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Stewart, Crew Chief Settle Dispute

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By TONY FABRIZIO The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2008

LOUDON, N.H. - Tony Stewart has made up with crew chief Greg Zippadelli since their postrace argument last week at Richmond, and he's focused on getting his first victory of the year in today's Sylvania 300.

Stewart criticized his longtime crew chief after finishing second in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 - he had given up the lead on a late-race pit stop - and his in-car audio was picked up and replayed by ESPN.

"That's just how competitive we are," Stewart said this week. "Zippy and I have been through the thick and thin together. We understand each other well. We have the same passion, the same desire, the same frustration."

Stewart has four second-place finishes this year and has come close to winning several times. He has never gone a full season without a Sprint Cup victory.

The Chase format has given him a shot at a third championship that would otherwise be well behind his reach. Two weeks ago, he was 645 points behind leader and teammate Kyle Busch. With the points reset, he's only 80 points behind Busch.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been a feast or famine track for Stewart. He has won on the 1-mile oval twice in Sprint Cup, once in the Indy Racing League and once in the Nationwide Series, but he's had several bad races as well.

"If you miss something, it can be a miserable day," Stewart said. "It seems like you don't see but three or four guys during the day that really hit it."

ONE FOR THE THUMB: Jeff Gordon knows his best chance of getting a fifth championship is to get off to a good start. Some of the tracks that will come up later in the Chase aren't as good for him.

"This is a great track for us," he said. "We were overshadowed last year by Clint Bowyer's win, but we finished second. We feel like New Hampshire and Dover next week are great tracks for us, even though we haven't had a spectacular year."

YEARS GOING BY: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still going for his first Sprint Cup championship at 33. His father was 29 when he won the first of his seven championships.

"It's kind of cool to be under the radar a little bit," Earnhardt said. "At the start of this season, it was really hard to concentrate."

HOT LAPS: Bowyer, who led 222 of the 300 laps en route to his victory last year, led both Sprint Cup practice sessions Saturday. ... In the Chase era, the eventual champion has an average finish of 12.0 in the opening Chase race. The only champion to win the opener at New Hampshire was Kurt Busch in 2004. Jimmie Johnson finished 39th in 2006 and still won the title. ... Joey Logano makes his Cup debut from the 40th spot today.

Tony Fabrizio

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