Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

I won’t doubt Tony Stewart this time

The financial earthquake this country has suffered continues to produce aftershocks in the sport of stock car racing. Chevrolet has reduced financial support to its Cup teams. As a result, Richard Childress Racing has had to get in line with other creditors who are owed money from bankrupt General Motors. There’s also speculation that he may have to downsize to two teams if all of the sponsors don’t return next season. In addition, the crisis at the Chrysler Corp. is forcing Richard Petty Motorsports to consider switching to another manufacturer. And there’s talk that Earnhardt Ganassi Racing may dump Chevrolet.

But in the midst of all this chaos, Tony Stewart, who leads the points standings in his first year as an owner-driver, is considering adding a third team to his operation. On Friday Stewart told SceneDaily.com: “That’s not something that I think five or six weeks ago that we would have felt comfortable saying but, I mean, I think right now we’re in a position where I think we would be very open to listening to potential sponsors and opportunities to possibly grow.”

If we were talking about any owner other than Tony Stewart, I would suggest that such an idea was the result of the owner-driver having hit his head one too many times on the roll cage. But after witnessing the impressive performance of the newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing, a performance I didn’t think was possible so soon, I’m reluctant to question the move to include a third team.

It goes without saying that the challenge of starting a team in this economic mess is difficult. But so was the challenge of starting Stewart-Haas Racing in this environment. And Tony is making that work.

There aren’t as many sponsorship dollars to go around as there were a few years ago. So if a company wants to spend money in NASCAR, it’s going to go with an organization that is proving it can produce results regardless of the challenges.

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