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Sprint Cup
CUP: Can Pocono Be Salve For Stewart?
Tony Stewart has struggled so far in 2010...
Tony Stewart is yet to win in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
This can’t be the real Tony Stewart.
After a sensational opening year for his Stewart-Haas Racing team, 2010 has been the pits. He’s 16th in points, having dropped two positions last week at Charlotte. He has no wins. Perhaps most remarkably, he has only one top-five finish in the season’s first 13 races. And he might be most irritated by the fact that, since he’s out of the top 12 in points, he isn’t invited into the media center each week to berate a reporter or two.
Fortunately for Stewart and his followers, it’s turnaround time. When the heat of summer begins popping the top of thermometers, Stewart typically is at his best.
And one of the places where his best often scores is Pocono Raceway, site of Sunday’s Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500.
Stewart has finished in the top 10 in eight of his past nine races at the 2.5-mile triangle, and he has won twice there, most recently scoring a victory last June in one of the landmark moments of his racing career.
The win last year marked the first points victory for Stewart after moving to SHR from Joe Gibbs Racing. Earlier, Stewart had scored the team’s first win in the Sprint All-Star Race, but Pocono provided the points breakthrough.
“Getting the first one at Charlotte was a huge accomplishment for the organization, but that first official points win was big, too,” Stewart said. “The feeling was the same as it was in Charlotte, but it was different because you knew it was a points race. It just meant a lot. It meant so much to a lot of people because it had been a long road to get this organization to where it could win races.”
Although Stewart has had success at Pocono, a wackily designed track that often befuddles drivers, he doesn’t underestimate its challenges.
“All three corners are different – that’s the challenging part,” he said. “It seems like you can always get your car good in two of the three corners, but the guys who are contending for the win are the guys who can get their car good for all three corners, which is very hard to do.
“It seems like if we can get our car to go through the tunnel [second] turn well, then we’re normally able to get it to go through the rest of the race track well.
“If you’re a little bit off, you’re a bunch off. If there’s a guy who can get all three of those corners right, then that’s the guy who’s going to win the race.”
In addition to the difficult turns, Pocono has one of racing’s longest straightaways. It’s relatively easy to pass there, but the exit from the third turn has to be handled properly.
“It’s very important that you get through the last corner well,” Stewart said. “You need to come off the corner quickly so that you’re not bogged down when you start down that long straightaway.”
For a guy whose season is bogged down, Pocono could be a positive.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
After a sensational opening year for his Stewart-Haas Racing team, 2010 has been the pits. He’s 16th in points, having dropped two positions last week at Charlotte. He has no wins. Perhaps most remarkably, he has only one top-five finish in the season’s first 13 races. And he might be most irritated by the fact that, since he’s out of the top 12 in points, he isn’t invited into the media center each week to berate a reporter or two.
Fortunately for Stewart and his followers, it’s turnaround time. When the heat of summer begins popping the top of thermometers, Stewart typically is at his best.
And one of the places where his best often scores is Pocono Raceway, site of Sunday’s Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500.
Stewart has finished in the top 10 in eight of his past nine races at the 2.5-mile triangle, and he has won twice there, most recently scoring a victory last June in one of the landmark moments of his racing career.
The win last year marked the first points victory for Stewart after moving to SHR from Joe Gibbs Racing. Earlier, Stewart had scored the team’s first win in the Sprint All-Star Race, but Pocono provided the points breakthrough.
“Getting the first one at Charlotte was a huge accomplishment for the organization, but that first official points win was big, too,” Stewart said. “The feeling was the same as it was in Charlotte, but it was different because you knew it was a points race. It just meant a lot. It meant so much to a lot of people because it had been a long road to get this organization to where it could win races.”
Although Stewart has had success at Pocono, a wackily designed track that often befuddles drivers, he doesn’t underestimate its challenges.
“All three corners are different – that’s the challenging part,” he said. “It seems like you can always get your car good in two of the three corners, but the guys who are contending for the win are the guys who can get their car good for all three corners, which is very hard to do.
“It seems like if we can get our car to go through the tunnel [second] turn well, then we’re normally able to get it to go through the rest of the race track well.
“If you’re a little bit off, you’re a bunch off. If there’s a guy who can get all three of those corners right, then that’s the guy who’s going to win the race.”
In addition to the difficult turns, Pocono has one of racing’s longest straightaways. It’s relatively easy to pass there, but the exit from the third turn has to be handled properly.
“It’s very important that you get through the last corner well,” Stewart said. “You need to come off the corner quickly so that you’re not bogged down when you start down that long straightaway.”
For a guy whose season is bogged down, Pocono could be a positive.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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