Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/National Wild Turkey Federation Chevrolet for SHR, finished 17th to end a five-race streak of top-five finishes in the non-points event.

Jimmie Johnson won the All-Star Race. It was his third All-Star Race win and his ninth Sprint Cup victory at Charlotte.

Brad Keselowski finished .841 of a second behind Johnson in the runner-up spot, while Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., rounded out the top-five. Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne and Newman comprised the remainder of the top-10.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to point-paying racing Sunday, May 27 with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. The longest race on the Sprint Cup schedule gets underway at 6 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Stewart’s walk-off win in the season finale, however, didn’t exactly prevail in a landslide among voting by members of the news media.

Trevor Bayne’s historic Daytona 500 victory – which opened the year on a spectacular note at Daytona International Speedway – barely missed out on the No. 1 spot. Below are the top 10 vote-getters from 2011.

1-Tony Stewart’s Homestead-Miami Clincher

Stewart trailed Carl Edwards by three points entering the 10th and final race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. Both drivers had predicted the championship wouldn’t be decided until the final lap, and they were right. Edwards, who started on the pole, led the most laps while Stewart yo-yoed through the field after fixing damage to the front of his Chevrolet. Amazingly, Stewart took the lead with 36 laps remaining. Edwards, in second place, stayed in full-out pursuit mode until the checkered flag waved, but finished 1.306 seconds behind Stewart. Both drivers scored 2,403 points with the tiebreaker – five wins to one – falling in Stewart’s favor.

2-Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 Win

Winning The Great American Race is a career achievement no matter how many races or championships are won elsewhere. Example: Seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt needed 20 starts to win his Daytona 500 at age 46. All of which made Bayne’s victory both surprising and historic. Bayne, at age 20 years and one day, was making just his second NASCAR Sprint Cup start, although his team – the legendary Wood Brothers – had won the Daytona 500 on four previous occasions. Bayne, who started 32nd and led only the final six laps as a record 74 lead changes were recorded became the youngest Daytona 500 winner and just the seventh to make the race his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory. The win was Ford’s 600th and 98th for the Wood Brothers.

3-Brad Keselowski’s Wreckers-to-Checkers Win at Pocono

Playing hurt is the measure of athletic success, as Brad Keselowski won August’s Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway just days after breaking his left ankle in a road course testing accident. Few might have projected a healthy Keselowski as a Pocono favorite. He’d won at Kansas Speedway earlier in the summer, but came to Pennsylvania ranked 21st in points. The race turned out to be a coming-out party for the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion, who followed the performance with three more top-three finishes capped by a Bristol victory, a Chase wild card berth and a fifth place finish in final NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.

4-Jeff Gordon’s 85th NASCAR Sprint Cup Win

Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon fell short in his title bid, but the 2011 season was his first with multiple victories since 2007. He broke a 66-race winless streak at Phoenix International Raceway in February, added another win at Pocono Raceway in June and scored a historic 85th career victory in a weather-delayed AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September. Atlanta’s victory gave Gordon sole possession of third among all NASCAR Sprint Cup winners, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bobby Allison and soon-to-be-inducted Darrell Waltrip.

5-Regan Smith’s Southern 500 Win

What Trevor Bayne began in February, Regan Smith continued in May. Smith entered Darlington Raceway’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 with a lean resume to say the least: no wins, top fives or top 10s in 104 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts. Smith, then 27, became the upset winner of NASCAR’s oldest “crown jewel.” He led just the final 11 laps and held off Carl Edwards by 0.196 seconds to give Furniture Row Racing – a team headquartered in Colorado – its first series victory.

6-Jimmie Johnson’s Aaron’s 499 Win at Talladega

At the time, Jimmie Johnson’s final-lap victory – with an assist by teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. – appeared to be an early harbinger of a sixth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Johnson’s second Talladega Superspeedway win – and 54th overall – boosted him from fourth to second in the point standings. The race matched records for lead changes (88) and margin of victory under electronic scoring (0.002 seconds).

7-Paul Menard Holds Off Jeff Gordon to Win Brickyard 400

Surprise winners in 2011, take three. For much of its 19 years, Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Brickyard 400 had been won by the greatest names in NASCAR: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, bill Elliott – champions all. No first-time winners in the bunch – until this July. Midwesterner Paul Menard wound up kissing the start-finish line bricks after prevailing in a torrid battle with four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon. Menard joined Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne and SHOWTIME Southern 500 winner Regan Smith to score a first victory on the schedule’s largest stages.

8-Austin Dillon Becomes Youngest NASCAR Camping World Truck Champion

Though a number of young drivers have used their experience in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as a springboard to NASCAR Sprint Cup success – think Carl Edwards, among others – veteran drivers, for the most part, have had a stranglehold on its championships. Only Travis Kvapil (age 27 in 2003) was younger than 30 in the series’ first 16 seasons. All that changed in 2011 as third-generation driver Austin Dillon, 21, became the youngest to win an NCWTS title. Dillon, a two-time winner, finished six points ahead of NASCAR national series veteran Johnny Sauter. Dillon, Richard Childress’ grandson, returned a title to RCR that Mike Skinner won in the series’ 1995 inaugural season.

9-Danica Patrick Posts Best Finish in NASCAR by a Female Driver

All agreed that Danica Patrick’s part-time NASCAR career was on the upswing in its second season. Patrick proved that with an exclamation point on March 5 with a solid, fourth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The performance was record-setting: Patrick became not only the highest-finishing female driver in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race but also in any NASCAR national series event. Patrick’s feat broke a record from NASCAR’s earliest years – Sara Christian’s fifth-place finish in a NASCAR Sprint Cup (then Strictly Stock) race on Oct. 2, 1949 at Heidelberg, Pa.

10-2010 Sunoco Rookies-of-the-Year Win Championship

Two NASCAR national series champions gave media and fans yet another reason to keep an eye on the newcomers. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., whose uneven performance nearly cost him his job with Roush Fenway Racing in 2010, recovered to claim NASCAR Nationwide Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. Roush’s faith was rewarded as Stenhouse won twice en route to the 2011 championship. Austin Dillon’s rookie of the year run in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wasn’t quite so dramatic but like Stenhouse, he “graduated” to the champion’s chair. The season marked the first time that both Nationwide and truck rookies became champions in their sophomore years.

Photo by Jerry Markland - Getty Images for NASCAR

Rick Hendrick could—15 years ago. But Stewart turned down a job offer from Hendrick because he didn’t feel he was ready for the Sprint Cup Series.

At that point, the sum total of Stewart’s stock car experience amounted to a handful of Nationwide races for owner Harry Ranier.

“In the fall of ’96 I got a call, and Rick’s organization had offered me the 25 car,” Stewart said Wednesday at a press conference at Levine Children’s Hospital to announce details of his Prelude to the Dream dirt Late Model charity race. “I’d only run eight (actually nine) Nationwide races that year, so I just didn’t feel that I’d earned the right and wasn’t sure that I was ready to make that step to the Cup series and risk not being successful because I didn’t have enough practice at that time to go there.

“Rick and I’ve never forgot that, and that was what made the Nationwide win at Daytona so special a couple of years ago when we won in Rick’s car. We said it was 12 years in the making. I’m kidding you there, but that’s what made it so special, that we got to do what we tried to do once before. I’ve always respected Rick, and Rick’s always been great to me since I started. It’s hard to have the kind of relationship we have with each other when we were rivals, I guess, to a certain degree.”

In retrospect, Stewart believes he made the right choice. His relationship with Hendrick has grown stronger in recent years, not only because of their common interest in charity work but also because of a business relationship. Now the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart gets engines, chassis and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports.

“I was honored that I got that opportunity, but I feel like, hindsight being 20-20, that we made the right decision,” Stewart said of the decision to decline Hendrick’s offer. “I know I would have had the best of everything if I had gone there, but I wasn’t sure that I was ready for the kind of equipment that I was going to be given. Now we’re getting to work with him directly with our partnership with Stewart-Haas, so it’s kind of made full circle now. …

“I think it was the first time that I ever was in a situation where I had to turn somebody down. It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, but I think the one thing with Rick and I—I don’t know many people who could tell Rick Hendrick ‘No,’ that could get an opportunity like that and tell him ‘No.’ But I think Rick understood what my theory was behind it and why I did it. I think in long run Rick has always respected that.”

Johnson’s win at Eldora surprises many
On June 8, Jimmie Johnson will have the chance to defend a title that has nothing to do with any of his five Sprint Cup championships.

Last year, Johnson was the surprise wire-to-wire winner of Tony Stewart’s Prelude to the Dream dirt Late Model charity race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Johnson accomplished the formidable task of holding off Stewart, the track owner, and dirt-track superstar Clint Bowyer for the victory.

Rick Hendrick, Johnson’s team owner in the Cup series, was just as surprised as everyone else by Johnson’s triumph.

“It was surprising,” Hendrick acknowledged Wednesday at a press conference to announce details of this year’s charity race (8 p.m. ET June 8 on HBO Pay-Per-View). “Jimmie is good on off-road, and he’d done stadium trucks a long time ago, but usually when you go to that race, you’ve got to beat Tony.

“It did elevate his stature among the other drivers. It’s almost like if you took them to a golf course. They want to beat each other in a really bad way. I think these guys are so competitive, and it meant a lot to him. I had Tony and several people say they were surprised at how well he did.”

The NASCAR HOTPASS lineup for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway is as follows:

DIRECTV Channel 795: Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet team of Stewart-Haas Racing will make his 405th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 23rd at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway … Has one win (October 2003) and 11 top-10 finishes in 22 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1.5-mile oval … The 39-year-old Columbus, Ind., native has won 37 races and has 234 top-10 finishes in 404 Sprint Cup starts … 2010 marks Stewart’s 12th full year in Sprint Cup and he won the points championship in 2002 and 2005 … Started 16th and finished ninth two weeks ago at Dover (Del.) International Speedway … Ranks 14th in Sprint Cup points with four top-10 finishes.

DIRECTV Channel 796: Jimmie Johnson will make his 304th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 18th at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway … Has six wins, three poles and 13 top-10 finishes in 17 starts at the 1.5-mile oval … The 34-year-old from El Cajon, Calif., has 50 wins and 187 top-10 finishes in 303 Sprint Cup starts … 2010 marks Johnson’s ninth full year in Sprint Cup and he won the points championship in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 … Started fifth and finished 16th two weeks ago at Dover (Del.) International Speedway … Ranks fourth in Sprint Cup Series points with three victories.

DIRECTV Channel 797: Dale Earnhardt Jr., will make his 376th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 22nd at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway … Has one pole (May 2000) and nine top-10 finishes in 22 starts at the 1.5-mile oval … The 35-year-old Kannapolis, N.C., native has won 18 races and has 145 top-10 finishes in 375 Sprint Cup starts … 2010 marks Earnhardt’s 11th full year in Sprint Cup with a career-best point finish of third in 2003 … Won 1998 and 1999 NASCAR Nationwide Series championships … Started 27th and finished 30th two weeks ago at Dover (Del.) International Speedway … Ranks 16th in Sprint Cup points with three top-10 finishes.

DIRECTV Channel 798: Carl Edwards will make his 206th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 11th at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway … Has seven top-10 finishes in 10 starts at the 1.5-mile oval … The 30-year-old Columbia, Mo., native has won 16 races and has 105 top-10 finishes in 205 Sprint Cup starts … Captured 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series title … 2010 marks Edwards’ sixth full year in Sprint Cup with a career-best point finish of second in 2008 … Started ninth and finished eighth two weeks ago at Dover (Del.) International Speedway … Ranks 10th in Sprint Cup points with six top-10 finishes.

NASCAR HOTPASS is available free to all DIRECTV customers. More information is available at www.directv.com/hotpass.

[nichemate]0,1,1,’Ryan Newman’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]

HAVE YOU HAD TIME TO LOOK BACK AND SEE HOW THE SEASON WENT?
“Yeah, we’ve had time but honestly we don’t take time to really do that because we’re so focused on this year and at the same time if you spend time thinking about things we’ve accomplished I guess we’re not thinking about the things we can accomplish. With the U.S. Army I’m extremely proud and honored to represent them and look forward to 2010. We have had a really good year. If we’d win one race it would be a great year in my eyes but we have one more shot at that here in Homestead and I feel that we’ll have a competitive race car. It’s the same car we had at Texas and Kansas. Just kind of a catch 22, we look forward to this race but also look forward to the end of this season. You get to do some things and kind of regroup with the team because we didn’t know what to expect going into 2009. We’ve got a good group of guys with Tony Gibson leading them. I think we can come out of the box really strong in Daytona in 2010.”

WHEN YOU START NEXT YEAR HOW MUCH FURTHER ALONG DO YOU FEEL YOU’LL BE AS FAR AS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TONY GIBSON AND WHAT YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER AND HOW YOU WILL WORK TOGETHER?
“Really it’s all the guys. Tony is the leader but all the guys have a huge impact. For instance, not many people know this, but going into basically this time or I guess it was December of last year or the first of January, we went to test at New Smyrna, our only off-season test and Tony Gibson had kidney stones so he didn’t even get to go to our first test together. It will be interesting to see how we can do a little bit of off-season testing to kind of sharpen our pencils up for 2010. Realistically just building on the relationships that we’ve got and working on the race cars. I think we have great relationships we just have to use those relationships to polish up the race cars and be ready for 2010.”

YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT COMING INTO THIS YEAR, HAVE YOU HAD ANY PLEASANT SURPRISES OTHER THAN PERFORMANCE?
“Honestly just the teamwork, the friendships I’ve created, the relationship with Tony Stewart, all of the people parts of it has been a pleasant surprise because I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t take time to expect because if you expect high things then you can be disappointed very easily. So I went into it with the mindset of let’s just do my job, focus and work together and see what happens. We’ve created a lot of good chemistry. We’ve got our problems just like any other race team out there, except the No. 48 (laughter). Everybody has a little problem here or there but that’s part of life and that’s part of working as a team. Just what we can do to be better and work together better in 2010 is what we’re focused on. A good run here, not even a win but a good run here will do a lot of things for our team in the off-season.”

YOU HAD AN INTERESTING INTRODUCTION TO JUAN PABLO (MONTOYA) HERE A FEW YEARS AGO, TALK ABOUT THAT AND HOW YOU’VE SEEN HIM MATURE AS A DRIVER.
“Honestly that was a crazy race. I got inside of him in the middle of (turns) one and two and spun coming off of turn two and we both went back to the back. I think we were almost to the end of the lead lap at the time and we went down into turn one and he turned right across my nose to go down to the bottom line and basically dumped himself but it wasn’t looked upon as that way because of the previous incident that we had. He’s done a great job in my opinion of adapting to a stock car. Very few drivers have been successful at doing that. There’s drivers that have done it but have not been as successful from an open-wheel standpoint. I think he’s learned how to points race and he’s learned how to race with a bunch of guys that he struggled with at the start of his career here. I think he’s done a lot of great things. Obviously he’s very popular here in South Florida. The closer you get to the equator the more popular he is I think (laughter).”

WHEN YOU WERE OVER AT PENSKE YOU REALLY NEVER HAD A TEAMMATE TO WORK WITH, YOU ARE IN AN ORGANIZATION THAT HAS THRIVED WITH TEAMMATES WHETHER IT’S OVER AT HENDRICK OR THE INFORMATION THAT YOU GUYS GET AND YOU’RE ABLE TO SHARE AND BUILD UPON, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PROS AND CONS OF EACH?
“I did have a good teammate in Kurt Busch. We got along really well off the race track and on the race track and we were very respectful to each other and never didn’t get along. But I think now having Tony Stewart and the four Hendrick teams as information sharers we have a great backbone of teamwork and I think that definitely helps. Sometimes we catch ourselves reading too many notes instead of just working on our race car and that’s a good thing to have but you have to control and filter that information in the right directions. I’m very grateful to be in a position that we are to have that information and to have Tony Stewart as a teammate and just look forward to expanding upon that next year.”

IS THERE A HUGE DIFFERENCE THOUGH?
“There is a huge difference in the way the teams work together therefore in the way the driver’s work together compared to my Rusty (Wallace) and Ryan day’s verses what I have now for sure. I mean 180 bend. I would say polar opposite but you might read into that too much.”

SO MUCH OF WHAT JIMMIE JOHNSON HAS ACCOMPLISHED FLIES IN THE FACE THAT EVERYTHING NASCAR HAS DONE FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS SUCH AS CHANGING RULES AND DESIGNS TO PROMOTE CLOSE COMPETITION, THE CHASE, THERE WOULD SEEM TO BE SO FEW OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP THE KIND OF ADVANTAGE THAT JOHNSON, HENDRICK, CHEVROLET ALL HAVE DEVELOPED, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
“Just the same way. I feel it’s an evolution over time of them working together and creating every little advantage together that they possibly can. You look at Jimmie and Chad’s tenure together its one of the longest to my knowledge. Not the longest but one of the longest in the sport so that makes a big difference as well.

“So as much as you can create those advantages and keep those advantages together as the evolution of the sport happens the more things you have together the stronger you will be. We’ve seen especially with this car as the gap is narrowed between the competition levels of the cars that’s gotten tighter any kind of advantage seems to be a bigger advantage than it used to be and that’s a big part of it. We were talking about this a little yesterday that as technology has become involved in the sport it has gotten much more similar in competition levels because guys can build the exact same pieces and buy the exact pieces where it used to be more hand-made. It just seems like technology has changed the sport a lot. It’s not ruined it by any means but changed it a lot to the point that you have to create your advantages elsewhere. It seems to be more people related than it is part related.”

NOW THAT THE CARS ARE ALIKE, WHAT NOW HAS A HUGE ADVANTAGE?
“To me one of the biggest parts of a driver’s speed in confidence and if you don’t have confidence in the people that you are working around then it doesn’t matter how fast the race car is, it’s not going to go fast and it’s not going to be fast and you’re not going to make the right decisions. You might have the fastest race car of the day and make the dumbest mistakes. So that people part of it I think is what really drives that pure overall performance to get those four championships in a row, or three championships in a row or whatever it is.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT YEAR AFTER THE YEAR YOU AND YOUR TEAM HAS HAD, WHAT DO YOU KIND OF SEE?
“I think it’s an important year for us as an organization because we’ve done a lot of great things with people’s lesser expectations I would say. I think next year people are going to have a lot higher expectations. It’s not necessarily us of ourselves but other people of us and it’s important that we deliver from our standpoint and your guy’s eyes because you sit there and type articles about Stewart-Haas should have done this and should have done that then the sponsors aren’t going to want to come to Stewart-Haas any more. It makes a big difference and the impressions we can create based on the performances that we’ve had and the expectations that people think of us if that makes any sense.”

HAVE YOU BECOME MORE GIVING, WHERE BEFORE YOU WOULD SORT OF PROTECT AND SORT OF BE A LONER AND NOW THAT YOU’VE MADE THIS FRIENDSHIP WITH TONY STEWART . . .
“I’ve been a loner?”

YEAH, YOU HAVE BEEN A LONER IN THE PAST AND IT WAS KIND OF THE WAY YOU RACED, BUT IT SEEMS MAYBE YOU’VE CHANGED IN FINDING THAT FRIENDSHIP AND THAT NICHE WITH TONY STEWART AND STEWART-HAAS?
“I like Tony Stewart’s enemies. Yeah, I agree with what you’re saying but I think each year you get to do these things, you get a little more experience and you come out of your shell just a little farther. You’ve got to be careful that you don’t stick your head out too far because you can get it whacked off. Realistically it’s still been a lot of fun this year working with him (Tony Stewart) and doing the things we’ve done. I have created a lot more friends and I think he’s created some of my friends and that’s a big part of the teamwork that we’re talking about and that chemistry.”

YOU SAID YOU CAME INTO THE YEAR WITH NO EXPECTATIONS, IF SOMEBODY WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE THIS SEASON STARTED YOU’LL FINISH IN THE TOP-10 IN POINTS WOULD YOU HAVE THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD SEASON?
“Absolutely, going back to the competition levels of the sport and the fact that we’re a new team and part of a new organization I think that’s successful. Am I disappointed if we don’t win? Yeah. Am I disappointed if we don’t win the championship? Yes, absolutely but is it successful in some form, yes and then you have to build on those successes and those positive notes to bring more success. I think our team has done a very good job with that and at the same time at the No. 39 team we’ve kind of rode off the coat tails of the No. 14 team in respect to their wins. That’s been big for our organization as well. As an organization we’ve done even better things but for our team yes, I would say that’s its successful.”

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO YOU ABOUT THE CHASE, MAYBE THE EMOTIONS OR WHATEVER DO YOU THINK MAYBE SOMETIMES FANS AREN’T QUITE AWARE OF?
“The Chase is the reward after getting to the Chase. I think that there’s way more emotions, there’s way more stress levels or sense of stress in those five races getting up to Richmond. The Chase itself to me is rewarding. It’s time to sit down and relax and at the same time work hard but be grateful for what you’ve accomplished and at the same time use that positive attitude to build on those last 10 races. To me it more, especially in our position this year, those previous five before the Chase to get everything right. I think a lot of times teams think of that in the Chase but to me it’s a time to go out and have fun and use your experiences that you’ve gained throughout the year to go back to the tracks a second time and put it to them.”

ON SUNDAY, IN ALL LIKELIHOOD, THE NO. 48 TEAM IS GOING TO WIN THEIR FOURTH STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, FROM A PROBLEM-SOLVING STANDPOINT IF YOU WERE TO DESIGN A BLUEPRINT ON HOW TO KNOCK THEM OFF THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN WHAT WOULD THE KEY COMPONENTS BE?
“Dynamite (laughter) over at the No. 24, No. 48 shop. They’ve done a great job and as much as many people dislike the fact that he’s been so dominate they deserve it. They have earned it and that’s a part of the sport. I don’t know what it was like in the 70’s when Cale Yarborough won three in a row but I assume it was probably the same way. People were tired of Cale Yarborough winning. That’s okay. That’s part of the sport. If and when Jimmie gets knocked off of his throne then we’ll have something else to talk about but in the time he’s a deserving champion. I feel it makes me a better driver to race against him.”

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE?
“It’s going to take a people gathering, just like I said I feel our biggest gains in the off-season will be what we can do with our people to make them stronger because I don’t feel like we’re getting beat by componentry, we’re getting beat by people and experience and knowledge that for them has been part of the time frame of them working together. That’s hard to beat. You look at Jeff Gordon and Steve Letarte and you look at what Mark (Martin) and Alan (Gustafson) have accomplished this year in their first season together, they’re going to be extremely tough next year.”

The NASCAR HOTPASS lineup for the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500k at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, Nov. 15 is as follows:

Channel 795 – Mark Martin
Channel 796 – Tony Stewart
Channel 797 – Jeff Gordon
Channel 798 – Jimmie Johnson

So what is a Sprint Cup driver to do? Well, if you’re Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS and 155 points down to Johnson, you audition for a supporting role on the “Jimmie Johnson Show.” According to industry sources, Stewart appears to have the inside track. After all, he led the championship standings for 13 straight weeks before the points were reshuffled for the final, 10-race Chase for the Championship. He then notched his fourth win of 2009 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, site of the third Chase race.

But Johnson made it emphatically known that he is the star of the show by winning three of the five Chase races run thus far – Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C. And with his lead status seemingly secure, casting has turned its attention to the show’s supporting characters.

Auditions ramp up again this weekend at the studio set known as Martinsville (Va.) Speedway with the TUMS Fast Relief 500 to see who will play “Kramer” to Johnson’s “Seinfeld.”

Johnson will again command the spotlight, for he’s won six times at Martinsville, including five of the last six Sprint Cup races held at the .526-mile oval. But Stewart could quickly blow through the door of Johnson’s apartment and prove to be a Kramer-like scene stealer.

In addition to being a two-time Sprint Cup champion and the most recent champion not named Johnson, Stewart is also a two-time victor at Martinsville. And when he isn’t winning at the venerable short track, he’s running up front, having led a total of 1,193 laps and scoring 12 top-10 finishes in 21 career Sprint Cup starts.

Starting up front has helped Stewart run up front. Of his 10 career Sprint Cup poles, three have been notched at Martinsville, including his most recent pole, which came 143 races ago on Oct. 21, 2005.

The stats are good, but compared to Johnson’s, they’re understudy stats. Yet at the moment, every Sprint Cup driver is an understudy to Johnson.

While the championship appears to be Johnson’s to lose, with fives races still to go, it can indeed be lost. Waiting in the wings for the moment when, if, there’s a stumble will be Stewart. He’s ready to provide the ultimate plot twist, and considering its fall sweeps, there’s no better time than now.

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Do you have any sort of strategy for narrowing the point gap between yourself and Johnson?

“All we can do is just do our job. Even if we win the race for the last five weeks in a row, there is still no guarantee that we could close the gap. All we can do is worry about ourselves right now. It really takes the pressure off of us. All we can do is go for broke now.”

Is Martinsville a make-or-break weekend to get back into championship contention?

“No, anything can happen to any of the teams. At this point, who knows? Until somebody comes up and says ok, mathematically you are out of it, until then, we have got a shot. That is all I can say about it. That is all we know. There is no blueprint that says, this is how you win or don’t win a championship. So as long as mathematically you still have a chance, you’re still in it. Until they tell you that you can’t physically or mathematically catch up, then you are still in it. You still have a shot.”

Everyone seems ready to give Johnson his fourth straight championship. What makes you feel like you still have a shot at winning your third championship?

“When we won the USAC Silver Crown Series championship in ’95, we were the third driver of three that had a shot, mathematically, to win it. There were two drivers, Jack Hewitt and Dave Darland, that were neck-and-neck in the point standings, and we were kind of the third wheel. We were only included in the group media sessions because we were mathematically in the hunt. Both of those drivers ended up having problems in the race, and we won the point championship by two points. You realize when you use that experience, knowing that as long as you’re mathematically in the hunt, you still have a shot.”

Survival is a term often used to describe racing at Martinsville. How do you survive at Martinsville?

“You learn how to protect the car. You learn how to not beat it up. You learn it’s a lot more fun racing when you use a lot more patience. Patience seems to be the biggest variable that can hold you up at a place like Martinsville. Needless to say, after going there a couple of times, I’ve learned how to be patient – out of necessity, basically.”

Short track racing has been known for beating and banging, where contact between two cars usually results in at least one car getting spun out. But has the current generation racecar, with its common nose and rear bumpers, changed that dynamic?

“It has. With these cars you don’t have the kinds of accidents where guys get turned around because the bumpers on all these cars match up so well. If you get in a situation where a guy checks up in front of you and you run into him by accident and the guy behind you hits you, you’re not going to spin each other out. That’s made short track racing fun again. You’re not worried about having to explain to somebody that whatever contact you had was an accident. And short tracks aren’t cookie-cutter. They’re all one-of-a-kind and they all have their own personality. Martinsville fits that bill, and it also has a cool trophy that’s a one-of-a-kind.”

No matter what kind of racecar you’re driving, brakes are incredibly important at Martinsville. How does a driver conserve his brakes for 500 laps?

“You try to stay off the brakes as much as possible. You always hear the crew chief talking about floating the car into the corner, and what they mean by that is instead of driving it really deep into the corner and using a lot of brake pressure, the theory is to lift a little earlier and use less brake pressure. You’ll end up running virtually the same lap time as you would if you drove hard into the corner. But when you’ve got a 500-lap race at Martinsville and you’ve got to use the brakes hard twice a lap, that’s 1,000 times during a race where you’re asking that brake system to slow down a 3,400-pound racecar. If you can be easy on those brakes for the first half of the race or first three-quarters of the race, then when you really need those brakes to battle for the win at the end – you’ve got ‘em.”

It’s sometimes debated that because of Martinsville’s rural location that it doesn’t deserve two dates on the Sprint Cup schedule. As a racer and as a promoter – you own Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio – what do you think about that?

“Martinsville deserves two dates. All you’ve got to do is come watch a race at Martinsville to realize that. There are no bad finishes at Martinsville.”

There was a time early in your career where you weren’t that fond of Martinsville. What changed?

“You’re right. I can remember saying that we ought to fill it up with water and have the Bassmasters Classic there, or demolish the whole infield and pave it and make it a mini mall. But since then, Clay Campbell (track president) has done a lot of work at Martinsville and made huge improvements to make it what it is now. It’s a fun, racy racetrack. “Back in the day, if you couldn’t stay on the bottom, you were in big trouble. If you got moved to the outside, you were getting freight-trained. That wasn’t fun. But now, you can pass on the outside, you can race on the outside, and sometimes, the groove where you want to be is on the outside depending on how your car is driving. “Clay took the time and the effort to make a whole new garage setup, where everyone has a really nice garage stall. They’re some of the nicest garage stalls on the circuit. To do the things that they’ve done, the days of turning Martinsville into a mini mall are long gone. Clay is one of the more proactive promoters in the series, and he’s tried really hard to make things better.”

DARIAN GRUBB, Crew Chief of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You grew up in the tiny town of Floyd, Va., about an hour northwest of Martinsville. How often did you go to Martinsville as you worked your way up the racing ladder.

“I actually never went to a Sprint Cup race until I started working in Cup. I went to a lot of Late Model races there from about 1991 on through 2000 working on cars that were racing, but that’s really the only time I made it there. I’ve never sat in the stands there. I’ve always been in the garage working. “I worked with Johnny Rumley, Satch Worley and Jeff Agnew was probably the biggest name driver I worked with for a long time. I worked for him for about 10 years. Lots of memorable moments from that. I think it was my first year at Martinsville and I was there with Satch Worley and we were in practice and his steering wheel came off. He didn’t check it after he had gotten back in the car before going out on the track again. He absolutely destroyed that car and he came back to the pits with the steering wheel in his hands and said, ‘Guess I should’ve put this on a little better’ That was my introduction to Martinsville. There were like 160 Late Models that showed up, and of course we didn’t make the show because we crashed.”

Do you have a lot of family and friends who come out to Martinsville to see you and take in the race?

“I have a lot of friends around that area. My family is really close to Martinsville. Everybody is probably within an hour-and-a-half of that area. A lot of friends come down and see me, and even when they can’t make the race, it sparks some memories and we’ll get on the phone and call each other. It’s cool to see everybody and catch up on old times.”

What goes into making a car good at Martinsville, beyond making sure the steering wheel is on tight?

“It’s all about the weight distribution and then comfort for the driver – getting everything exactly the way the driver would like to have it. His preference for every little detail from entry to the center of the corner and exit and braking, the throttle application – everything has to be just right, because Martinsville is all about rhythm. Rhythm is what’s going to give you a chance for the pole. Making sure everything is right and making sure you can get every little piece out of the car. In order to go as fast as possible, you have to get the most out of everything that you can get. Every foot of the straightaway and all through the corners – it’s tenths of seconds here and there that really add up. The whole field is probably separated by two- to three-tenths of a second.”

Qualifying up front at Martinsville is obviously important. But how do you balance using your practice time to focus on making two qualifying laps when you also have to prepare for a 500-lap race?

“Luckily, you don’t have a whole lot of changes between qualifying and race setup. It’s more a few things you do for tweaks of speed here and there. Everything else is still about driver comfort, because if he’s comfortable in the racecar, he’s going to be comfortable for qualifying. You just add a few more things to it to get a little more speed out of it. You make the car a little more aggressive, basically. It’s a little more on edge in qualifying, but the driver can drive through that. When you get into race setup, it’s hard to pass, so you have to make him even more comfortable inside the car to make sure he can run his line so that he doesn’t get pushed out of the way very easily and doesn’t get pressured by somebody behind him, because the only way you can really pass there is by doing a bump-and-run. You need to get somebody else off their rhythm to get around them.”

Beyond a good starting spot, what does a good qualifying position give you at Martinsville?

“It’s huge there. The pit road is very tight and it’s very narrow. You have a lot of fighting going on to get into your box. The boxes are very short and you can’t get the angles you need to get in the box, do your pit stop, and then get back out of the box very cleanly if someone’s in front of you. It’s tough all the way around there. The pit crews – if you get too close to the wall you can’t get the jack up because you can’t move the handle as far down. And then the cars racing by you, they’re going to be four feet away because the wall is that close. It’s a hairy predicament all the way around. So, the better you can do in qualifying, the better pit selection you can get and help yourself out in some of those areas.”

How stressful is it for you as a crew chief, as you’re the one who has to call the driver into and out of the pit box?

“It’s not that big of a deal for the driver. It’s more for the crew guys because they have to get around the car and give it three-feet of room as he’s coming into the box, but there might be someone else coming into the box in front of him that they have to watch for. I have to give them the heads up as to who’s coming around them. There are a lot of things happening on pit road in a very short amount of time.” [nichemate]0,1,4,’Tony Stewart’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]

Yes, he’s leading the points and yes he’s coming off a win at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., but there are still six races remaining in the 10-race Chase, and three other drivers are within 100 points of Johnson, one of whom is Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). And when a total of 161 points can be won or lost in a single race, this year’s title is far from over.

The halfway point of the Chase comes this Saturday night with the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C. And yes, Johnson has five career Sprint victories at Charlotte, but Stewart is no slouch at the 1.5-mile oval either.

Witness his win in this year’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, where he led the race’s final two laps to score the first win of any kind for SHR. Witness also his victory at Charlotte in October 2003… and his six top-fives, 11 top-10s and 598 laps led in 21 career Sprint Cup starts at Charlotte. And remember the seemingly surefire victory in the 2008 Coca-Cola 600, where Stewart started 31st yet powered his way to lead four times for 23 laps and open up a five-and-a-half second advantage over second-place Kasey Kahne, only to see it vanish three laps short of the finish when he suffered a flat right-front? In an instant, victory turned into an 18th-place finish.

So, pardon the chip resting on Stewart’s broad shoulders, for the first-year driver/owner has done what no driver/owner has done since Alan Kulwicki did in 1992 – contend for a Sprint Cup championship.

Remember last year when Stewart decided to leave the comfy confines of Joe Gibbs Racing, where he won 33 Sprint Cup races and two championships, and people openly questioned whether he’d ever win again, never mind place himself in the thick of a title hunt? Stewart responded by taking the point lead after round 13 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and building that lead to as high as 260 points thanks to impressive wins at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in June, Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in August.

And remember when that massive point margin was erased following the regular season cutoff race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway and Stewart actually dropped to second in the standings, 10 points behind Chase leader Mark Martin? He responded by winning the third Chase race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas Speedway and providing a reminder that Johnson’s fourth title is anything but a sure thing.

Yet here we are again, with talk that this year’s title race is already decided. That’s like saying that even with two divisional series and a World Series still to play that the Yankees are this year’s World Series champions. The Angels, Phillies and Dodgers might have something to say about that, just like Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin have their respective eyes on claiming this year’s Sprint Cup title for themselves.

The NASCAR Banking 500 provides another opportunity for Stewart and his counterparts to usurp Johnson from his perch atop the points. And you can take that to the bank.

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’re fourth in points, 84 points behind Johnson. Can you still win this championship and collect your third career Sprint Cup title?

“My standpoint has always been, until they say that you’re mathematically out of it, you always have a shot. We won the USAC Silver Crown Series championship in ’95, and we were the third driver of three that had a shot, mathematically, to win it. There were two drivers, Jack Hewitt and Dave Darland, that were neck-and-neck in the point standings, and we were kind of the third wheel. We were only included in the group media sessions because we were mathematically in the hunt. Both of those drivers ended up having problems in the race, and we won the championship by two points. You realize when you use that experience, knowing that as long as you’re mathematically in the hunt, you still have a shot. If we have a chance to win the championship at the end, trust me, we’re all for that and we would love nothing more than that. But I think right now where we’re at and how many points we need to make up, I think it lets us have a go-for-broke attitude and just go out and try to do what we did at Kansas and win races. I’ve always said, if you win races, the points will take care of itself. We could still, by theory, win the next six races in a row and still not win the point championship. For us, it’s about going out and doing what we can do, and the other 11 drivers are going to dictate their fates, too.”

Because Johnson has been so successful and because he’s back atop the point standings, is he the guy to beat for the championship?

“I don’t feel like that’s the only guy we’re worrying about. I feel like we’ve got to worry about Mark (Martin) just as much and Juan (Montoya) just as much. Right now, we’ve got a bunch of guys that are consistent every week. You can’t just narrow it down to one right now.”

After finishing 14th and ninth, respectively, in the first two Chase races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon and Dover (Del.) International Speedway, you rebounded in decisive fashion with your win at Kansas. What did that performance say about your Old Spice/Office Depot team?

“I’m really proud of Darian Grubb (crew chief) and all the guys on this Old Spice/Office Depot team. There is no quit in this team at all. We just keep digging. I don’t care what it takes. I don’t care if we have to go 12 laps down and have the right side knocked off of it, if it gets us a top-five at the end of the day, that’s what we have to do the rest of the season. At the end of the day, no matter what the circumstance that got us behind, we’ve been able to rebound from it – not get all the way up to where we wanted, but we were able to make gains on it at the end and salvage a better finish than where we were. Whatever the scenarios were, we were able to overcome part of it. As long as you do that, then at the end of the day the facts just shows this team doesn’t have any quit in them, and that’s what it’s going to take to get back on top

Of the upcoming tracks in the final six races on this year’s schedule, which one are you looking forward to the most?

“I think this weekend, in all reality. This weekend and Martinsville, Talladega, Texas and Phoenix are places where we’ve had a lot of success, but I think the way that we’ve ran the last couple of races at Charlotte here, we’re pretty excited about it. I feel like we’ve got a shot at this weekend’s race. If we can do what we’ve been doing, we’ve got just as good a shot as anybody else.”

You’ve had a handful of races in your career that you feel like you should’ve won, but is the 2008 Coca-Cola 600 the one that sticks out most?

“Yeah, that’s definitely the one that sticks out the most in my mind. I mean, we had a five-second lead with three laps to go. We lost the right-front tire, but it wasn’t because of a mistake by Goodyear, it was the fact that we had run 100 laps on the right side tire, so it just physically melted the bead on the right-front. So it wasn’t any fault of Goodyear’s, it was just circumstances.”

DO YOUNG DRIVERS ASK YOU IF THEY SHOULD GO TO COLLEGE WHILE PURSUING A RACING CAREER?
“The cool part is I don’t get the question, I get the statement. Basically it’s, ‘I’m doing what you did’, not ‘I’m thinking about it or should I do it?’ It’s ‘I’m doing it.’ That’s the next step above what you’re talking about or your question. That to me means a lot because if we’re using what I did, as far as going to college, whether it was Perdue or not, I get a lot of ‘my daughter or my son is going to Perdue and my son wants to be an engineer’. I get a lot of that stuff. They have that sense of connection because of where I went (to college), and not necessarily who I am and what I do.

“I think there are younger drivers for sure, who are putting a little more emphasis on it than they did 10 years ago. Why? Just for the concept that an education is a good thing. For a long time people thought there was no time to go to college and no time to get that education when you’re in your prime as far as being 18 years old and having the opportunity to go NASCAR racing or racing in general. So, I guess maybe in a roundabout way, me and a few other drivers have proved that you can do it and be successful at this level.”

JEFF GORDON TOOK A HARD HIT AT THE GLEN LAST WEEK THAT AFFECTED HIS BACK. HOW MUCH WEAR AND TEAR DOES THIS SPORT PUT ON YOUR BODY? DO YOU FEEL DIFFERENTLY THE LAST THIRD OF THE SEASON THAN YOU DO IN THE FIRST? WHAT DO YOU DO TO KEEP YOURSELF HEALTHY?
“I don’t do anything specific to keep myself healthy other than I’m a tight person so I get a massage every once in a while and loosen up and stretch out. I was moving trees yesterday, so my back’s in pretty good shape. Some people have got to do different things. If you start a 1,000 mile trip with a tire that’s a little bit low, by the time you get there it’s either going to be out of shape or blown out. If you start the season with a little bit of an issue, by the time you get to the end of the season it’s going to be worse. It doesn’t typically get better because it is pretty grueling what we do, physically inside the race car and different race tracks and obviously the big shots, like the one he (Gordon) took. So, we’re kind of tired of hearing about his back, but I’m trying to answer your question at the same time.”

CAN YOU ASSESS WHERE YOUR TEAM IS WITH JUST A HANDFUL OF RACING GOING INTO THE CHASE? IS THERE ANYWAY YOU GUYS CAN PREPARE FOR THE CHASE RACES OR ARE YOU FOCUSED ON WHAT IS IMMEDIATELY AHEAD OF YOU?
“We’re focused on what is ahead of us today, tomorrow and the next four weeks. That is the most important thing at this point. We have to put ourselves in that position. Tony Stewart is in a whole different situation. He is virtually locked in after the start of this race on Sunday. So he can be thinking about different things in respect to the Chase. We’re thinking about them but we have to focus on these next four races and that’s really no different than any other race. It is just nice to be able to put some of your focus and some of your effort in to those last 10 races.

“I don’t think it puts us at a disadvantage. I mean you can learn something because you are so focused on those next four races that can carry you through those 10 races. There is different ways to look at it. It is more a situation that is kind of like you have a big lead in a football game and you throw in the second string. It is not like we have a second string, but the guys float a little bit and relax a little bit more. When I say the guys, I mean the No. 14 guys versus the No. 39 guys.”

WITH YOUR TEAMS AFFILIATION WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, HOW DOES THE STATMENT THAT JIMMIE JOHNSON MADE EARLIER TODAY THAT NO ONE CAN BEAT HMS AFFECT SHR?
“I think, to answer your question, we’re considered a part of HMS. I mean, it is a satellite operation but what we do, a lot of our program, is designed off of what Hendrick Motorsports does and obviously we have an alliance with them. So, I consider us a part of the HMS team and aside from the name Stewart-Haas Racing, our work structure is based a lot around Hendrick Motorsports. It is nice to have that. I agree with Jimmie (Johnson), that is why I am happy where I am and partially made the decision to move to where I am was because of that alliance and what we have as far as an opportunity to work to work for the future.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE PLAYING OFFENSE THE NEXT FOUR RACES OR DEFENSE? IS IT IMPORTANT TO WIN A RACE BETWEEN NOW AND RICHMOND?
“There really is no defense in racing. We talk about it, what you can do. I guess your defense is to not make too big of a risk on offense. That is more self-induced than anything. It is all about getting the job done. If we get those finishes, top-five finishes, in the next four races, then it is a shoe-in, but that’s easier said than done. I don’t think you can find offense or defense in the midst of those four races. I have stated in the past, you have one eye looking out the front windshield and one eye in the mirror. That is more so on the race track than it is in the garage. I think it is kind of business as usual, it is just now crunch time. Now we have to get the job done. We are in a good position as I have said before but it’s not the best position and we can improve on that.”
[nichemate]0,1,4,’Ryan Newman’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]

There is no prize money, no points, no sponsor obligations — just 26 drivers in dirt Late Model stock cars going for a trophy and bragging rights among their peers. All drivers want the trophy, but for 25 of them, if they can’t win, they want to beat Eldora’s owner, Tony Stewart, a two-time Prelude to the Dream winner.

It’s Stewart’s house. He bought it in 2004 and has won at Eldora in about every type of car. So the 25 drivers he has invited, including Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch, would like nothing more than to beat Stewart in his own backyard.

The following are quotes from selected drivers competing in the fifth annual Prelude to the Dream. The event, which will give the winner bragging rights for a year, will take place at 7 p.m. EDT on June 3 at Eldora Speedway and will be broadcast live on HBO Pay-Per-View®.

For those who want to see the Prelude to the Dream in-person, tickets are available online at www.EldoraSpeedway.com or by calling the track office (937) 338-3815. Act soon — the race has sold out in each of its four previous years and only a few hundred general admission tickets remain.

The live, commercial-free broadcast will begin at 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT), followed by an immediate replay. HBO Pay-Per-View’s racing telecast has a suggested retail price of $24.95 and is available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming in the pay-per-view industry. Ordering information and up-to-the minute racing information is available at www.hbo.com.

TONY STEWART (Two-Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion and Two-Time Prelude Winner; Owner of Eldora Speedway):

How unique is it for 26 of the top drivers in the country to race at a half-mile dirt track in the middle of Ohio cornfields?

“It’s unreal. I guess it would be like Tiger Woods taking all of his buddies and going to play the local putt-putt course, or Michael Jordan taking all of his friends to the playground and shooting hoops. These guys all converge on this track and it’s fun, and it gets us back to our roots — why we got into racing to begin with. There are no points, no prize money. Guys pay their own way to get there and it’s for a worthwhile cause — the injured and fallen soldiers and their families.”

Why is racing on dirt so much fun for you guys?

“I think what’s fun, or challenging, about dirt is that the surface is never the same. When we go to Charlotte or Daytona or Talladega, the conditions are pretty much the same every time, as far as the surface goes. Dirt tracks are always different from the last time you were there. So, for the guys who are preparing the cars and doing the setups on them, they kind of have to guess ahead and try to plan for what they think the track is going to do. The drivers have to plan accordingly, too, and they have to make adjustments while they’re out on the track because the conditions are constantly changing. That’s what’s so fun about dirt — it’s never the same twice.”

Why should someone order the Fifth Annual Prelude to the Dream and watch it on HBO Pay-Per-View?

“The Prelude to the Dream is a race that we hold prior to ‘Dream Weekend,’ which is one of our biggest weekends at Eldora Speedway. Professional dirt Late Model racers from across the country are racing for $100,000 to win. The Prelude to the Dream is on the Wednesday before, and it’s a race that myself and 25 drivers from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NHRA compete in for bragging rights, but also to raise money for charity. It’s a fun atmosphere for the drivers, crews, fans and the people watching at home on HBO Pay-Per-View. Most of these guys don’t race on dirt very often, so it’s a chance for a lot of us to go back to our roots and have a great time. The viewers at home get to see us much differently than they would on a normal race weekend. There are no points, no pressure, just a lot of fun. This year, we’re helping out injured and fallen soldiers by raising money from the Prelude to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, Intrepid Heroes Fund, Operation Homefront and Fisher House. The men and women in our armed forces fight for our freedom to make sure we can continue to have fun at events like the Prelude, and everyone who tunes in and buys the event on HBO Pay-Per-View will be helping our troops all over the world.”

When you guys go to Eldora, the routine is totally different from a normal race weekend. Is that part of the challenge, or the fun for you guys, getting adjusted to the dirt and getting away from your normal routine?

“Yeah, I think if we could get an hour of practice like we do at a (Sprint) Cup race, most of these guys would really pick this up really quick — and they do, anyway. But they have to do it in probably a total of 10 to 12 laps, and that’s something they’re not used to having to do. I mean, they’re used to being able to have a lot of practice time, where on dirt tracks, you just can’t spend that much track time without it affecting the racetrack. So, where you used to have two warm-up sessions for the race at a Cup event, now, all of a sudden, you get two five- or six-lap sessions to get ready to go qualify right away, and that’s not a lot of time for a professional driver to try to figure out a different racecar and a different racetrack and surface.”

How gratifying is it for you to see all the drivers come together to help you with such a great cause?

“That is the best part of it. To me, that is the biggest compliment — that they are willing to take a day out of their schedule. You know, our schedules get more and more hectic every year. So, to give a full day out of your schedule, that’s giving a lot. And, for these guys to all do this once a year and come to our facility and race at a place I am very passionate about is something that is very humbling, but at the same time it shows their passion and compassion for charities and the fact that they work very hard to give back to communities.”

Robby Gordon finished second last year in his first-ever race in a dirt Late Model. How surprising was that to you?

“I had told Robby for three years before he actually came to the Prelude — I said, ‘You will be perfect in these cars.’ I’ve always said that he was one of the most naturally talented drivers that we had ever raced with, as far as car control. I mean, he got in the car and it took him about two laps to figure it out. He had one of the best in the business with Scott Bloomquist as his car owner. But, it gave him a good car where he could learn that much faster and, with a guy who is a great driver, great engineer, and chassis builder. But Robby, I mean, it took him about five laps and it looked like he grew up racing on dirt tracks. He kind of did, to a certain degree, in off-road trucks. But Eldora and a dirt Late Model are a lot different than a Trophy Truck is. So, seeing him out there, it was like, ‘I told you, you were going to be good.’ It was just fun to watch him learn and how quickly he took to the dirt.”

Why did you decide to change your mission for the event, as far as who it benefits?

“The first four years, we’ve always worked with the Victory Junction Gang Camp and donated the proceeds to it. This year, we just wanted to do something different and we kind of came up with the idea. Maybe next year, we will change it a little bit and pick a different charity each season. So, when the U.S. Army came on board with Ryan Newman’s (Sprint) Cup car with Stewart-Haas Racing, it was a partner that you didn’t look at as a sponsor, but you looked at as a partner. To realize how many millions of fans we gained because the U.S. Army is on one of our cars, it was like, how can we do something to give back and do something to support our military? When we sat down and tried to figure out who we would donate to this year, it was a no-brainer. We all picked the same thing on the list. It just made it a natural force. It just made a lot of sense. We’ve been on a run here where our military has been really active and very busy. I don’t think people really realize how much support not necessarily our friends in the military, but their families, also need. It made it very worthwhile and made it make sense to us.”

What does an event like this mean to the military and families that benefit from it?

“The thing about soldiers in the military is they are some of the toughest people I have ever met. There are people who have lost arms and legs and all they want to do is get healed up and get back to service. All they want to do is serve their country. If nothing else, we as civilians can support the soldiers and the men and women we have who are fighting for us and making sure that we have a nation like we have.”
[nichemate]0,1,2,’Tony Stewart’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]
JIMMIE JOHNSON (Three-Time and Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion):

What’s so special about racing on the dirt at a place like Eldora?

“I grew up racing on the dirt, but not in cars like we race at Eldora or on a track like that. Everything I did was on a straight line, going over jumps, bumps, hillsides and through river beds and stuff like that. So, the whole experience at Eldora last year was really a special one to me and I got to feel the horsepower, grip, track conditions and the banking on a high-banked dirt track. It was quite an experience last year and I love just being in different environments and challenging myself. On top of that, coming out and supporting Tony. Tony’s done a phenomenal job starting this foundation. He’s been very helpful with the tasks that my wife and I have for our foundation and we just like to help him out, as well, with his causes. So, all in all, it’s a great time. It’s a fast format. I mean, you show up, you get two or three laps of practice, you’re qualifying and then you’re racing. So, this year coming back, I will have a little more experience and be more competitive.”

What were your first impressions of Eldora last year?

“I remember the fact that we had rain throughout the day and that Tony had been out on the track for a day or two trying to get the track in good condition because of the weather issue we had. But, you look at it and we’re kind of used to seeing banking. So, when I first looked at it, I thought ‘You know, that’s not that steep. It’s okay.’ But, when I got in the car and found out that you can literally run flat-foot around this dirt half-mile racetrack, that was quite impressive to me.”

Can you compare running a Sprint Cup car and a dirt Late Model?

“The two styles of racing are different for a lot of reasons. You don’t have a spotter and I got in trouble. I got on the outside of Ron Capps and expected him to leave me the lane because I’m used to racing with spotters and, of course, he didn’t know I was there and came up and we got sandwiched together. But, at the end of the day, when you get into the cars, the same principles apply if you’re on dirt or asphalt, regardless of the car. If you could slow it all down and really be precise with what you do and save tenths of a second around the track, you’re going be the fastest guy. Showing up new to it, I was pretty violent with the car and, once the track slicked off, I was probably using too much brake. Threw the car into the corner too hard and took a little while to figure out how to use the cushion. I’m not used to running on a cushion, period, even with the off-road racing I did. It was nothing that we ever really worried about.”

How fulfilling is it for you to be a part of raising awareness for injured and fallen soldiers?

“I’m very honored to be a part of it. Through my years of racing for Lowe’s, we’ve done a lot together to give back to the troops. It’s amazing. It feels so good to thank our troops in some way, shape or form, so I understand where Tony is going with it and certainly support him. Hopefully, we can show them that we appreciate what they do to keep our country free and out of harm’s way.”

Why should fans watch on HBO Pay-Per-View?

“Well, I think dirt-car racing is one of the best forms of racing to watch and you also get to see us out of our element. That works in a couple of ways. One, in the cars, there might be some good bloopers to check out. Two, we don’t have the corporate pressure of a race. We’re just there having fun and I think that really comes through.”
[nichemate]0,1,2,’Jimmie Johnson’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]
JEFF GORDON (Four-Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion and Brickyard 400 winner; Three-time Daytona 500 winner):

When you mention the words Eldora Speedway, it just conjures up so many great images for so many people. Why is it so special to you?

“I grew up watching Sprint cars, then racing Sprint cars and Midgets. Everybody will tell you it’s the ultimate dirt track and I will never forget going there for the first time and driving in there going, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I mean, it was just big, it looked fast and it was fast. It’s just an awesome, awesome dirt track and an intimidating dirt track and right in the middle of corn fields in Ohio. Some of the best race fans around the country all flock to Eldora.”

What makes this event so special and so big for drivers that they want to have the invite, they want to go and they want to experience the Prelude to the Dream?

“You know, it’s different for everybody. Some guys maybe dreamed of racing on the dirt and never got the opportunity to, and so it is just fun and a cool new experience. For me, it is about getting back on dirt, something that I grew up with and got me to this level. It’s an opportunity for me to go back and have a bunch of fun.”

Are bragging rights on the line at the Prelude to the Dream?

“I will say, after the first year a lot of people were like, ‘Man I was impressed with that,’ and I took a lot of pride in that. Not that many people saw me race on dirt and so, to go out there and have your fellow (Sprint) Cup drivers say, ‘Man, I didn’t know you could drive like that on dirt,’ that was very cool for me. And even though I didn’t win it, I still had some bragging rights, and Carl (Edwards) had bragging rights, and now Tony, of course, he’s got the bragging rights. I think we are going to add some extra weight to him so we can make it even.”

You and your former crew chief, Ray Evernham, have a fun rivalry by racing each other at the Prelude. Is there any wager on who finishes higher?

“It’s just all pride. If I don’t finish in front of him, then I am not going to be able to hold up my head very high the next time I see him. No offense to Ray, he’s impressed me, but with my dirt experience and being a (Sprint) Cup driver, I should be able to beat Ray Evernham on dirt.”

How fulfilling is it for you to be a part of raising awareness for injured and fallen soldiers?

“I think it’s fantastic. Obviously, with the Jeff Gordon Foundation, we focus a lot on kids. I know that Tony’s foundation does, as well. With everything that is going on with the economy, with the war and especially for me with my involvement with the National Guard, I have already been to Walter Reed (Army Medical Center) once this year. I plan on going a few more times and really getting a chance to meet the true heroes. To be able to recognize them, to be able to benefit them, especially those who aren’t with us anymore, I think that’s just an awesome thing that we can do and I will be very proud to be representing that on that day in June in Eldora.”

Why should fans watch on HBO Pay-Per-View?

“I think there are so many reasons why you want to watch this event, whether you are there or at home. You don’t want to miss it, that’s for sure, because you see drivers in a totally different, relaxed atmosphere. They are having fun, yet are still competitive. You see them throwing around an awesome car — these dirt Late Models are amazing cars — on the most incredible dirt track in the country at Eldora, and it’s going to benefit these fallen heroes and different charities. You just can’t have more fun and more excitement and have a better race and do it for a great cause than the Prelude. It’s the ultimate.”
[nichemate]0,1,2,’Jeff Gordon’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]
CARL EDWARDS (2007 Prelude to the Dream Winner; 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion):

What did you think when you first saw Eldora Speedway?

“I just remember walking in the place through that little tunnel under the back straightaway. I just had my helmet bag and I was standing there looking at the back straightaway in turns three and four. It was just cool to be there — to see it, finally. I’d heard about it, seen pictures in old open-wheel magazines and stuff. But to be at Eldora, to race there, that’s cool.”

What did your victory in the 2007 Prelude to the Dream mean to you?

“It’s big. My win at that race a couple of years ago is still, to this day, people come up and they’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s great, NASCAR and everything, but you won Eldora!’ You know, they’re pumped about it, so that was a big win for me.”

Can you describe the atmosphere and what makes this event so special?

“To me, there are two things that make this special. Number one, it’s Eldora. I mean, growing up in Missouri, Eldora was just far enough away that I never went, but I always heard about it. To race there is cool. Just as special is the fact that the money raised goes to a good cause. All the fans see you in the grandstands. The cars are lined up for miles down the road. You know that everyone is there, knowing that they’re participating in something bigger than any one of us. That’s cool.”

How important, or how much more special is it, that you are going to be in this event knowing that the mission has changed this year?

“One of the greatest parts about doing this — for all of us, me, the fans, the other drivers — is that we are doing something for a good cause and to know that this money is going to go to help our soldiers who have been out there, some of them for years, protecting our freedom and sacrificing. That’s pretty cool.”

Why should fans watch on HBO Pay-Per-View?

“If you are a dirt fan, you know exactly why to tune in. And if you’re not a dirt fan, just tune in once and you will know why we all started racing.”
[nichemate]0,1,2,’Carl Edwards’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]
KYLE BUSCH (15 wins in Sprint Cup; 24 wins in Nationwide Series; 11 wins in Camping World Truck Series):

When you hear the word “Eldora,” what do you think about?

“When you think of Eldora, you think of a high-banked, fast, dirt half-mile racetrack. You also think about all the fans who surround the place. They are just — they’re packed — jam-packed into the place. The grandstands are full, the outside of turns three and four are full. The only thing Stewart has left to do is fill the back straightaway with a big Bruton Smith grandstand or something.”

Every driver wants to win, but if they can’t win, they don’t care where they finish as long as they finish ahead of Tony. Is that the theme for you too?

“No. For me, I accomplished my goal the first year and that was to wreck him. (Laughs) I wrecked him the first year. The second year, I tried to either keep up with him or wreck him again, and I couldn’t do either. So, I failed miserably the second year. The third year, hopefully we will keep up with him and we can beat him.”

What did you think in 2007 when you came to Eldora to race in the Prelude to the Dream for the first time?

“Dude, it was serious. When I pulled in the first time, I was like, ‘Man, what are these people doing here?’ There really is no place to stay at around there. You are just out in a bunch of cornfields. So, the cool part about it is that the fans camp out and they don’t care if it’s raining, pouring, snowing, sleeting, whatever — they are going to be there to watch some dirt Late Model racing.”

Can you describe the atmosphere and what makes this event so special?

“It sort of takes us back to our roots. It takes us back to our local Saturday-night short track. We are able to hang out in the pits and mix and mingle with each other and the show moves along — it keeps going. It’s just a neat atmosphere. You are just there having a good time. You are, like, what you were in the local short-track days and it brings back sweet memories.”

How fulfilling is it for you to be a part of raising awareness for injured and fallen soldiers?

“This year, it is going to be special because of the fact that we are helping the injured soldiers and their families and that is fun to do because we have such a spot for them in our hearts for everything that they do. Everybody should. They do so much work and try to fight and give us our freedom that it is just a little something to give back and to raise money for their benefit. I think it’s something that is pretty cool. We get to have a good time and enjoy it, doing what we love to do and, yet, we are doing it for a good cause. So, whether it is the Victory Junction Gang, whether it is for the Kyle Busch Foundation or the military, injured soldiers of the military, you know, it is all a part of doing something that feels good.”
[nichemate]0,1,2,’Kyle Busch’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]
RYAN NEWMAN (2008 Daytona 500 Winner; 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Victories ):

Can you explain to the average race fan why you guys have such a passion for dirt racing?

“I grew up dirt racing — not as much as Tony did, but I grew up dirt racing. My first Midget win ever was on dirt up in northern Michigan. To me, short-track racing is typically dirt racing and that is where so many people grew up and got interested in racing. That is all there was, back in the day, was dirt tracks.”

Why is Eldora so special?

“I think Eldora is special because the effort that Earl (Baltes, former owner) put into it, making the special races, the big races, the fact that it is the fastest half-mile dirt track in the United States, the high banks. It’s just amazing, the excitement, the speed, the raw energy that comes out of that racetrack. And then, what Tony has done to expand it and, obviously, all the great races are there, the World 100, the big (World of) Outlaw shows, the Big One, and the Kings Royal. Big dirt racing happens at Eldora.”

Being sponsored by the U.S. Army in the Sprint Cup Series, how important is the event for you, considering it supports injured and fallen soldiers?

“It’s definitely special. This is my first year with the U.S. Army on my chest and to know that there are a million soldiers out there fighting for our freedom and to have recognition for the ones who have been injured, it is really special. It’s great what Tony is doing with the race and what he is trying to make of the whole event and how he respects what those heroes are doing for our country.”

How big of an impact will this event be on the families and soldiers?

“We are just trying to make an impact and it is our way of giving back. Luckily, we get to do something that we love to give back to those people. Those are our heroes. Those are the people who sacrifice a lot of things to put themselves in position to fight for our freedom. It is an honor for me to do something to try to help them out. It is small on my part, but it can make a really big difference.”

Why should fans watch on HBO Pay-Per-View?

“Anybody out there who enjoys NASCAR, who enjoys the IRL, we are taking it back to where we all started with big-name drivers at a great racetrack and you should check it out. It’s a blast. As drivers, we sit in the coach lot and we watch re-runs of the race. We will make an effort to watch the re-runs of our race at the dirt track just because we have so much fun that night.”
[nichemate]0,1,2,’Ryan Newman’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]
ROBBY GORDON, (Finished Second in 2008 Prelude to the Dream ):

What were your first impressions of Eldora?

“Well, last year was my first time ever being at Eldora and I went there after an invitation from Tony and with Scott Bloomquist. It was fun. It was a neat racetrack and the fans were amazing. You know, they lined the streets for a mile getting into that place. So, that was really cool and I am looking forward to going back.”

How did Scott Bloomquist help you last year?

“Scott took me testing in Nashville and we ran at a track there and it worked out well because it was a track that was fairly similar. We did 70 to 80 laps there and then rolled off to Eldora and qualified sixth and ran second in the race. So, it was fun for us.”

Why is the Prelude so special?

“Well, I think, obviously, it is the event that Tony has put together. The program that they put together really seems to work and all the drivers seem to really enjoy it, so there are a lot of things that make it successful. It definitely starts with Tony, and then the Speedway, and then the promotional things that everybody gets behind and does to help promote it.”

What will it take to beat Tony at Eldora?

“I don’t know. I mean, Tony is so good there. It would be like Tony coming to Baja — it just takes a while and it doesn’t matter what kind of racing it is, NASCAR or IndyCar, off-road trucks or even a dirt car. The experience is the one thing that you can’t just learn overnight. It takes time. I was happy with our result last year and I would like to go back there and beat Tony there. I think everybody would. It’s Tony’s track. It would be like Tony racing me down my street coming home to my house. I think I could drive that route blind.”

Why should fans watch on HBO Pay-Per-View?

“Because we are going for Tony.” [nichemate]0,1,2,’Robby Gordon’,,US,,,,,,,,1[/nichemate]