Tony Stewart? Back In A Chevy?

by Diecast Dude on Apr 23, 2008 7:22 PM EDT

(Updates at bottom.)

Given the source about rumors of Tony Stewart seeking a break from Joe Gibbs Racing in favor of team ownership and with it a return to Chevrolet, you have to start out with "consider the source." That said...

Tony Stewart? Back in a Chevy? ... didn't I say something along these lines back in January?

Here's my hunch: Stewart and Gibbs agree to go their separate ways at the end of the year, and it won't be pretty. Stewart then buys all or part of Haas/CNC Racing. Ah, but it doesn't stop there. Stewart, taking a cue from Dale Earnhardt, decides it's in his best interest to not mix ownership and driving. And so...

... ladies and gentlemen, introducing the latest addition to the Hendrick Motorsports family, the new driver of the #5 car for 2009 and beyond, Mr. Tony Stewart.

Yes, there could be an issue having Home Depot, which I suspect will go with Stewart no matter what, and Lowe's under the same team's umbrella. But I'm quite sure all parties concerned can work it out.

Anyway, that's my guess. Take it for whatever it's worth. And now, back to our regularly scheduled waiting for the Talladega terrordome's roar this weekend.

UPDATE: An addition to the "consider the source" comment: a far more reliable source, namely Lee Spencer, first mentioned this story on April 12th, making Marty Smith's column on it dated April 24th warmed over leftover's from someone else's kitchen. Then again, ESPN writers are quite accomplished in this area (*coughterryblountcough*). Tom Bowles from Sports Illustrated chimed in on the story the day before Smith wrote his column.

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by Crazy20fan on Apr 23, 2008 11:47 PM EDT 0 recs

We are Hendrick.

Resistance is futile.

You will be... assimilated.

by Diecast Dude on Apr 24, 2008 1:16 AM EDT up 0 recs

but it doesn't stop there...

Right, it doesn't stop there.

Smoke goes to Haas, after Haas is bought by Paul Menard. Then along comes Martin Truex Jr (see page 11) who decides to join the party after deciding DEI is in fact a museum.

by Marc on Apr 24, 2008 3:15 AM EDT 0 recs

Interesting, but there's some sloppy reporting

The article states Stewart's contract with JGR expires at the end of this season, when in fact it runs through 2009.

by Diecast Dude on Apr 24, 2008 12:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

Not sure...

... it can be laid at the feet of sloppy reporting. I get the impression by some of the comments by both Smoke and a couple JGR people the '09 part of the contract is one of those "yeah we've gotcha but..." clauses to the original contract.

by Marc on Apr 24, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up 0 recs

How Dare He Drive a Chevy

Imagine the backlash from fans disgusted with Stewart for driving a car with decals of a manufacturer that builds their cars outside the USA. Uh never mind.

Seriously, I wonder if Stewart really wants to get into Cup ownership. It seems like Eldora and his Sprint car teams are where his ownership passion truly lies. Cup is not the guaranteed boon it was four or five years ago. If there is no ownership factor, then RCR's 4th car makes a lot of sense.

Dreaming for a second, imagine the future if Jr, Stewart and Harvick were all powerhouse owners in 15 years.

by mike on Apr 24, 2008 2:29 PM EDT 0 recs

They blame it on the "unnamed sources."

Neither Smith nor Blount will admit that they were in error in reporting that it was likely that Stewart would leave JGR at the end of this year. Gibbs, Stewart, and even Stewart's business manager, Arbiginigniwhatever have all said Stewart is staying at least through 2009. It's the "unnamed sources" fault for giving them bad information Shouldn't there be more immediate silly season stuff to start rumors about, like the trade between Penske and Roush involving Biffle and Newman? Unnamed sources told me that could possibly happen.

by RevJim on Apr 25, 2008 6:47 PM EDT 0 recs

Edit

I can never remember the name of Tony's business manager, and nothing racist was meant by my intentional mispelling--I was merely typing random letters and what came out was unintentional. I can never remember the name of Stewart's business manager, and I didn't want to call him "Ahmadinijad"

by RevJim on Apr 26, 2008 5:00 AM EDT up 0 recs

It's the Jayski school of "journalism"

Throw any and every rumor you hear out there for the sake of being able to call "first!" Then print the denials while never genuinely retracting or correcting your original insinuation, thus allowing doubt to linger even more than it already is via the original accusation itself. When questioned about your actions, absolve yourself of all responsibility with the "hey I don't know I'm just saying is all" defense. Should you be pressed on the matter, dig in and pull out the "well it's what I was told by a reliable source which of course I can't reveal because of confidentially" line. Then wait for a few days while the heat blows over and hope people forget the whole thing just as soon as the next story breaks.

At least when I speculate on something I say I'm speculating, not throwing whatever will generate Internet heat out there and then pleading innocence joined at the hip with ignorance when challenged.

by Diecast Dude on Apr 26, 2008 1:34 PM EDT up 0 recs

During the Nationwide race...

even the announcer guys were discussing Tony's love of Chevy. The ABC guys also claim that Tony has explicitly stated that he doesn't want out of his contract early. However, they also seem to think that Tony wants to start his own cup team. All of that was their speculation of course, but hey, the story is gaining momentum....

by MindyL78 on Apr 26, 2008 5:08 PM EDT 0 recs