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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Time To Smoke Field?
One of the myriad unknowns coming into the 2009 season was how the newly created Stewart-Haas Racing team would perform...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 04, 2009   Harrisburg, NC
With three races in the books for 2009, Tony Stewart is eighth in points and has an excellent history at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

One of the myriad unknowns coming into the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season was how the newly created Stewart-Haas Racing team would perform. If the early season returns are indication, SHR has delivered surprisingly strong results.

And now, with the Cup teams headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500, team co-owner/driver Tony Stewart comes into the race with a legitimate chance to put his No. 14 Chevrolet Impala SS into victory lane. With three races in the books for 2009, Stewart is eighth in points and has an excellent history at AMS, where he has finished first or second three times in the last five races, included a runner-up finish in this event last year.

All told, Stewart has two victories, eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 20 starts, stout numbers at one of the favorite tracks for the two-time Sprint Cup Series champion. This is a track where Stewart has won before and likely will win at again at some point. The question is, can it happen this weekend?

Without question, Stewart is upbeat about how his newest venture has begun. “There’s still question marks I’m sure with a lot of people,” said Stewart. “Can we do this? And three weeks in a row we’ve gone out and run well. We didn’t get the physical finish at Las Vegas that we deserved, but we had a good performance on the race track.”

And it’s performance — having competitive cars week in and week out — that’s most critical to a driver’s confidence. “Every weekend I’ve had cars that I’ve been extremely comfortable in,” Stewart said. “That’s half the battle. That’s half the worry you have as a driver when you get into a new program. It’s, ‘How is this package compared to what I’ve been driving?’ And I’ve been very, very happy with that.”

Stewart certainly will have a level of comfort this weekend at AMS. Although the 1.54-mile track is one of the fastest on the circuit, it’s also a place where rapid tire wear and wide grooves make it easy for drivers to seek out multiple lines.

“The neat thing is that the times fall off so guys move around on the race track more,” said Stewart. “Everybody starts at the bottom, and the fast guys normally end up right around the wall midway through a run. That is something that is different than Charlotte and some of the other tracks on the circuit.”

In this case, different is better. “I like having the flexibility to be able to move around,” said Stewart. “I know that if my car isn’t driving all that well in a particular spot that I have the flexibility as a driver to move around on the racetrack. You can make a difference. It’s like Michigan where you can move around and help yourself as a driver, versus being committed and whatever you’ve got, you’ve got. It does make you feel better as a driver to know you have that flexibility.”

And so, on Sunday, Stewart will attempt to use that flexibility and strong cars to find victory lane for the first time with his new team. “All the variables and pieces are there,” he said. “If we get a little luck on our side, we’re going to nail one of these down. Every time I leave the race track, it just gives me confidence that we’re going to be something to contend with at the end of the year.”

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor 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

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