No Wins But In the Chase? Is That Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full
ATLANTA – Is the glass half-full or half-empty? Judging by the fact that Tony Stewart only needs to finish 36th or better in Saturday night’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, his glass is nearly full.
The 400-lap contest at the .75-mile oval is the cutoff race to determine what drivers vie for this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Only the top-12 drivers in points will be eligible to compete for this year’s crown.
Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, enters the last race of the regular season eighth in points with a comfortable 138-point advantage over 13th-place David Ragan The “half-full” theory says that Stewart will easily lock-up his fourth Chase birth since the inception of the Chase in 2004.
The “half-empty” theory says that Stewart is on defense at Richmond, for anything can happen at the Virginia short track, and even a 36th-place finish is far from guaranteed when the field consists of 43 cars. But with three Sprint Cup wins, five top-threes, seven top-fives and 13 top-10s in 19 career starts at the .75-mile oval, along with a total of 792 laps led – 10.4 percent of the 7,602 laps available – Stewart’s glass is just a few drops shy of capacity.
Add in his back-to-back NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins at Richmond in 2002 and 2003, along with the miles turned at Richmond wheeling a car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and USAC’s National Midget and Silver Crown divisions, and Stewart comes into Saturday night’s Chase-deciding race with the confidence becoming of a two-time Sprint Cup champion.
With a Chase berth on the line and a 10-year string of top-12 point finishes to keep intact, Stewart views Richmond as the foundation for a third title run.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing:
In the past four years of the Chase format, you’ve been locked into the Chase entering Richmond three times, with the lone exception being 2006, where you ended up missing the Chase by only 16 points. Is there pressure this time around since you’re not locked in yet, even if all you need to do is finish 36th or better?
“To be honest, I’ve never fallen into pressure. All 10 years we’ve been here in the points, we’ve just strictly dealt with it one week at a time. That’s the easiest way to approach it. What you do this week is this week. Then once this weekend is over and done, you worry about next week. It’s literally that simple for us.”
Since you’re not locked into the Chase, have you thought back to other races where you could’ve scored more points than you did?
“I just try to keep it real simple. I really don’t try to over-think it. I don’t try to over-calculate everything. I’m focused on Saturday night, then once Saturday is over with, I’ll worry about what we’re going to do for New Hampshire next week. I literally take it by a seven-day cycle at a time. California was last week, so it really doesn’t matter what we did there. We are at a totally different track race this week. So no matter what happened last week or two weeks ago or two months ago, we can’t change any of it. We’re better off taking all of our energy and focusing on this coming week instead of focusing on something we can’t change.”
Since you’ve been in the Chase three of the past four years, does that give you an advantage at Richmond other drivers don’t have?
“How you get into the Chase is the same way you win the Chase. You’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to be good. You’ve got to be good in 26 races to get in the Chase, and then you’ve got to be good for 10 races after that to win the Chase.”
With three Sprint Cup wins and two Craftsman Truck Series wins, you’ve had a lot of success at Richmond. Is it one of your favorite tracks?
“It is my favorite track. It’s not one of them, it’s the favorite track of mine on the circuit. I’ve won two Truck races and three Cup races there. It’s where I got my first win. It’s definitely a place I enjoy coming to, and considering how it factors into the Chase, it’s definitely an important stop for us.”
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