Tony Stewart climbs into his car during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

“We didn’t really set expectations,” Stewart said of the team he co-owns and drives for. “We literally said that we were going to go one week at a time and evaluate what happened on Sunday when we sat down on Monday. Try to figure out what we did right, what we did wrong and what we could do to make it better and see where it took us at the end of the year. I’m happy. The whole organization is ecstatic to have both of these cars in the Chase. That in itself has made it a good year, so far.”

As for the rest of the season, Stewart said he intends to go after his third championship the way he always has.

“My approach to the Chase is the same way it’s been any other time I’ve been in a point race — you go out there, you lead laps, you try to win races and the points take care of itself,” he said. “I know that sounds like a simple formula, but the reason we got to this point is by following that theory. Every week we go out and we try to lead laps and we try to win races. That’s what got us here. There’s no reason to change that. Now is not the time to reinvent the wheel.”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to