Who Does Tony Stewart Go to for Advice? Kevin Harvick

You wouldn't think someone who has 33 wins, including two at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, over 10,000 laps led and more than 10 years of NASCAR experience would need advice, right?

Wrong.

New team owner Tony Stewart has been leaning on everyone from his former boss Joe Gibbs to...fellow driver and team owner Kevin Harvick.

“Shoot, I’m calling him with questions,” Stewart said. “He’s kind of been the guy that I can call at 11 p.m. or midnight after [Rick] Hendrick and [Joe] Gibbs and [Richard] Childress have gone to sleep. Kevin and I talk a lot, and I think he would know what to do already.
 
“He’s done the Truck program and the Nationwide program enough that I don’t believe I would have to tell him anything. I think he’s a smarter car owner than I am right now."

Stewart encouraged Happy to enter NASCAR's top series during an interview Friday.

"Yeah, we've only raced five weeks so far," the two-time Winston and NEXTEL Cup Champion said. "but I haven't had a bad experience with it yet."

As an owner, Harvick won the then Craftsman Truck Series championship with driver and mentor Ron Hornaday Jr. just two years ago, and nearly won it last year, finishing just seven points behind to Johnny Benson.

Harvick also won his first race in his KHI No. 33 Chevrolet last week in Bristol. But don't count on him joining Smoke in Cup anytime soon.

"I don't ever want to drive (for my own Cup team). I think there's too much crossover for me from the driver/owner side. I'm perfectly happy doing what I'm doing from the driver side and I love that competitiveness."

The 2007 Daytona 500 champion also says it would take "the right situation with the manufacturer and the sponsor, and everything is right from a sponsorship side" for KHI to go Cup racing.

Thanks to Scene Daily, Racing-Reference and Thatsracin.com for the quotes, information and stats used in this piece.