions than what happened on track -- I can't help but be scared of Carl Edwards and his camouflage shorts.

You can bet Matt Kenseth felt the same way.

Stewart Blames Hamlin for Leading

Race: 2007 Pepsi 400, Daytona
Team: Joe Gibbs Racing
Drivers: Tony Stewart & Denny Hamlin
Scene: In what remains one of the biggest mysteries of NASCAR, Tony Stewart somehow managed to blame Denny Hamlin for this Daytona incident that wiped out both Joe Gibbs Racing drivers in the early stages of 2007 Pepsi 400.

Hamlin, the leader, get bumped by Stewart in second -- sending both into the turn four wall in a crash that collected Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Daytona crowd wasn't pleased.

Jeff Gordon Gives Ken Schrader a Shiner

Race:1995 DieHard 500, Talladega
Team: Hendrick Motorsports
Drivers: Jeff Gordon & Ken Schrader
Scene: Consider this from the way-back file, as we dig into the days of Richard Petty working as a race commentator. With about 50 to go, the non-champion version of Jeff Gordon (he won his first in 1995) gets into Ken Schrader's No. 25 Budweiser machine, spinning the Budweiser Chevrolet around before Schrader takes a wild tumble in the backstretch grass. If you're so inclined, the very same car is still on display at the Hendrick Motorsports museum.

Schrader's biggest injury from the crash was a nasty black eye that he reveals in the interview at the end of the video -- a NASCAR moment worth waiting for.

Red Bull Gives You... Teammate Arguments

Race: 2009 Camping World 200, New Hampshire
Team: Team Red Bull
Drivers: Brian Vickers & Scott Speed
Scene: In one of the more unusual teammate disputes, Vickers and Speed showed that a bit of tension simmered under the surface of their Sprint Cup Series team when they had issues during a Nationwide race. Sure, this might be a stretch because they were driving for competing teams during this Nationwide race, but just hours later they were competing under the same Red Bull colors.

Me? I'm just confused as to why Vickers wasn't mad at himself for getting loose.

Related: Vickers scores first win at teammate's expense -- Talladega 2006

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Stewart Wins -- Again -- in Nationwide Race at Daytona

Geoffrey Miller — 2010-02-13T17:30:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Nationwide Series

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- At some point, the folks at Daytona International Speedway might have to start etching Tony Stewart's name in the February Nationwide Series race trophy before they drop the green flag.

Stewart won Saturday's Drive4COPD 300 at the famous 2.5-mile track, holding off last lap charges by Justin Allgaier and Carl Edwards, to take his fifth win in his last six tries in the Nationwide season-opener.

Edwards finished second, Kevin Harvick third, Allgaier fourth and Brian Vickers fifth.

What, exactly is Stewart's secret of success?

"I wish I knew because I'd sell it to somebody," Stewart said in Daytona's victory lane, the 15th time he's been there in his career. "We've just been so fortunate so many times. As much as I'd love to say that I'm really that good, there's a lot of luck that goes into winning these things."

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Kahne Delivers, Wins Second Duel at Daytona

Geoffrey Miller — 2010-02-11T18:10:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Daytona Int'l Speedway, Sprint Cup

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. -- Kasey Kahne could barely contain his excitement for Sunday's Daytona 500 after finishing second in Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

Thursday, he showed why.

Kahne held off a side-by-side outside charge by Tony Stewart on the final lap of the second Gatorade Duel 150-mile qualifying race to land his first career trip to Daytona International Speedway's victory lane. The victory also earned him a fourth-place starting spot in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season-opener.

Kahne edged Stewart to the finish line by 0.014 seconds, or not much more than a foot. Still, it was only the second-closest finish of the day after Jimmie Johnson beat Kevin Harvick in the first qualifying race by only .006 of a second.

"It was close, but we were able to pull it off," Kahne. said "It feels good to win at Daytona."

Stewart finished second, Juan Pablo Montoya was third, Kurt Busch fourth and Elliott Sadler fifth.

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The Day Before the Twins

Bob Zeller — 2010-02-11T13:05:00 00:00

by Bob Zeller

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Daytona Int'l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The momentum is picking up at Daytona International Speedway as Speedweeks rushes toward Sunday's Daytona 500, the first race of the season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Here's another photo gallery of sights and scenes around the speedway on Wednesday, the day before the Gatorade Duels twin 150-mile qualifying race.

In between practice sessions on the track, and today's races, the drivers are slammed with other obligations. As Tony Stewart told the audience Wednesday evening during Performance Radio Network's Up To Speed - Daytona Beach radio show at Volusia Mall, 10 percent of his job is a blast and the other 90 percent is a job and not always so fun.

It has been extraordinarily chilly down here thus far, with temperatures 15 degrees or more below normal, and rain is predicted for Friday, but it's still more comfortable than a lot of places around the country and if the temperatures aren't really heating up, the excitement is.

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2009 FanHouse Cup Rewind: Tony Stewart, 6th

Geoffrey Miller — 2010-01-30T20:30:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup, Stewart-Haas Racing

THE SEASON: Anyone contemplating the story of Tony Stewart's 2009 season before the fact might easily come away with the thought "career suicide after the two-time champion pulled up his roots at Joe Gibbs Racing to become a co-owner of an oft-struggling Sprint Cup Series team.

Stewart, incredibly, decided to leave behind his legacy as a consistent winner at Gibbs Racing, where he won Sprint Cup championships in 2002 and 2005, when he made the official announcement at Chicagoland Speedway creating Stewart-Haas Racing.

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Drivers Get First Laps With Rear Spoiler

FanHouse Newswire — 2010-01-20T20:50:00 00:00

by FanHouse Newswire

Filed under: Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, NASCAR Sponsors

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Kurt Busch sees no problems with the rear spoiler that NASCAR is in the process of adapting to replace the rear wing, a move that could enhance the passing ability of cars this season while providing a more traditional look.

"This spoiler, it seems to add front downforce," Busch said Tuesday, after being one of the first drivers to try out the change. "Don't ask me how it does it. ... When you bolt something on the back of the car and it adds to the front, that's how space-age these cars are getting."

Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers and Busch did the first on-track testing of the spoiler, each running several laps with the aluminum spoiler instead of a rear wing during their Goodyear tire test at the 1 1/2-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway.

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NASCAR Goes All-In for Las Vegas

Holly Cain — 2009-12-04T12:00:00 00:00

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR Awards

LAS VEGAS -- Imagine Vegas icon Wayne Newton dropping the green flag for a race car parade on a shut down Las Vegas Strip, NASCAR pit crews performing demonstration stops in front of Bally's and the ultra-lux Bellagio resorts and four-time champ Jimmie Johnson doing victory burnouts on Las Vegas Boulevard.

This over-the-top scene is NASCAR's reality this week and the thousands of fans that have gathered here for NASCAR Champion's Week couldn't be more supportive of the sport's decision to move west after more than a decade spent holding the Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony in New York's famed Waldorf-Astoria.

"You couldn't pay me to leave this city right now,'' two-time cup champion Tony Stewart said Thursday, offering rave reviews. "I'm a million times happier out here. ... I don't like cabs blowing horns at two o'clock in the morning. It's just so much more relaxing and there's so much more to do here.''

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Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Homestead

Geoffrey Miller — 2009-11-24T03:46:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup

Notes, quotes & commentary from a championship weekend in Homestead.

Well, there you have it.

We, as NASCAR fans in 2009, have seen something that has never been done before in the 61 years of NASCAR competition, and something that could very easily not happen for another 161 years if this sport lasts that long.

Yep, Jimmie Johnson -- the smooth-drivin' Californian -- is the first guy in all of NASCAR's moonshining and intimidating history to take four straight championships at any level. But, strangely, he's not the first to do so in a major stock car racing series.

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Stewart, Montoya Tangle in Finale

Holly Cain — 2009-11-22T20:50:00 00:00

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, NASCAR Crashes, Sprint Cup

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya positioned themselves for a grand finale in NASCAR's Sprint Cup season-ender at Homestead Miami Speedway on Sunday. Montoya was set for a career-best points finish, with Stewart enjoying a great debut effort for his own new team.

Instead of finishing on a high note, the two veterans engaged in a spirited battle of fender-banging that resulted in both losing positions in the final championship standings.

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Newman Satisfied With Team Debut

Holly Cain — 2009-11-21T14:30:00 00:00

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- If pressed to find one thing Ryan Newman would change about his season, of course, he'd like to score a win in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway.

After being close to victory circle a half-dozen times this season, that's about the only thing he feels is missing from a stellar debut season with the essentially start-up Stewart-Haas Racing team. Newman won two pole positions in the No. 39 U.S. Army-sponsored Chevrolet and, after an ominous start at the season-opening Daytona 500, still qualified for the 12-driver Chase for the Championship.

In our last installment of Inside the Chase for the Championship with Ryan Newman, FanHouse looks at the evolution of the season and how Newman evaluates his fresh start.

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Sprint Cup N's & Q's: AMP Energy 500

Geoffrey Miller — 2009-11-04T11:14:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Talladega Superspeedway, Sprint Cup

Notes, quotes & commentary from a NASCAR weekend at Talladega.

What a weekend it was, huh? Yes, I do have some comments and ideas about the overall product at Talladega this week. I'm going to wait, though, until the end of this post. First, the finer notes on Sunday.

Can anyone make sense of NASCAR's pit road penalties? Had Sunday's race been at another track where track position isn't so easily gained like it is at Talladega, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and eventual race winner Jamie McMurray would have been downright hosed.

And good or bad as it relates to your particular driver, the rule that nabbed them just isn't fair.

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Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Pepsi 500

Geoffrey Miller — 2009-10-13T13:25:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Casey Mears, David Ragan, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup

Tony Stewart may be working spots for Burger King at the moment, but at the end of Sunday's race, he was making chicken salad.

"It was making chicken salad out of chicken you know what," said Stewart after finishing 5th. "We were pretty fortunate to get a couple of breaks there when we needed them."

The 'breaks' Stewart was talking about including getting back on the lead lap after falling behind thanks to a miscue on pit road. You could also toss in the fact that he kept his Chase hopes alive by not taking a finish deep in the field.

Casey Mears has had a downright awful season in 2009, but it got a little bit better on Sunday.

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Let's Face It: Johnson Is Unstoppable

Geoffrey Miller — 2009-10-11T20:40:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup

Jeff Gordon gave Jimmie Johnson a handshake in victory lane to congratulate his teammate on yet another win, but really, it just symbolized what most NASCAR fans have to be fearing -- it's time to throw in the towel yet again at the feet of King Jimmie.

Johnson led 126 of 250 laps in Sunday's Pepsi 500 in Fontana, Calif., and overcame a dramatic final 20 laps that saw him bounced from the lead by Gordon. No matter. Johnson shot back by just a few laps later and then ran away from the field for the win.

It wasn't a surprise, really, that Johnson won. But it's a surprise to realize that pending crazy circumstances, there's not a team in NASCAR that can top the No. 48.

More Coverage: Pepsi 500 Results | Sprint Cup Series Standings

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Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Kansas 400

Geoffrey Miller — 2009-10-06T08:57:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup

If there was any doubt about the impact of clean air in NASCAR, Kansas Speedway pretty much cleared it up.

Simply, the undisturbed air that the leader has on the front nose of his race car gives a decided handling advantage. And don't just ask Tony Stewart, but ask the two other drivers that took two tires during the race's final pit stop on lap 239 -- Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson.

Stewart, who got a jump on the lap 241 restart, got the clean air and held off Jeff Gordon and his four new tires while Kahne and Johnson fell to sixth and ninth respectively.

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Gordon, Stewart Make Gains in Chase

Geoffrey Miller — 2009-10-04T19:55:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup

They aren't in great shape yet, but they certainly put themselves in position to compete.

Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon finished 1-2 Sunday at Kansas Speedway, showing a rebound for both teams after less-than-desirable results in the first two races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format. For Stewart, it was his fourth win of the season and drew him within 67 points of the Chase lead while Gordon trimmed a spot and 19 points off of his own Chase deficit.

For both, it also marked the first time either had gained ground on Chase leader Mark Martin in three races.

More: Stewart Bolsters Chances | Sprint Cup Standings | Full Race Results

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Stewart Bolsters Title Chances With Win

FanHouse Newswire — 2009-10-04T19:25:00 00:00

by FanHouse Newswire

Filed under: Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Tony Stewart didn't have time for a debate. He had one last chance to grab the win at Kansas Speedway, and it came down to one critical decision.

Two tires, or four?

The two-time series champion asked for two on the final pit stop Sunday, and crew chief Darian Grubb immediately agreed with the strategy. The rapid thinking got Stewart the race lead, and he held on over the final 26 laps for his fourth win of the season.

More Coverage: Check Sprint Cup Standings | View Full Race Results

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Chase Makes It Anyone's Game

Holly Cain — 2009-09-16T16:30:00 00:00

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Chase for the Sprint Cup

Tony Stewart has been ranked first or second in NASCAR's marquee Sprint Cup Series championship for the last 19 weeks. He's led the standings since May 31, building a comfy 100-point margin by late June and eventually an impressive 284-point edge over second place by August.

Stewart entered last Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway with a 234-point advantage in the championship.

And then, "poof!"

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Tony Stewart Shows Who's the Boss in Prelude to the Dream at Eldora

Jerry Bonkowski — 2009-09-09T23:55:00 00:00

by Jerry Bonkowski

Filed under: Tony Stewart

Being the boss and racetrack owner may give him a leg up, but it was Tony Stewart's talented right foot that once again proved to be the difference in Wednesday's Gillette Young Guns' Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

For the third time in the Prelude's five-year history, Stewart won on his home turf in front of a standing room only crowd of more than 23,000, as well as a national pay-per-view audience.

Stewart's other Prelude wins came in 2006 and last year.

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Tony Stewart 'Guarantees' Danica Patrick Is Coming to NASCAR

Holly Cain — 2009-09-06T11:04:00 00:00

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Tony Stewart, IRL

Danica Patrick is still playing coy about her plans for 2010, but Tony Stewart, for one, fully expects to see IndyCar's most talked about free agent competing in a stock car at least part time.

"She looked me straight in the eye and said, 'this is what I want to do, it looks like fun, looks like a lot of work, but it looks like fun,' " Stewart told reporters in his weekly track side press briefing Saturday from Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"I know that she's serious about it. She's come over and just talking about things right now. ... I don't think she has some misguided idea that it's going to be easy doing it.

"She wants to do it the right way, she has intentions of doing everything right and she's kind of come to us to see in our opinion how she should go about it."

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Sprint Cup N's & Q's: CARFAX 400

Geoffrey Miller — 2009-08-18T09:53:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup

There's no car foxes -- see the commercial -- around this Michigan edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes.

Brian Vickers seems to be a polar opposite of Kyle Busch in that he doesn't let things stick to him. He said as much during his post-race press conference Sunday night when asked about his run-in during Saturday's Nationwide Series race with Busch -- a former Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

"You know, there's some people that you meet in life that are just gonna do stupid things. You just learn to accept it. You just don't let it bother you. You know, you have patience," said Vickers. "You just live your life and run your race.

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