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Prospect of All-Star Dynasty Could Lure Stewart Away from Gibbs

by Tim Zaegel on June 29th, 2008

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Every now and then, thing happen in the sport that make guys like me stand up and just flat-out say, “I was wrong.” Well, this could be one of those moments …

I received a phone call this morning asking me if it was true that two-time Sprint Cup champion, Tony Stewart, had made it official that he was in fact leaving Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of this season. With all the hooplah concerning this story over the past few months, I could neither confirm nor deny the statement, but apparently on the Sirius pre-race show today, they said that it was a done deal. This, of course, contradicts the TNT pre-race show where the entire broadcast booth still feels as though it’s all up in the air, but something they said on Sirius intrigued me … they said that Stewart was holding off pursuing team ownership until he officially retired from driving. What does this mean? It means that could very well take Haas CNC Racing off the table, and make the recently opened no. 5 car over at Hendrick Motorsports the new frontrunner for a Stewart deal.

Now, all along, I’ve been a huge advocate of the fact that JD Gibbs had already stated that the team would not allow Stewart to exit his contract early, but one of the variables is whether or not there is a buyout clause included in Tony’s contract, which has yet to be confirmed. This was something I’d taken into consideration in my previous assessments of the situation, but I just didn’t feel that Haas CNC was in a position where they could really afford to buyout the final season of Tony’s contract … but, Hendrick Motorsports most certainly could.

Now, it’s no secret that Tony has expressed interest in rekindling his relationship with General Motors in the Sprint Cup Series, but I wonder how different things would be if it was Stewart that had garnered the first Cup victory for Toyota. Instead, Tony is winless in the series under the Toyota banner, and the manufacturer has since made points leader, Kyle Busch, the posterboy for their NASCAR program. Now, a move to Hendrick Motorsports probably wouldn’t make Tony the #1 guy in the organization as he once was with Gibbs, but he would be joining an all-star lineup. In fact, the addition of Stewart to a lineup that already includes Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. would have so much star power within the ranks that they would likely be looked upon in comparison to the New York Yankees of baseball, or the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. It would essentially take a dynasty organization and turn it into the dynasty organization … and, what driver wouldn’t want to have their name on that list?

I feel like the deal isn’t quite done yet at this point, but I do feel the need to retract some of my earlier comments and apologize to the folks at ESPN, as Sirius also reported that ESPN has been granted the exclusive power to sit in on some of these meetings. And, if all of this does in fact hold true, then the Stewart deal would very well dictate how the remaining dominoes fall in NASCAR’s Silly Season, as drivers like Ryan Newman are reportedly holding out to see how this one plays out. The story there is that Haas CNC could wind up with both drivers in their camp next season, which would be a dramatic turnaround for that organization from where they are now. Very interesting to see how this all sorts itself out, and how much Tony has truly effected the lives this season of so many involved in NASCAR.

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