Like most NASCAR fans, I can’t envision Tony Stewart NOT driving the bright orange No. 20 Home Depot car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Then again, I couldn’t fathom Mark Martin coming out of “retirement”, leaving Roush, and then completely jumping ship to Chevrolet!
Since 2006, when Martin left Roush a year after his grand retirement tour around the circuit, he has played musical chairs with Chevy-based Sprint Cup teams. He drove for Ginn Racing in 2007, D.E.I. this season after the two teams merged, and recently announced back in July that he would be driving for Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR’s premier organization, next season. Who would’ve thought?
If that’s not crazy, what about Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s highly publicized switch from the Budweiser Chevy at D.E.I. to the National Guard/Mountain Dew Amp Energy Drink Chevy at Hendrick? Much like Stewart in the 20, fans had grown accustomed to seeing Dale Jr. race around the track in that red No. 8 Budweiser hot rod on Sundays.
Then, just this week, all doubts that I ever had about a big name in sports moving on from the team that he’d become an icon with suddenly vanished when Brett Favre was traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets (the New York Jets?!?).
Now I guess anything is possible, even Smoke parting ways with Gibbs.
Stewart has been a part of Joe Gibbs Racing since 1999, winning two Sprint Cup championships along the way, one in 2002 and the other in 2005.
However, Stewart’s 10-year tenure has not been free of controversy. Incidents such as punching a photographer at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and numerous altercations with fellow drivers—including Jeff Gordon and Robby Gordon—have been prevalent throughout his career with Gibbs.
On July 9th, Stewart confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in all of NASCAR—that he would be departing JGR at the end of the season to race for Haas-CNC Racing, which would soon become Stewart-Haas Racing, as he was given half-ownership of the entire organization.
With 50% of Haas-CNC belonging to Stewart, the deal will make him the highest paid driver in the Sprint Cup series.
More recently, his ride for 2009 was unveiled. Stewart will drive the No. 14, same as his lifelong idol A.J. Foyt, and be co-sponsored by Office Depot and Old Spice.
Additionally, it’s all but written in stone that Ryan Newman, who is also a native Hoosier, will drive the other car in Stewart-Haas’ two-car operation, which gives the team a duo of top-tier drivers and a good outlook for its inaugural season.
The $64,000 Question is this: Did Tony Stewart make the right move by leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and joining up with Haas-CNC?
Of course he did! He’ll be making tons of money as driver and part owner of his race team, and plus, after 10 tumultuous seasons with Gibbs, it was time for a change…right?
Not necessarily.
The reasons as to why Stewart bolted make perfect sense.
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