After months and months of speculation, Tony Stewart finally
announced he was leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and become an owner-driver for what will become Stewart-Haas
Racing. This, no doubt, looks to be a challenge and also the opportunity Tony was looking for. After
winning 2 Championships and many races, including the Brickyard 400, Tony has
done it all at Gibbs. Stewart already owns several race teams, along with
his own track, but it’s obvious that this will be the biggest task he has
undertaken. However, if anyone can
become a successful owner/driver in NASCAR today, especially at the Cup level,
it would be Stewart.
It is only fitting the last driver/owner win was one of great hardships,
considering how difficult it is to run your own team today. That last
driver was Ricky Rudd, who won a grueling race back in 1998 in
Martinsville. If you don't recall, this was the race where Rudd's cooling
system failed around lap 5 of 500 on a very hot day. During the course of the
race, several drivers had to get out of their cars and have relief
drivers. To add to the sizzling hot weather, Ricky was drenched with
boiling hot water. During a pit stop, he asked for some water to be
poured down his back, but the hose they used had been left out in the sun all
day. Even with these very tough conditions, Rudd stayed in the car and held
on to win. If it wasn’t already clear
how hard this was on him, he had to do his victory speech laying on the
ground, breathing through an oxygen mask while being interviewed. Aside from this race, Ricky had faced great hardships on the track- in terms of
performance and success.
Rudd's last year as a full-time owner/driver was in 1999 where he finished 31st
in points. Out of the 6 years Rudd ran his own team, Rudd Performance
Motorsports, he finished in the top-10 in points 3 years and won 6 races. But the 1999 season was proof that times had changed, and it seemed like no one would be able to do what Alan Kulwicki did in 1992 ever again.
The competition had become too much in 1999, where multicar
teams clearly had advantages and were better performing. After losing his Tide sponsorship and with
these difficulties, Rudd closed his shop and signed with Robert Yates.
Since then, there have been several drivers who have tried to run their own
team, but none were ever part of a team that had good resources or sponsor
opportunities. Perhaps that will change now that Stewart has signed with
Haas, a team that receives resources from Hendrick Motorsports. It is no secret the Haas teams have never
performed that well, even with help from Hendrick. They also have not had a driver anywhere near
as good as Stewart.
Stewart clearly brings a presence to that team, and with
drivers rumored like Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr , maybe they will be able
to capitalize on the relationship with Hendrick. Big name sponsors rumored like Office Depot
and Old ####e will certainly be a plus, and it shows they have faith in Stewart
to be successful, despite the previous poor results from Haas cars.
It is interesting to note that Stewart is taking this path, like
Ricky did, and both share a great deal of respect for each other. Stewart mentioned Rudd in the awards ceremony
last year when Rudd retired, and Stewart wanted him in his car in 2006 when he
was injured. While they have very different
demeanors, both are tough as nails and will not take anything from anyone. When he was asked who was the one guy in NASCAR he
would not want to mess with, Stewart said it was Ricky.
Perhaps next year, if the going gets really tough, Stewart
will give Rudd a ring to ask for some advice.
Despite the challenges Stewart faces ahead next year, he certainly seems
to be looking forward to it. And as a fan of Rudd and NASCAR, I will be too.
