Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 9:10 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tony Stewart will be racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, but the big question is whether he will be running here next May -- in the Indianapolis 500 -- with team owner Chip Ganassi.
Rumors have been circulating for months that Ganassi is looking to hire Stewart away from Joe Gibbs Racing to drive one of Ganassi's NASCAR Winston Cup Dodges. Among the reported incentives Ganassi might be offering Stewart are a $5 million annual salary and a guaranteed ride in the Indianapolis 500. There also have been reports that Dodge might help Ganassi buy out the final year of Stewart's contract.
Stewart said this week that he is signed with Gibbs through the 2004 season and Gibbs told reporters that he has sent a long-term contract proposal to Stewart's representatives. Stewart said that because he still has a year remaining on his contract with Gibbs, he doesn't consider re-signing a "pressing issue." He also downplayed the rumors that he has been talking with Ganassi.
"I saw Chip at the track last Sunday and said 'hi' when I walked by," Stewart said. "Other than that, I haven't really talked to Chip very much. I guess the thing that everybody has missed is that the month of June and the month of July are the two busiest months of my schedule; we've been pretty busy on the road running dirt races and everything else, so we really haven't had a lot of time to do anything with this.
"But Joe has sent me a proposal to extend my contract and like I said, we've really been on the road so we haven't had a lot of time. It's not been a real pressing issue because I still have another year on my contract after this year. So, for some reason, everybody else is putting a bigger press on that than I have so far. Joe and I have been working fine on it so far, so it hasn't been a big issue."
Gibbs said the contract extension is going through the normal process, although he added that he didn't know if Stewart would re-sign or not.
"Obviously I don't have the answer," Gibbs said. "But I would expect him to stay here. Our No. 1 job as a race team is to make sure we're in the forefront of what's going on and that any driver would think he has a chance to win in our stuff. If you have great stuff, we think we have a great chance to keep our drivers happy.
"When you go through a process like this, you've got to make the best preparation and make the best offer and we feel good about it. I think Tony is going through a process, too, on his side and has all of his people analyzing things. The fact that it is a long-term deal means that there are a lot of tax ramifications and there are also different ways to take the money. Those are the kind of things we're going through now."
For the time being, Stewart said his sole focus is on Saturday's qualifying session for the Brickyard 400 and Sunday's race. A native of nearby Rushville, Ind., Stewart said winning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a lifelong dream.
"If you take the one thing in life that you're most passionate about and apply it in your life, it would be easy to understand what it means to me," Stewart said of racing at Indy. "There's something in everybody's life that they're very passionate about. To me, it's winning at the Brickyard.
"It's just a situation that it only happens once a year. That's the hard part; it's not something that everyday you can accomplish that goal."
"We've been working diligently on fire prevention and fire containment at the NASCAR Research and Development Center over the last few months," NASCAR's Gary Nelson said. "After researching and testing various systems, we felt this was the most viable one for containment of potential fires coming from the fuel cell area."
In addition to the fire-extinguishing device, NASCAR said it would test a roof escape hatch for drivers next week in Lincoln, Neb. The hatch would give driver an alternate means of exit from a car in an emergency situation.
Busch, in his first season in the series, leads the IROC standings with 57 points. He won the event at Talladega Superspeedway in April, finished second in the opener at Daytona in February and was third in the most recent race, last month at Chicagoland Speedway.
"Another goal of mine this weekend is to hold on to the points lead through the final IROC race," Busch said. "The plan is to get out there and lead as many laps as possible. I would love to add my name to the list of champions in that series."
Mike Bliss is second with 49 points and Mark Martin is third with 48. The series winner will earn $250,000.
ESPN will televise the race on a tape-delayed basis at 10 a.m. (PDT) Sunday.
Maxwell will drive the car in place of Christian Fittipaldi, who will be driving the No. 44 Petty Dodge with sponsorship from the New York Yankees at Watkins Glen.
Included in NBC's arsenal are a lipstick-sized camera buried in the grass just inside Turn 1 and two others embedded in the outside walls in Turns 2 and 4 that are designed to give the viewer a sense of speed as the cars drive past the cameras.
archive
