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I4C SPORTS/m^e e^srlotte Thursday, August 10, 2006 NASCAR QUIZ Q: Which manufacturer has the most victories at Watkins Glen? A: Chevrolet (12) rm Tony Stewart’s experience has made him a... ROAD WARRIOR By RICK MINTER Cox News Service Atlanta I f recent performances are any indica tion, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against Tbny Stew,n't this weekend at Watkins Glen International. He enters Sunday’s AMD at The Glen, a 90-lap race run on the 11-turn, 2.45-inile course, having won the past two races and three out of the past four there. He’s also quite adept at Infineon Raceway, the other road course on the Nectel Cup circuit. His two victories there, including one last year, give him five road-course wins in 15 cai'eer starts, and he has four other top-10 finishes on road courses. Although Stewai't came through the ranks driving sprint and open-wheel cars on oval tracks, he credits his early years in go-carts wifii helping him adapt to tracks that requii’e turning right and left. “As far as full-size cars, you didn’t see a lot of road racing in my background, [but] the fact that I did race go-carts taught me a lot about mad-course racit^,” Stewart said during a teleconference last week. “It was just a matter' of learning and adapt ing to a 3,400-poimd car on a road course.” He said the carts he drove didn’t i-equire him to shift gears, so that was something to which he had to adjust. “It just took awhile learning what to do, shifting gears to figure out what we had to do to be fast,” he said. But like races at every other type of track, no matter how talented the driver, it takes a well-prepared car to win. And for Stewart, that’s the responsibihty of crew chief Greg ZipadeUi, who has led Stewart’s crew throughout his Cup career. ZipadeUi, speaking on the same telecon- feraice with Stewart, said he and his crew put a lot of effort into their road-racii^ program. “We worked really hard two years ago and reaUy spent some time and put ourselves out on a limb, bought some new cars and did a lot of things 1 didn’t do the first couple of years,” he said. ‘You know, just made some gains, made our cars a lot better. lAfith that, it’s made Tbny Stewai't a lot better, and vice versa. “Him being better has let me make my cars better.” ZipadeUi WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL Track length; 2.45 miles Race length: 90 laps / 220.5 miles Road course: 11 turns First Race: Aug. 4, 1957; The Glen Qualifying record: Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet; 124.580 mph; Aug. 8, 2003 Race record: Mark Martin, Ford; 103.300 mph; Aug. 13, 1995 Cox News Service Catching up with Chad Knaus Chad Knaus, the only crew chief Jimmie Johnson has had since he joined the Nextel Cup circuit, recently signed a contract ex tension with his Hendrick Motorspoi4s team that carries him through the 2010 season. His contract period is the same of Johnson and sponsor Lowe’s. Knaus re cently visited with mmnbers of the media, including Rick Minter of Cox News Service. Q: Was it always yoxu intention to stay with Hendrick Motorsports? A: Absolutely ... I have had every inten tion to stay at [Hendrick Motorsports]. 1 love Mr. Hendrick. He is a great fiiend and mentor of mine He is the guy I have built quite a relationship with. He has turned me into .a great adult and helped me be come a great leader. I owe that to bim to at least give him four more years- Q: How is your relationship with Jimmie Johnson? A: We have a fiiendship that goes way beyond what happens at the race track. He’s a guy that 1 can grab by the coUar and have a serious talk with, and it goes both ways. If he’s got a problem with somethii^ I’m doing, he’d come and pidl me aside and said Stewart’s skills and focus give bi-m an advantage at aU tracks, but especially road courses. “The person that wins a lot of these road races is usually the person that makes the least amoimt of mistakes,” he said. “So that goes back to that level of concentration and focus.” And, ZipadeUi said, Stewart is open- minded about the car’s setup and talented enough to adapt to new combinations of shocks and springs. That allows the crew to try new tricks and quickly abandon those that aren’t pi’oducing the desired re sults. ‘We’ve been together eight years, [and] 1 think he’s looked at the setup sheet two or three times,” ZipadeUi said. “He doesn’t care what’s in there. He gives you input, you go on and you do your stuff ... His open-mindedness and the abUity to just go out and drive and give you good feedback and adapt to what you give him, I think, makes him a big part of what he is.” An eighth-place finish at Indianapolis lifted Tony Stewart to ninth in the Nextei Cup standings. Sunday’s performance marked the 11th top-10 finish for Stewart in 2006. Chad Knaus has been Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief since the driver’s start in Cup competition. weH talk about it. That’s somethii^ a lot of these guys don’t have. They're intimidated by the crew chief or by the driver, and the communication level isn’t as deep as what we have.... I’d be silly if I wanted to go and get some other driver. Obviously there are some things about Jimmie that 1 don’t like, and there are things about myself that he doesn’t like. But when you’ve got 80 percent of what you like in one p^son, why would you change it to find that other 20 percent when you’re probably not going to find it. Q: WUl crew chiefs begin to retire eai'lier than they have been? A Oh, I hope so. Being a crew chief is a wonderM job. I love it, and there’s nothing else I could do, to be honest with you, be cause 1 don’t know anythir^ else. But it is painful. You go 36 wedss and you’ve got 75 guys back at the shop that you try to keep happy, and you’ve got one guy on vacation and tile nert guy is sick and the otha' guy has to take his kid to school- Then you come to the race track and you’ve got to worry about aU the stuff at the track. It’s stressful, no doubt about it, but I love it. I hope tiiat when I’m 40 or 41 years old, I can scale back a httie bit, but if not, I’ll just keep being a crew chief and hopefifilybe winning championships, Q: Have you been approached about a ca reer in television? A TV is fun. I enjoy it. I can’t wait to maybe go a httie bit further with it. Itis def initely not goir^ to interfere with what I do in racing. Racing is my hfe. Itfs what I real ly really enjoy TV is more of an outlet for me, and I do enjoy it. You never know. Maybe five years down the line, if people still want me, maybe I’ll do some TV Q: How has thejob of crew chief changed since 2000, when you first served in that role? A Obviously, we’re a lot more recognized than we were back then. The pressure is a lot higher. Ebqjectations are a lot higher. If you don’t go out there ri^t now and per form, you’re going to get sat down. JOHNSON NEXT RACE Race: AMD at The Glen W Where: Watkins Glen International - When: 1 p.m. ET Sunday Television: NBC Defending race winner: Tony Stewart Rick Minter’s OBSERVATIONS Some key storylines as the Cup Series heads to Watkijis Glen: Big names seek spot in Chase Maybe it’s going to finally be Jimmie Johnson’s year to win a Nextel Cup championship. Johnson, who has finished second twice and fifth twice, can look to history for added hope now that he has won for the first time at Indianapohs Motor Speedway Five of the previous 12 winners at the Brickyard went on to win the Nextel Cup championship that year — Jeff Gordon in 1998 and 2001, Dale Jarrett in 1997, Bobby Labonte in 2000 and Tbny Stewart in 2005. For Johnson, just getting out of Indy unscathed is a good sign. Last year, he had dominated the points race up to tiie 400, where he crashed, finished 38th and lost his momentum- Stewart, last year’s race winner, smzed control of the points race fi'om Johnson at Indy and topped the standings for all but one week the rest of the season. This year, Johnson appears to be all but a lock to be among the top 10 who will compete in the championship-deciding Chase for the Nextel Cup, which begins after &e Sept. 9 race at Richmond International Raceway Here are some other observations as the Chase comes more into focus: • Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Wltii five more races to nm be fore the start of the Chase, the prevailing sentiment among the drivers in contention seemed to be rehef that they had made it through another week without a major setback. There was a collective, but brief, sigh of relief at Indy after three of the sport’s top stars — Earnhardt Jr, Gordon and Stewart — overcame problems in the Allstate 400 that could havejeopardized their Chase hopes. Many feel the ab sence of Earnhardt and Gordon fi'om last year’s Chase took much of the luster off the title run. Earnhardt, who had finished 43rd in the past two Cup races, was aU but absent for most of Sunday’s race. He was mired in 28th place when a caution flag with 18 laps to go gave him and his crew a chance to take a gamble that could stop his skid. While most of the drivers ahead of him made pit stops, he stayed on the track, took over second place, but became a sitting duck to the shooters behind him with fresher tires. The gamble paid off. Earnhardt led briefly and finished sixth, which put bim back in the top 10 in points. “I’d love to have a better car where we dicfc’t have to make those kinds of calls,” an exhausted Earnhardt said. “We took a chance and made it work.” • Gordon and Stewart: Gordon made a similar recov ery, but it took him the whole race. He fell three laps behind when a part of his sway bar broke just after the start of the race. His crew made repairs, and he raced his way back to the lead lap and finish^ 16tii, which boosted him one spot to e^hth in the points standings Likewise, Stewart made a nice recovery in the Allstate 400, moving up a spot in the standings to ninth despite early race problems with loose It^ nuts that put him as low as 35th. He recovered to finish ei^th. • Kasey Kahne: Kahne entered Sunday’s race as a fa vorite to win and likely be a Chase participant, but that all changed before the checkered flag fell. He ran among the leaders for most of the race, but wrecked on the last lap and finished 36th, which dropped him out of the top 10 for the first time since the first race of the season and illustrated how quickly a solid points position can melt away He has dropped fi:x>m third in points after the road race at Infineon Raceway to lltii, largely because of five finishes of 23rd or worse in the past six races. • Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin: Kenseth and Roush Racing teammate Martin continued tiiefr steady march toward Chase berths. Kenseth’s runner-up run was his 11th top-five finish of the season, and Martin’s fifth- place finish was his 10th top-10 finish. Martin said his car still needs a little tuneup if it’s going to take the title, but he’s ready “This old man ain’t gave up yet,” he said. • Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton: Richard Childress’ two veteran drivers, Harvick and Burton, continued their steady run toward berths in the Chase. Harvick finished third in the Allstate 400, while Burton, the pole-sitter, was 15tii, but Burton heads to Watkins Glen a solid third in. points, and Harvick is foxudh. • Fresh faces: It’s looking as if there wUl be a fresh face or two in the Chase, or at least in the race to it. Kyle Busch and rookie Denny Hamlin continue to perform like veter ans . Busch took the lead late in Sunday’s race by staying on the track, fike Earnhardt, while most of the leaders pitted. He parlayed that into a seventh-place finish that leaves him fifth in points. Hamlin finished 10th despite his involve ment in a last-lap wreck. He moved up a spot to seventh in the standings. STANDINGS NEXTEL CUP Following the Allstate 400 1. Jimmie Johnson 3,124; previous; 1 2. Matt kenseth 3,017; previous; 2 3. Jeff Burton 2,758; previous; 3 4. Kevin Harvick 2,733; previous; 5 5. Kyle Busch 2,733; previous: 4 6. Mark Martin 2,712; previous: 6 7. Denny Hamlin 2,638; previous: 8 8. Jeff Gordon 2,627; previous: 9 9. Tony Stewart Cup next up: AMD at The Glen; Watkins Glen International TV: 1 p.m. ET Sunday; NBC Busch next up; Zippo 200; Watkins Glen International TV: 2 p.m. ET Saturday; NBC Truck next up: Toyota Tundra 2,615; previous: 10 200; Nashville Superspeedway 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. TV: 5 p.m. ET Saturday: Speed 2,612: previous: 11 Channel BUSCH SERIES 1. Kevin Harvick 3,627; previous: 1 2. Carl Edwards 3,253; previous: 2 3. Denny Hamlin 3,154, previous: 4 4. Clint Bowyer 3.093; previous: 3 5. J.J. Yeley 2,991; previous: 5 TRUCK SERIES 1. Todd Bodine 2,307; previous: 1 2. Johnny Benson 2,125; previous: 3 3. Rick Crawford 2,120; previous: 4 4. David Reutimann 2,110; previous: 2 5. Ron Hornaday 2,070; previous: 6 AFf pM iii^k iUT if f'TiKfami 0J. Oi? w?A pmt, pv 4 Jif [Ilf- rftiit'fi \t\iy tnmy (^mMy lik ym (Uf [p pfpsgymil Hidffli Ktfiferi bTfiid thm'myt dMf. FOB -ftfe! VISIT ya bM TH6 W61 AT WWW-.a9b.^giE:Qisjsyi.Tife)B,!!jET o'll'ltllTINd SSLAC?: Baisj,^ui-TiNai "SBiNBIiNS MiftBTi TBBETHgs"
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