Stewart - Watkins Glen Friday media visit

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at The Glen and discussed racing at The Glen, the Chase, his points position and other topics.

Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Ashley Dickerson, ASP Inc.

HOW WAS PRACTICE OUT THERE? “Got to see a little different perspective of a couple than I’ve wanted to see. We are struggling a little bit to find our balance but we’ll keep working at it. We’ve got another hour and a half to go today.”

ARE THE POINTS SOMETHING YOU CONCERN YOURSELF WITH OR DO YOU LET THE TEAM CONCERN THEMSELVES WITH IT? “We just go out and try to win the race each week. I don’t know how you can do anything any different. You still do the same things you do to try to win. If you win, you get the most points. Everybody wants to make rocket science out of it. I don’t know how to do it anymore than just try to win the race each week.”

IS THE WIN MORE IMPORTANT NOW BECAUSE OF YOUR POSITION AND THE WILD CARD? “Not necessarily. You don’t have to win a race and you can’t throw away trying to force winning a race. You can hurt yourself worse by doing that than you can by just going out and being consistent and staying in the top-10.”

ARE THE ROAD COURSE RINGERS COMING IN HERE CHOMPING AT THE BIT WANTING TO SHOW THEIR STUFF AND YOU AREN’T USED TO RACING WITH THEM A CONCERN? “I’ve still won more races here than they have so I don’t think I worry about them at all.”

IS THERE ANY DISRESPECT BETWEEN THOSE GUYS AND THE REGULARS? “I think that they are used to racing weekly like we all do. There are a bunch of the guys that are the quote/unquote road course ringers that have run a lot of Cup races. They’ve pretty much got it figured out.”

GIVEN YOUR POINTS POSITION, HOW AGGRESSIVE DO YOU WANT TO BE EARLY-ON IN THIS RACE THIS WEEKEND? “The same thing I just told him a second ago. We are still going out to try to win the race and doing what we would do to try and win the race and not worry about where we are in the point standings.”

WITH FIVE RACES TO GO TO THE CHASE, DOES IT MATTER THAT THIS TRACK IS SO LATE IN THE SEASON? “I don’t think it matters. This is a cool track no matter what time of the year you are here. I just always look forward to coming here. It’s a place that’s always been good to us. We’ve had very good luck here and it’s just a fun area. It doesn’t matter to us when it’s on the schedule.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO MICHIGAN, A LOT OF PIT AND FUEL STRATEGY, WHAT IS YOUR GAME PLAN FOR MICHIGAN? “I don’t know. I drive the car. You need to talk to the crew chief about strategy. I don’t do much strategy from inside the car.”

CAN YOU EXLAIN THE SIDE DRAFTING AT MICHIGAN? “It’s still the same thing. It’s basically everything that you’ve learned at Daytona and Talladega. If you can get to the guy’s quarter panel with the nose of the car, it will pull you forward and pull him back. You have to, as you are doing that, get yourself separated or else it gets the opposite scenario and then he’s pulling you pack. It is definitely an aero game for sure.”

YOU LOVE THE HISTORY OF THE SPORT, DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHEN YOU COME HERE, ALL THE GREAT F1 RACES AND DRIVERS THAT HAVE RUN HERE? “You know there is a lot of history especially knowing where they started racing at Watkins glen down the road. It’s pretty cool. It is neat to go to different areas of the country and go to different race tracks and learn the history and what has made these facilities so great.”

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE FAST HERE? “We’ve always known what kind of feel we need in Happy Hour to be good in the race and I think once you figure that out, that helps out a lot. There are so many times that the track is a little bit different than it was in practice and you always wish you could make that one more big change. It is just knowing where it has to be at the end of Happy Hour to be good for that part of the race.”

YOU HAVE A STRETCH OF GOOD TRACKS FOR YOU, HOW DO LIKE THE NEW TRACK AT BRISTOL? “It is more fun for us as drivers. Guys are being able to move around the race track. You don’t have to wreck guys to pass them. I think Bristol is better than its ever been, but, I think it is a lot more fun because you have a lot more flexibility as drivers. You don’t just have to just mow through somebody to pass them, you can actually race guys.”