Tony Stewart 2010 Preview, Predictions & Odds

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Tony Stewart 2009 Stats

Tony Stewart 2009 Recap & Review

Going from an established team at Joe Gibbs Racing to part ownership of a team that ran mid-pack at best most weeks was a gamble, and a huge one at that. But Tony Stewart has never been one to back down from a challenge, and in 2009 he joined Gene Haas as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. Expectations were mixed, and while most fans and media thought the team could win, contending for a championship was out of the question.

They were wrong. Stewart started the year by finishing in the top 10 at Daytona … and Fontana, Atlanta, Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix, Richmond and Darlington, leaving him a surprising second in the standings by mid-May. Then came the All-Star race which Stewart won, upping the momentum with a points-paying victory at Pocono three weeks later. Adding victories at Daytona and Watkins Glen, he charged into the championship lead for most of the summer, relinquishing it to Mark Martin only when the points were reset for the Chase.

But in August, Stewart showed signs of fading. Four straight finishes outside the top 10 left him limping into the playoffs, and a 14th at Loudon left him too far behind to catch up. A win at Kansas briefly resurrected his title hopes, but no top 5s in the final six races killed them quickly en route to a silent sixth in points.

Still, Stewart boasted four wins, 15 top 5s and 23 top lOs, with an average finish of 10.4 – easily the best performance for an owner/driver since Alan Kulwicki won the Cup championship in 1992.

Tony Stewart 2010 Preview & Prediction

USAC Triple Crown championship? Check. Indy Racing League championship? Check. NASCAR Cup Series championship? Check. Contend for a Cup title as an owner/driver, something almost unheard of in today’s NASCAR? Check. The only item left for Tony Stewart to check off his bucket list is to win the whole shebang in his own car — and he will certainly give his best effort to do just that in 2010.

Taking the next step and that championship trophy will be a difficult task. But the single biggest thing the team has going for it heading to Daytona and beyond is Tony Stewart himself. One of, if not the most naturally gifted driver on the Cup circuit, he has raced, and won, in almost any kind of vehicle. He’s backed up that raw talent with behind-the-scenes maturity that helped him take his team from perpetual backmarker to weekly contender by the middle of last season, winning the regular season points title in a landslide.

His No. 14 team (he chose the number in honor of longtime hero A.J. Foyt) has had a full year to jell under the eye of crew chief Darian Grubb, who also boasts an impressive résumé. Grubb led Jimmie Johnson to the 2006 Daytona 500 win as an interim crew chief, and he was one of Hendrick Motorsports’ most valued engineers before moving to Stewart-Haas Racing.

With Grubb’s leadership, pit stops shouldn’t pose any problems, nor should preparation under director of competition Bobby Hutchens, the team’s unsung hero. Sponsors Office Depot and Old Spice will return in 2010, with Burger King on the hood for a pair of races as well. Car ownership seems to suit Stewart to a tee, and he has proven that with the right connections and the right people, the owner/driver idea is not dead in NASCAR.

So the team has a talented driver, great chemistry and some of the best chassis and engines in the garage from Hendrick Motorsports … the perfect combination, right? Ironically, it might be that Hendrick connection that keeps Stewart out of the title hunt. While Hendrick doles out equipment as close to equal as possible, there’s some question whether that continues once the playoffs begin; after all, Hendrick’s own teams are also running for the title. Favoritism in the equipment department is a claim both Stewart and Hendrick emphatically deny, although the stats are hard to ignore: The three Hendrick-supported cars in the Chase wound up 1-2-3 in the final standings ahead of SHR’s two teams.

Stewart’s streaky tendencies will also make or break him. When he goes on a hot streak, as he often does in the mid-to-late summer, he’s as formidable as anyone on the racetrack. But under the Chase, the streak has to come in October and November, months where Stewart has cooled off a bit through the years — though to his credit, he does have a title in the Chase system.

To bring his team a championship, Stewart will have to buck the trend and do more with slightly less in the fall. Considering the strength of those teams ahead of him, that’s far easier said than done.

Tony Stewart 2010 Predictions

We predict that Tony Stewart will finish 6th in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Tony Stewart Betting & Odds

Tony Stewart NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship Odds: +1000

Tony Stewart Betting Trends & Situations

• after finishing 6th to 10th, average finish is 13.4
• when racing in February, average finish is 15.6

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