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Will Dover be the end of the Chase for Tony Stewart?

In his final season in the Sprint Cup season, three-time champion Tony Stewart is facing elimination on Sunday.

Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing

Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing

Action Sports Photography

Chase driver: Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Victory lane: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2011 champion Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet celebrates
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2011 champion Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
The car of Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing on fire after crashing
Race winner Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet crash
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing

He currently trails 12th-place Kyle Larson by 11 points, and only the top 12 will advance to the next round.

That’s what’s so frustrating for me as a driver and that’s why I’m ready to do something different is because I can’t make a difference anymore

Tony Stewart

Stewart has faced deficits before. Not many expected the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy to come from the Chase cellar and win the title in 2011. When the Sprint Cup tour rolled into Chicagoland Speedway for the first race of the playoffs, Stewart had yet to win a race all year. Then the champion took over. Stewart won the five of the next 10 races and his third title.

But times have changed. The cars have changed. The racing has changed. And admittedly, Stewart just can’t flip the switch and make the magic happen in stock cars anymore. 

“If you could find it,” Stewart said. “Right now, I’m in a large, dark room and I don’t know where the wall is, let alone the light switch. If I can find it, man, you can guarantee I’ll flip it in a heartbeat.”

That’s not to say the 45-year-old driver lacks the spark he once had. Certainly, the old Smoke was in his glory at Sonoma Raceway when he held off Denny Hamlin to win his 49th career Cup race and qualify for the Chase. But racing on road courses takes finesse. As much as Stewart was able to contribute to his win at Sonoma, he felt lost to make his car function last Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 

“It’s frustrating,” said Stewart, who finished 23rd and dropped from 12th to 15th in the standings. “I did everything I knew to do — everything that I learned in 38-years that I know to do in a stock car at some point or another in two runs I had tried, tried to make it do something it would not do.”

Over-engineering of NASCAR 

Stewart believes the sport has become over-engineered. Since he made his debut in 1999 at Joe Gibbs Racing with crew chief Greg Zipadelli at his side, the driver has become less and less of a factor in the equation. 

“We’re in an era now in the sport where technology has taken over so much,” Stewart said. “I remember when we started in ’99. You could be terrible on Friday, terrible on Saturday and Zippy could sit there with his Ouija Board inside the wire pyramid overnight with candles burning and a seance going on and would actually put something together and we would win races. 

“You can’t do that nowadays. It’s the reason why Formula One teams that are behind at the beginning of the season are behind the entire season. That’s all they got.”

In 34 starts at the Monster Mile, Stewart has earned three wins, 11 top fives and 17 top 10s. His most recent victory came in the spring 2013 race. If practice isn’t rained out on FridayStewart believes he’ll have a good idea where he stands for Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400. 

On Friday you can tell who’s a contender and who is not,” Stewart said. “Ten, 15 years ago, it wasn’t that way. There were guys that could work through the weekend and get it right. You either got it or you don’t have it when you come off the truck on Friday. Yeah, you can make it a little bit better. But you got what you’ve got pretty much the whole weekend. When we come off the truck, we fight the same thing for three days — and there’s nothing I can do to fix it. 

“That’s what’s so frustrating for me as a driver and that’s why I’m ready to do something different is because I can’t make a difference anymore. I can’t do different things with my feet. I can’t do different things with my hands. I can’t run a different line and fix the problem. I used to be able to do that. I can’t do that anymore. You just get so frustrated you can’t see straight. It’s just extremely frustrating. You try everything in the book that you know to make a difference and it doesn’t help.” 

Fighting an uphill battle

Stewart feels the team is fighting “a very steep uphill battle” entering the weekend. Fortunately, he’ll have his SHR teammates defending race winner Kevin Harvick and former Dover victor Kurt Busch to share notes with. But Stewart is taking a pragmatic approach to the final race before the Round of 12.

“We have to go out and do the best we can this weekend and whatever happens, happens,” Stewart said. “You could look at it a million ways. I look at it the realistic way that I have to look at it. I can’t make something happen that may or may not happen. 

“You don’t want to wish bad luck on anybody else to begin with — because it’s not right. Whatever is going to happen, happens. You just hope that when it’s over you did your job. If we stick to our guns and do our job right, hopefully, we can go win the race. If we don’t, hopefully we were in a scenario where we gained enough points to move on to the next round. if not, it’s over.”

And, yes, it will sting if he’s eliminated come Sunday.

“I’m still a competitor,” Stewart said. “I still want to win. I still want to win as bad now as I did last year, the year before —for the last 38 years. That’s all I’ve wanted to do is win races and win championships. If I don’t make it, and if I don’t have that opportunity, yeah, I’ll be disappointed.”

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