Loose in Turn 3 (4/18/08)
April 18, 2008 by Tim Zaegel
Filed under Racing
Welcome once again, folks, to another rendition of Loose in Turn 3 with your weekly hosts, Bruce Simmons (Bruce’s Bits & Pieces), Tim Zaegel (Do You NASCAR), and Charlie Turner (On Pit Row). Please be sure to visit all three websites to get caught up on the complete discussion between this week’s three topics, and always, please leave plenty of feedback. Thanks and enjoy!
Will Tony Stewart still be 100% committed to Toyota in the Cup Series in 2009?
TZ: Yes. I truly believe he’s 100% committed to Joe, and I think that goes a long way with a guy like Tony. Forget about the extra cash he can draw with RCR fielding a fourth team. If that were to ever happen, Smoke would wait until the team established itself inside the top-35. As for this business with CNC Haas, I can see a likelihood of something happening there, but guaranteed that it means that team makes a conversion to Toyota as well. I have to imagine that there’s a clause somewhere in his contract that would allow otherwise.
Charlie: In 2008? You’re kidding right? What – do you think Stewart is just “going through the motions”? What would be the motivation for THAT? Is his negotiating postition with ANYBODY going to improve if he pouts his way through 36 Cup races? He has a contract to drive Toyota powered, NASCAR Cup racers for the next two years. He’s paid millions to do that. He’s arguably the most competetive driver on the circuit. He’s a two-time Cup Series champion. He has a legacy that is un-finished. He might just freakin’ love driving for Joe Gibbs and the Toyota folks. You don’t and I don’t – know. My answer to your question is – yes.
Bruce: This is an interesting scenario. In the past, Tony’s voiced his thoughts about not driving to the point that fans were calling into his Sirius Satellite show worried he was not going to continue driving in the foreseeable future. Yet Tony is a competitor and if he has a hankering to drive, it will be to his utmost ability. As far as being committed to Toyota, his Tony Stewart Racing teams have all remained in the Chevy camp.. that must be an interesting set of contracts with the manufacturers, but Tony’s loyalty is probably with Gibbs, and subsequently, Toyota. I’ve always been under the impression that Tony’s garage is full of Chevy’s.
the Rest of this Discussion:
- Should NASCAR Go to a More Structured Drug Testing Policy?
-What Do You Guys Think of the Fox Coverage at the Beginning of the Phoenix Race?
I’m sorry guys, but I can definitley see Stewart giving up the Cup Series in a few years. He strikes me as the type that gets easily fed up with nonsense, and that is exactly what he is thinking 80% of the time. He has expressed interests in the past about wanting to give up the Cup and just get back to “fun” racing down on the lower hometown circuits. I don’t know how fun that would be for the majority of racers he would be beating up on. I also don’t know if his “out of my league” girl friend would stick around if that happened.
While Stewart may have expressed such opinions in the past, I think it’s typically just been the result of the frustration that he feels when dealing with all of the politics that NASCAR has to offer. At the end of the day, though, Stewart wants to be the absolute best, and he wants the world to acknowledge that … he won’t get that on the hometown dirt tracks.
I could see stewart driving for rcr next year. Dont be too suprised if this happens!