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Stewart running a fast company

The Associated Press

Tony Stewart will start from the pole position in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 3, 2009

Updated: 07/04/2009 01:11 am

DAYTONA BEACH - Yes, he has beat the odds, quieted the naysayers, proven his organizational acumen.

And yes, entering tonight's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Tony Stewart is the first owner-driver to lead the standings in NASCAR's premier division since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.

But is it really fair to compare what Stewart is accomplishing now to what Kulwicki and his band of upstarts pulled off in winning the championship 17 years ago?

Stewart himself says no.

"He had to work a lot harder than we did," the 2005 and 2006 Coke winner said. "To this day, I think that's one of the most remarkable accomplishments I've seen in this sport, having been in it for a while."

Stewart took over 50-percent ownership a team that had managed one top-five finish in parts of eight seasons as Haas CNC Racing. He didn't assume his new role until last fall, and he made the move in one of the worst economies in decades.

His quick success with Stewart Haas Racing - teammate Ryan Newman is seventh in the points - is impressive, to be sure.

But Stewart's Chevrolet-supported team is so closely aligned with Hendrick Motorsports it's often called a satellite operation. Hendrick supplies the engines and chassis, meaning Stewart and Newman have the same equipment as Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

Kulwicki was much more of an underdog.

A short-track racer out of Wisconsin, he arrived in NASCAR with a borrowed pickup truck, one race car and an engineering education that allowed him to take a scientific approach. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 1986 and gradually built a small-but-capable independent team.

"It was definitely a completely different situation," recalled Paul Andrews, Kulwicki's crew chief in 1992. "We were a single-car team, just trying to do the best we could with what we had."

Late in the 1992 season, Kulwicki banged up his front bumper at North Wilkesboro, knocking off the "T" and "H" from Thunderbird. The resulting lettering said, "underbird," and Kulwicki like the revised word so much he carried it on his car for the season finale at Atlanta.

On a day that marked Richard Petty's retirement and Jeff Gordon's debut, the "Polish Prince" finished second but led the most laps in his "Underbird" to edge race winner Bill Elliott for the championship by 10 points.

"I think what Alan was able to accomplish, up to this point, is a tick above what Tony's been able to do," said TV analyst and former crew chief Jeff Hammond.

Kulwicki was killed in a small plane crash in 1993. His entrepreneurial spirit was, or is, being carried on by Elliott, Ricky Rudd, Robby Gordon, Michael Waltrip and others.

And it lives on with Stewart, who is the first owner-driver since Kulwicki to have a legitimate shot at the championship.

Advantages notwithstanding, Stewart is doing what many said couldn't be done this quickly. He won the Sprint All-Star race in May, picking up a $1 million paycheck, and last month at Pocono, he became the first owner-driver to win a points race since Rudd in 1998.

"The best part has been seeing guys that have never been to Victory Lane, watching the expression on their faces," Stewart said. "It's been a fun process of watching guys from different organizations get into a new pattern of how we're going to do it."

Stewart has demonstrated not only an eye for talent, but also a knack for creating chemistry. For example, he hired Tony Gibson away from Earnhardt-Ganassi as Newman's crew chief. Gibson and Newman are avid outdoorsman, and they've bonded through that connection.

Chemistry is something Kulwicki and his band of upstarts had.

"The thing about Alan, at that point in time, it was the right place at the right time for Alan Kulwicki and his mentality and his methods," Hammond said. "The same can be said right now for Tony Stewart. It's the right place, right time, right man for the situation."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994.

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