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Sprint Cup
CUP: Stewart-Haas Seeking Step Up
Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have combined for just one win in 2010...
Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Tony Stewart (Right) and Ryan Newman (Left) are looking to pick up the pace as the season reaches its summer stretch. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Examined in the shadow of last season, this year has not been a spectacular one for Stewart-Haas Racing.
In 2009, new team owner Tony Stewart shocked the NASCAR world by putting two cars – his No. 14 and teammate Ryan Newman’s No. 39 – in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Stewart won four races, and both drivers finished in the top 10 in points.
It was a commendable performance by a basically new team, one that many observers assumed would need a year or two of seasoning.
The 2009 results ratcheted up expectations for this season, and therein rests the rub. Although Newman has a win (his first for the team), Stewart is winless, and both drivers are struggling to be in comfortable spots as the Chase cutoff looms.
Stewart finished fifth Sunday at Michigan International Speedway to jump from 13th in points to 11th – officially in the Chase as of the moment. Newman went in the opposite direction, however, finishing 32nd to end a rotten day and falling from 14th in points to 15th.
Although Stewart was grumpy after a third-place finish at Pocono two weeks ago, he was happy Sunday with his second straight top five.
“I’m really proud of the effort,” he said. “I feel like we’re starting to make some ground. There’s no reason to panic. It’s not going to make us go faster. It’s just a matter of trying to figure out what we’ve got to do to get what we’re missing, and I feel like we’ve made some steps in that direction.”
Bobby Hutchens, director of competition for Stewart-Haas Racing, is the man at the center of the effort to push the two drivers higher in the standings over the summer months.
He said the key to improving is continuing to roll forward and build on achievement.
“We feel like we have better cars and better people, and we feel like we’re better prepared, yet our performance hasn’t been quite to the level of where we were at this point last year,” Hutchens said. “You sit down and look at what we did last year in that small amount of time, and it’s amazing what we did. To duplicate that would be pretty tough.
“Yeah, we’re disappointed we haven’t done better, but we’ve got 12 weeks to win a couple of races and to finish in the top five like we know we can do. If we do that, the points will take care of themselves.”
Hutchens said there won’t be any big changes.
“I feel like we’re going to do the next 12 weeks what we did the first 12 weeks,” he said. “We’ve just got to have some better results. We’ve made some mistakes as far as strategy in a few races, but, by the same token, other people do the same things.
“We’ve got to work real hard on track position. I think we may have overlooked that a little from week to week. But, for the most part, we’re in good shape. It’s not time to panic. We’re right there at the edge of the 12th position. I think if our cars run at their capability, we’ll be fine.”
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.
In 2009, new team owner Tony Stewart shocked the NASCAR world by putting two cars – his No. 14 and teammate Ryan Newman’s No. 39 – in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Stewart won four races, and both drivers finished in the top 10 in points.
It was a commendable performance by a basically new team, one that many observers assumed would need a year or two of seasoning.
The 2009 results ratcheted up expectations for this season, and therein rests the rub. Although Newman has a win (his first for the team), Stewart is winless, and both drivers are struggling to be in comfortable spots as the Chase cutoff looms.
Stewart finished fifth Sunday at Michigan International Speedway to jump from 13th in points to 11th – officially in the Chase as of the moment. Newman went in the opposite direction, however, finishing 32nd to end a rotten day and falling from 14th in points to 15th.
Although Stewart was grumpy after a third-place finish at Pocono two weeks ago, he was happy Sunday with his second straight top five.
“I’m really proud of the effort,” he said. “I feel like we’re starting to make some ground. There’s no reason to panic. It’s not going to make us go faster. It’s just a matter of trying to figure out what we’ve got to do to get what we’re missing, and I feel like we’ve made some steps in that direction.”
Bobby Hutchens, director of competition for Stewart-Haas Racing, is the man at the center of the effort to push the two drivers higher in the standings over the summer months.
He said the key to improving is continuing to roll forward and build on achievement.
“We feel like we have better cars and better people, and we feel like we’re better prepared, yet our performance hasn’t been quite to the level of where we were at this point last year,” Hutchens said. “You sit down and look at what we did last year in that small amount of time, and it’s amazing what we did. To duplicate that would be pretty tough.
“Yeah, we’re disappointed we haven’t done better, but we’ve got 12 weeks to win a couple of races and to finish in the top five like we know we can do. If we do that, the points will take care of themselves.”
Hutchens said there won’t be any big changes.
“I feel like we’re going to do the next 12 weeks what we did the first 12 weeks,” he said. “We’ve just got to have some better results. We’ve made some mistakes as far as strategy in a few races, but, by the same token, other people do the same things.
“We’ve got to work real hard on track position. I think we may have overlooked that a little from week to week. But, for the most part, we’re in good shape. It’s not time to panic. We’re right there at the edge of the 12th position. I think if our cars run at their capability, we’ll be fine.”
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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