Stewart want out of Gibbs? Biffle’s contract talks distracting him?

Stewart want out of contract with Gibbs?
The main story last week was that Tony Stewart may be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after the season. He has apparently been in contact with Haas CNC racing to become a part owner of that team, and race for them, even though he’s under contract with Gibbs through the 2009 season. Sources are saying that Tony wants to become an owner in the Sprint Cup Series and go back to driving for Chevy since he’s comfortable with them, and they sponsor cars he races and owns in many smaller circuits. Although today it was stated that some people feel that he may just re-sign with Gibbs, and not venture into ownership.

Do you think it’d be wise for Stewart to leave Joe Gibbs Racing? While there he’s won two championships and has compiled 32 career victories. A lot of that has to do with the resources that Joe Gibbs has available, and the ability to put together quality race cars each Sunday. If Tony leaves and goes to Haas CNC to become a part owner, will they be able to put competitive cars on the track?

That team isn’t even close to becoming a title contender right now. Will Tony Stewart’s name bring that much money and focus for them to change? I think it’ll help a lot, but not enough to contend for a title. If he went there, a good season may be winning a race or two and making the chase. With Gibbs he’s always one of the favorites to win the whole thing. If names like Petty and Earnhardt (DEI, not Jr.) can’t put competitive teams out on the track, does Tony really think he could? Sure he’s one of the best drivers in NASCAR, but you have to have the equipment as well as a driver to win races. Parting ways with Joe Gibbs racing would be a big mistake.

Stewart Stats
Year Finish Wins
2007 6th .....3
2006 11th ....5
2005 Champion 5
2004 6th .....2
2003 7th .....2
2002 Champion 3
2001 2nd .....3
2000 6th .....6
1999 4th (Rookie) 3

Biffle Contract Talks
Greg Biffle is in the last year of his contract with Roush Fenway Racing. In late May/early April he said that the contract was about 90% done as they were working on an extension through the 2011 season. There hasn’t been any word lately on the progress of it. Could this be weighing on the Biff’s mind and affecting performance? In the first five races this season he averaged a 7.2 place finish, and in the last four (since 3/30) he’s averaged a 21.5 place finish. We’ll have to keep an eye on this and see how it does in the coming weeks.

Miscellaneous Notes after Atlanta

Tires were a big story in Atlanta, and were probably the cause of the race being so boring. The driver had no confidence in the tires and were running sideways through some of the turns. After the race, not one driver had good things to say about the tires. Everyone thought they were bad and needed to be fixed by Goodyear before coming back.

Tony Stewart was particularly harsh. He said they were “not worthy of a street car” and also said that he can see why no other major racing series uses Goodyear. “I’m going to go home and put Firestones on all of my cars.”

Earlier this week Tony was on Sirius radio with Mike Helton, and re-emphasized the point that the tires sucked and that Goodyear has to be held more accountable

Goodyear said they make the tires to be safe since the tires that were used last year wore down to the cords. They admitted that they probably overcompensated on the new tire and gave up too much performance. They better get this figured out because the Atlanta race is usually exciting with lots of lead changes and close finishes, but last week was booooring with few lead changes.


One other note is that Kyle Busch, in an interview on NASCAR Now, credited his success this season to Joe Gibbs racing for allowing him “to be his own person”. Is that a knock on Hendrick, saying they were asking him to be more like Jeff and Jimmy?