SARVER, Pa. — The long awaited finale of the 2nd Annual Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com is now just a week away. The two-day show was originally scheduled for Friday-Saturday June 27-28, but after a sizzling night of heat race action, day two of the show got washed out both Saturday and Sunday June 29 (the raindate). The new raindate is next Tuesday July 29 and the buzz is beginning to build back up for what promises to be the best dirt late model show of the summer!

All time trial and heat race qualifying results will stand and the fields for the A-Main, B-Mains, and C-Main are set. Any drivers/cars who register to join the show July 29 that were not in competition last month will tail the C-Main based on a random pill draw.

The following drivers are locked into the A-Main, which pays $40,000 and $3000 to start; Shane Clanton, Steve Francis, Earl Pearson Jr., Josh Richards, Darrell Lanigan and Brian Birkhofer will redraw for positions one through six , regional hot shot Coleby Frye will start alongside Brandon Kinzer on row four, Billy Moyer and Donnie Moran on row five, Tim Fuller and Chub Frank on row six, Shannon Babb and local hero Mike Blose start from row seven, another Lernerville local Gregg Satterlee starts beside Chris Madden on row eight, and Jeremy Miller and Tim McCreadie are locked into the event in row nine. The other four positions will be filled by the top two finishers from each B-Main.

Drivers in the B-Main include; Doug Horton, David Scott, Davey Johnson, Rick Eckert, Clate Copeman, Dutch Davies, Mike Knight, Chuck Kennedy, Robbie Blair, John Flinner, Chad Valone, Brent Rhebergen, Josh McGuire, Danny Johnson, Gary Lyle, Jimmy Owens, Matt Lux, Ron Davies, Keith Barbara, Scott Bloomquist, Clint Smith, Tony Burke, Dan Stone, Bob Close, Todd Bachman, John Mollick, Dave Hess Jr., John Blankenship, Vic Coffey and Alex Ferree.

Drivers tentatively scheduled to run the C-Main, (which may be dissolved or expanded based on the number of cars in the pits on Tuesday July 29), include; Jason Covert, Nick Reges, Dane Laraway, Sean Beardsley, Joe Isabell, Lynn Geisler, Ken Schaltenbrand, Ryan Scott, Russ King and Jared Miley.

Tickets and pit wristbands from the original dates will be honored on Tuesday July 29. Actually, they will be upgraded! Any fan with a ticket or wristband from the original race on June 27-28 will be allowed to upgrade to a FREE pit pass and will also receive a $10 voucher good towards the purchase of any GottaRace.com merchandise purchased through their website at www.GottaRace.com.

The offer of a Free Pit Pass upgrade is also being extended to all fans that purchase advance reserved seat tickets between now and this Friday July 25. A limited amount of reserved seats are still available by clicking on the “Buy Tickets Now” link on our website www.Lernerville.com or by calling the speedway office Monday-Friday 9:00AM-4:00PM at (724)353-1511. One-day advance reserved seats are selling for $34 for adults. Senior and student pricing is available. Newly purchased general admission tickets are not eligible for the Free Pit Pass upgrade, but as always, children 10 & under are admitted FREE for general admission seating!

The skies opened up once again today, however, prompting WoO Sprint Series and track officials to cancel the doubleheader planned for tonight. The event would have marked Kinser’s first career appearance at the track. Without a make-up date in place, Kinser will have to wait until the series’ second Canadian swing in late August.

While Kinser would have made his first appearance at Ohsweken Speedway tonight, TSR team manager Jimmy Carr is no stranger to Canadian soil. Born and raised in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Carr made his first trip back over the border since 1990, when the WoO Sprint Series debuted at Ohsweken Speedway last season. The Maple Ridge native began his career as a driver in the WoO and earned the 1991 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award. His final race in the driver’s seat came in 2000.

On Friday, Kinser and company will roll back into the U.S. for a one-day show at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich. In Kinser’s last appearance at the track on Sept. 27, 2004, he finished 19th. The half-mile dirt oval will host the only Michigan appearance of the season for the WoO Sprint Series.

The week’s racing action will wrap up with Kinser and the No. 20 Bass Pro Shops/J.D.Byrider/Maxim team taking aim at K-C Raceway in Chillicothe, Ohio, on Saturday night. Kinser’s last race at the 3/8-mile dirt facility ended with a 14th-place finish on Sept. 27, 2005.

Kinser enters this week’s four-race stretch ranked 13th in the WoO Sprint Series standings. In 29 starts, he has earned two top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

Race fans unable to attend this week’s events can catch all of the action from I-96 and K-C Raceway on DIRTVision.com. Fans can listen live as Johnny Gibson, “Voice of the Outlaws,” calls the action as he does at all WoO Sprint Series events on the DIRTVision.com cybercast, as well as on the DIRT Radio Network. Go to www.DIRTVision.com for more information on all the site features, including updated results from each night of racing, as well as a chat room to interact with other race fans.

Friday, the pit gates at I-96 Speedway will open at 2 p.m. EDT with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The official track Web site is i96speedway.com. For ticket information, call (815) 344-2023, or visit www.slspromotions.com.

On Saturday at K-C Raceway, the pit gates will open at 3:30 p.m. EDT, with the grandstands opening at 4:30 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. For tickets or more information regarding the race, fans can visit www.kc-raceway.com, or call (740) 289-4114.

Kraig Kinser, driver of the No. 20 TSR/Bass Pro Shops/Chevy/Maxim:

This would have been your first appearance with the World of Outlaws Sprint Series at Ohsweken Speedway. Were you looking forward to racing in Canada?

“Any time we have an opportunity to race in front of a new group of race fans, it’s exciting. I enjoy getting to meet people across the country and from other parts of the world. I’ve always enjoyed racing in other countries and it would have been fun to get to talk with race fans from Canada this week. Unfortunately, the rain won this one.”

Following the aborted events in Canada, the World of Outlaws Sprint Series teams will make their only appearance of the season in Michigan on Friday night. What are the No. 20 Bass Pro Shops team’s goals for the events at I-96 Speedway and K-C Raceway this weekend?

“It’s been almost three years since I’ve raced at I-96 or K-C Raceway. It’s been a lot of fun to revisit some of the tracks that I competed at the last time I was on the Outlaw tour full-time. You always remember a little bit about each track but, for the most part, you have to work with the track as it is while you’re there for this year’s race. Things tend to change over the course of the race and you have to stay on top of the car and the track. Our goals for this week are pretty simple. We’re still working to find the handling we need and to find consistency each night. The guys on the TSR team have been working really hard and we’re doing everything we can to get the No. 20 Bass Pro Shops car to the front.”

After all, when the eight-race swing through six states and one Canadian province was over, Josh was still sitting a solid second in the points standings.

But while Josh rang up two top-five and five top-10 finishes, he couldn’t help thinking of a potential win that slipped through his fingers.

Josh appeared to be in the driver’s seat toward a series-leading fifth victory in 2008 on July 20 at the famed Belleville (Kan.) High Banks. He grabbed the lead at the start of the 35-lap A-Main from the outside pole and quickly built a comfortable edge on the field.

But on lap 13 Josh’s Mark Richards Racing-owned Seubert Calf Ranches/Ace Metal Works/TSR-Tony Stewart Racing/Petroff Towing/MCB Motorsports/Ernie’s Auto & Hauling Rocket Chassis No. 1 suddenly slowed on the sprawling half-mile oval. He headed to the pit area with a broken rearend and returned only to limp around the track at reduced speed to accumulate more points, finishing seven laps down in 15th place.

The race marked the first time during the 2008 WoO LMS season that Josh failed to finish an A-Main on the lead lap.

“We had an awesome car – you couldn’t have asked for a better one,” Josh said of his Belleville outing. “That was my kind of track – real fast and round, a place where you have to keep up your momentum. It would’ve been real cool to win there, but we just didn’t have luck on our side.”

Josh’s best run of the ‘Wild West Tour’ came on a night that started out looking like it would be disastrous. On July 13, at Williston Basin Speedway in Will iston, N.D., Josh slid over the turn-one bank during hot laps and slapped the outer guardrail, forcing his crew to hastily repair their machine – with help from several other teams – in time for time trials. Josh later was involved in an opening-lap tangle in his heat, but he rallied to qualify in a draw position and then finished second to Tim Fuller in the 50-lap A-Main after leading laps 1-14.

The remainder of Josh’s ‘Wild West Tour’ finishes included a fifth on July 9 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn.; sixth on July 11 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. (after setting the second-fastest time in qualifying); sixth on July 12 at Estevan (Saskatchewan) Motor Speedway; 13th on July 16 at Gillette (Wyo.) Thunder Speedway (after pitting to change a flat tire with four laps remaining); sixth on July 18 at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, S.D.; and 11th on July 21 at Boone County Raceway in Albion, Neb. (after running as high as sixth).

“I guess the tour wasn’t too bad for us,” said Josh. “There were a lot of little tracks on the swing and we had a pretty good car at most of them, but a lot of our problem was tire choices. Our choices bit us too many times.”

Josh ended the swing still second in the points standings, but his deficit to leader Darrell Lanigan grew from 36 points to 102 points.

“We’re just getting so far behind in the points right now, I don’t know if we’re ever gonna be able to catch up to Darrell,” said Josh. “But we’re gonna do all we can to win the points. There’s still time left, so we’re not giving up.”

Josh will get back on the points comeback trail with a flurry of WoO LMS activity to close the month of July. He’ll compete in the Alltel Ohio Speedweek events on July 24 at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio; July 25 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio; July 26 at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio; and July 27 at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa. (where Josh won a WoO LMS event last year), then move on to the rescheduled finale of the $40,000-to-win Firecracker 100 on Tues., July 29, at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.

The event will be made up on Wednesday as part of a doubleheader, beginning at 5:15 p.m. Eastern with hot laps. After the completion of the first event, there will be a break to allow the teams to work on their cars, as well as time for track officials to rework the racing surface and also clear the grandstands before the originally scheduled event for Wednesday takes to the track. Both events will be compete racing programs, beginning with hot laps, followed by time trials, heat races, a Crane Cams Dash, Last Chance Showdown and A-Feature event.

SPEED will be on-hand to tape both events, with the first race airing this coming Saturday, July 26.

With valuable cumulative points on the line towards the season title, WoO championship contenders, many of whom will be returning to Eldora in September for the time honored World 100, will be out in force. They will be joined by a bevy of Eldora regulars, along with NASCAR’s Tony Stewart.

Headlining the WoO Tour into Eldora is current series points leaders Darrel Lanigan. Hailing from Union, KY, Lanigan is no stranger to Eldora’s victory lane, with several American Late Model Series (ALMS) wins to his credit, along with a $100,000 Dirt Late Model Dream victory on his resume. Lanigan has picked up two wins thus far in 2008 WoO action and hopes to use his Eldora savvy to increase that total.

Following him in the WoO chase is Josh Richards, with four wins earned thus far in 2008. Richards is amongst the youngest drivers on the tour, but having grown up around racing, his knowledge is vast and quickly adapts to any racing surface. He has always been fast at Eldora and has tasted Eldora triumph in the past.

The balance of the WoO top five also has heavy Eldora influence.

Third place Chub Frank and fourth place Steve Francis both have World 100 titles under their belt, while fifth place Rick Eckert has tasted Eldora sweetness via the Dirt Late Model Dream.

Friday’s Subway 50 will mark the second WoO Late Model appearance at Eldora. Earl Pearson, Jr. captured the inaugural appearance in 2007, after early race contenders Stewart and Chub Frank collided midway through the chase, while battling for the lead. Stewart was eliminated from the fray, while Frank limped home seventh.

Stewart, who admitted afterwards that Mark Richards had prepared one of the best handling Late Models he had ever driven, will be out to seek revenge. Earlier this year, Stewart had used the machine to master the nationally televised Old Spice Prelude to the Dream.

Eldora’s leg of the Alltel Speedweek, will follow a Thursday night showing at Muskingham County Speedway, and will precede Sharon Speedway on Saturday and Eriez Speedway on Sunday.

Here’s this weeks Weekly Rewind for the TSR World of Outlaws Teams

Tuesday July 15 - Lernerville Speedway in Sarver Pennsylvania.

Friday July 18 - Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Saturday July 19 - Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

POST-RACE QUOTES & NOTES:
Donny Schatz, driver of the No. 15 Armor All/Chevy/ParkerStore/J&J for TSR:
“We knew this was a big week for this Tony Stewart Racing team and we were hoping to have a really good week. We finished second twice and won one race, so I guess we came out okay. We’re disappointed that we didn’t win all three because we felt like we a had chance to.

“At Lernerville, we had to overcome a broken Jacob’s Ladder early in the race. We had a red-flag stoppage and my guys (Ricky Warner, Shane Bowers and Kyle Sundby) got it fixed and we were able to move from fifth into second. I just ran out of laps trying to catch Steve (Kinser). On Friday night, the Armor All car was really good. We got the lead late in the race, but just got beat on a late restart. Saturday night was the big night at Williams Grove and we got awesome horsepower from our Shaver-built Chevy to drive to the front.

“We needed that win. Everyone on this TSR team is really giving great effort and winning races is the highest reward. Now, we’ll focus on heading to Canada and continuing a busy stretch in our schedule. Hopefully, we can get a few more victories this week.”

POST-RACE QUOTES & NOTES:
Kraig Kinser, driver of the No. 20 Bass Pro Shops/Chevy/J.D. Byrider Maxim for TSR:
“Tuesday’s race at Lernerville was a great way to start things off. It was another chance at a big race right off the bat. We had been working hard at the shop since last Sunday night to get ourselves organized and on the road to Pennsylvania. I was looking forward to making a return to Lernerville and it was great to have such a solid run in front of our guests from the Harrisburg (Pa.) Bass Pro Shops store.”

STATISTICS TO DATE:
Donny Schatz, driver of the No. 15 Armor All/J&J for TSR:
WoO Sprint Series: 11 victories, 26 top-five finishes and 33 top-10s in 30 starts.
All-Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC) Series: two victories, one quick-time award and four top-five finishes in four starts.
American Sprint Car Series (ASCS): one victory in two starts.

Kraig Kinser, driver of the No. 20 Bass Pro Shops/Maxim for TSR:
WoO: two top-five finishes and seven top-10s in 29 starts.
ASCoC Series: one top-10 finish in two starts.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS TO DATE:
Donny Schatz, driver of the No. 15 Armor All/J&J for TSR:
Schatz is ranked first in the WoO championship standings with 4,764 points.
Kraig Kinser, driver of the No. 20 Bass Pro Shops/Maxim for TSR:
Kinser is ranked 13th in the WoO championship standings with 3,759 points.

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this week’s NASCAR teleconference in advance of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. This will be the fourth race in the Race to the Chase. That’s the ten-week run that precedes the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Our very special guest today is the race’s defending and two-time champion, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Tony comes into Indy tenth in the series points standings.

Now you’re a two-time winner at the Brickyard, and what does it mean to go back to that track as a defending race champion?

TONY STEWART: You’re obviously proud when you go back, especially after the first year, I don’t think we got to enjoy the win as much as we did the second year. I think the first year it was more of just a huge weight lifted off our shoulders that we accomplished a lifelong dream of ours. And I think last year it was a chance that we really got to enjoy it with our team, and you know, really we’re able to enjoy the win that night versus just the emotional drain of just finally accomplishing a goal like it was the first time around.

Q. Obviously you’re going to be moving over next year as a co-owner of the team; have you identified what you think the team is going to need to raise up to a championship level, and what’s your timetable? How long do you think it will take?

TONY STEWART: Well, I haven’t fully been able to figure it out. Obviously last week we were on vacation and I did have my first team meeting a week ago yesterday, with the guys in the shop and it was just nice to get that first meeting out of the way and get to see the faces that I’m going to see a lot the rest of this year and a lot of them next year.

So I’m not sure that I fully understand exactly what is holding them back right now but I do know that they have got good resources and it’s just a matter of figuring out where the break is in the system there. There’s obviously something that’s not exactly the way, obviously that it we want it to be or they want it to be right now. It’s just going to take some more time, and I think being able to being at the shop a lot the rest of the year will help with that.

But I know that in the short amount of time since we made the announcement at Chicago, we’ve had a lot of really good people call and want to be a part of this program, and I think that’s going to be a big key to getting it turned around.

As far as how long it’s going to take, I don’t know. I honestly don’t know the answer to that. I wish I could say that everything would be perfect by the time that we go to Daytona, but I think it’s going to be a work-in-progress right now. You look at the caliber of the teams and the quality of car owners that are out there, it’s going to be a lot of work to get caught up to where they are at, but that’s something that I’m excited about is having that challenge and taking whatever time that it takes to get it where we want it to be, and to be a team like a Joe Gibbs Racing or a Hendrick or a Roush or Childress.

Just having that opportunity is something that six months ago was barely an idea and was almost too good to be true at the time.

Q. On the team topic earlier in the season, you were weighing the decision and now you’ve made it and now you’re looking ahead, how has the pressure changed on you?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s taken a lot of pressure off of me. Obviously I’ve got a great race team and still have a great race team at Gibbs right now. We’ve battled a lot of adversity in the last nine and a half years, and obviously when your guys don’t know what you’re going to do for sure and you don’t know what you’re going to do for sure; it makes it a little bit tense, but I think we all have made the most of it. Even though it’s tense, we still have found ways to laugh and joke and cut up and keep each other relaxed to a certain degree.

So it was definitely something that was a hard process for sure but now that we’re through that, I can’t say that it’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders, because it’s like you just switched weights is all you did. We took one off our shoulders and added another one on.

If I wasn’t excited about doing, this I think that would probably bother me a lot. But, I mean, I’m excited about it and I’m excited about all the pressure that we have going into next year now. It’s something that we’ve been, looking forward to.

Q. Do you have any fear in making this move?

TONY STEWART: No, not at all. Once we made the decision and once I said, okay, this is what I’m going to do, at that point, the fear was gone. The fear was just making sure that I was making the right decision in what I felt was going to be the right thing, and, you know, once I made that decision, then that part of it went away.

Q. Being that this is the 15th running of the Brickyard, could you compare that first race in ‘99 to how it is today and your most memorable Brickyard moment?

TONY STEWART: Obviously my most memorable Brickyard moment was the first win in 2005. But obviously the cars have changed a lot since I ran there in ‘99 as a rookie, and this year is going to be another landmark year of bringing the new COT car there for the first time.

Obviously any time that there’s a change, and this is a significant year obviously with bringing a totally new designed car into the series full-time, and to the bigger tracks. So this year, will even be more different than last year and all of the races in the past.

I think as times have gone on and as the series has evolved, it’s kind of been neat to see. The one thing about the Brickyard is there’s outstanding performances by teams when they are able to win. You know, it’s not a track that you back into a win. Track position helps you, but it doesn’t win you the race. It always boils down to who has got the best handling and best handling car and the best straight line speed.

So that combination of those two is very important there, and there’s always been some really good one-on-one battles late in the race that have decided the winner of this event. That to me is what makes this race so special.

You’re not going to have one of those finishes where you’ve got two guys side-by-side coming to the checkered flag; but it’s normally going to be decided before that, and it’s also at the same time, it’s always fun to watch a team when they have a good day there, and you know, the two races that we have won there, it’s been awesome to get in that last ten laps and you know, you pray that when you’ve got a lead and that when you’re pulling away, that you don’t get a caution late and that you just have to hit your marks.

But you’ve got four opportunities to make a mistake, versus two opportunities a lap so, it always makes it more nerve-wracking and those last ten laps of the race seem like they take forever when you’re leading.

Q. Now that you’re an owner and in the sponsorship game, how do you view the climate of attracting sponsors in these economic times and how important is a driver in that?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s big obviously. It was a discussion that I had with somebody the other day, and it’s not – these sponsors don’t attach themselves to teams and drivers; winning races isn’t the priority. It’s still a matter of aligning yourself with a driver and organization that’s going to give you a lot of press and a lot of publicity.

It seems like in the last couple years, two or three years, you’re seeing sponsorships attach themselves to drivers and creating that relationship to where it’s kind of like the Gecko/GEICO. That’s been an icon, and no matter what the commercials are, that gecko is in every one of those commercials and that’s kind of how they center their marketing campaigns, it seems like.

I think the drivers are a huge part of it. Obviously the reputations of the whole organization are important obviously, but the driver is the one that’s doing those commercials and all that, and that seems to me to be where it’s kind of shifting gears from sponsorships signing up with organizations to then versus now the drivers are being lined up and teamed up with sponsors, and that association seems to be what the marketing is surrounded by. I think it’s probably more critical now than it’s ever been.

Q. Just wanted to ask, I know every year about this time of year when you go to the Brickyard you get asked this question, so I figure I would go ahead and ask it. With ownership now entering this new realm in your career, has that given you any more impetus to think about the 500 and going after it?

TONY STEWART: Actually it’s just the opposite. With this new venture, I feel like I need to focus that much more energy toward the Cup program. When I was just strictly going to be a driver, it’s a lot easier to try to do things outside the box, but I feel like now I’ve got more responsibility on me, and I’m responsible for a lot more people.

Even if logistics worked out, I don’t see myself trying to go back and run the 500 anymore. It’s just something that the amount of work and dedication that it’s going to take to be a part of this organization and try to help it be successful going to take a lot of time and effort and that’s something that the month of May, it’s a long, long event. It’s not just a three-day event like it is on a Cup weekend.

So dedicating and splitting my time up between the two events is just going to dilute my effort with what we are doing on the Cup side so, I’m just going to focus on that.

Q. With the new team next year, of course you’ll be going back to Chevrolet, have you gotten any sense at all in recent days in light of General Motors’ announcements that it’s looking at cutting back, as to whether the support that you were expecting in the first place will still be there next year?

TONY STEWART: Honestly we’ve just dealt with the racing side of it. Obviously we all know like you guys know about the economic situation, but just dealing with the people on the racing side is the important part to us right now, and as long as they say we are moving forward, that’s what we are doing.

Q. This is your last Indy with Greg Zippadelli, is there any extra sentiment associated with that and how have things been with you two since the announcement became public?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s been fine. I think we got along as good this year if not better than all the years in the past.

The thing is, when you spend ten years with somebody like that, this was something that was talked about between Zippy and myself before a decision was made on what I was going to do, and I think we both understand why we made the decisions we made, and you know, what was right for me wasn’t necessarily right for him, and vice versa.

But you know I think we’ve been around each other and with each other long enough to respect why we both made the decisions that we’ve made. We’ve all had the professional side of the relationship, but we’ve also had that personal side. He’s always going to be like a bigger brother to me, even when we’re not working together next year. He’s somebody that has spent over a quarter of my life with every weekend each year for the last ten years.

When you have a relationship like that, just because the working relationship changes, doesn’t mean the personal side does. I see us being just as good of friends the rest of this year and in the future as we are and what we have been the last nine and a half years.

Q. I’d like to ask you about the season Kyle Busch is having, winning so many races in the top three series. Being a teammate of his this year, have you discovered anything new about his abilities, has he surprised you at all with what he’s doing?

TONY STEWART: Well, I don’t think any of us expected would he have the year that he’s going to have, and not because he doesn’t have talent. He’s having a dream season, to go out and win the amount of races he’s won in all three divisions, and to be as dominant as he has; you pray that you have a season like that and they don’t come around all the time.

You know, I’m happy being Kyle’s teammate. I’m happy to be as close to him as I am right now, and get a chance to see him have the season that he’s having. I’m proud of what he has done. He’s worked hard and the results have shown from that.

You know, it’s not easy running the Cup Series and then just running a partial nationwide schedule, let alone the beginning of the year running every race, plus running as many truck races as he could.

You know, that takes a lot of commitment to do that and I’m pretty proud of him for what he’s been able to do the first half of the season. Like I say, it’s something that you pray that you’re in that situation in the future; that every year you could have a year like that. You know, you look at the history books and there’s few seasons that have been like this.

Like I say, I’m proud being a teammate of his. I’m really proud and happy for the success he’s had this year, and you hope that the rest of the year finishes out the way that it started for him. I mean, obviously we want to go out and win the Chase just like he does and just like Denny does but you hope that they keep that momentum the rest of the year, too, and have a strong finish to the year after the way the first half of it’s been.

Q. You answered my question about Zippy but I was interested in also finding out, moving into an ownership role, do you think that you will have any more, I don’t know, say, power or pull with NASCAR when you go and complain about something like earlier in the year, you had the problem with the tires and you spoke out about Goodyear; do you think NASCAR takes the owners more seriously than what they hear from the drivers?

TONY STEWART: Not necessarily. Obviously if I have a complaint from the driver’s side they will look at it from a driver’s side. I don’t think being a car owner in the series is going to necessarily have more pull. I think they have always been really good about listening to what everybody has to say and evaluating and making their own decisions about it.

They don’t let the drivers make the decisions for them and that’s something that’s made NASCAR as successful as it’s been for the past 50 years is that NASCAR has always retained that control and they always have open ears and they tell you, that if there’s something you don’t like, come to us and talk to us about it.

I think they treat the driver issues as driver issues. I think they treat the car owner issues as car owner issues and sponsor issues from the sponsorship side. I don’t think having dual roles, though, is necessarily going to give you power over what’s going on. I think NASCAR itself holds the power to what’s going on here. I just think that whatever side of the coin you’re on as far as what aspect that your complaints are about or concerned about, that’s the side they will address it from.

Q. With all of the changes, is NASCAR an open-wheel series – (indiscernible).

TONY STEWART: In my opinion it’s an open-wheel, and when I say open-wheel, I don’t necessarily mean IndyCar Racing. Sprint car racing, midget racing, USAC races and Indiana, and they just finished up Indiana Sprint week and to me there’s a lot of late dirt model racing and pavement racing, but it’s still to me the thing I think most about is all of the midgets and USAC days in Indiana.

Q. You touched on the new car earlier, but given how notoriously difficult it is in the past in Indianapolis anyway, will we see anything different than before?

TONY STEWART: I don’t think so. I think you’ll see the same style of race. Obviously a track that has 90-degree corners versus 180-degree corners, you’re not in the – the duration that you spend in each corner obviously isn’t as long, so that doesn’t normally lead to having multiple grooves.

The preferred line is to be on the white line in each corner. It makes it a little harder to pass because of that, but you know, at the same time, I think what sometimes the fans and sometimes the media loses sight of is that you’re still winning a race at a track that has a rich history and just to have your name on a list of winners there is a huge, huge accomplishment in my opinion.

Like I mentioned earlier, most of the times, somebody that’s won the race there has won it in dominating fashion, and I think sometimes people lose perspective of what the accomplishment of winning that race is when you’ve had a dominating day like that or you’ve had a car that was just that much better than everybody else’s and lose sight and say, well, it was a bad race. It wasn’t a bad race; it was a team that figured out the equation better than somebody else and went out and had a performance that day that showed that.

I think you’ll see a very similar race to what we’ve seen in the past. You never know for sure until you get there obviously but I think it’s going to be very similar to what we’ve seen in years past.

Q. Has the pressure of winning at Indianapolis gone, and do you enjoy this week more than you would have the last few years?

TONY STEWART: Oh, absolutely. There’s no doubt about it. You know, every year that we went there, whether it was an IndyCar or a stock car and had not won there yet, just that pressure kept building. Once we won it in 2005, it took a lot of pressure off and then winning last year even took more pressure off.

I think in all reality, after each time that you’ve won there, I think it makes it easier when you go there. I think the emotional side of it, not the desire, I don’t want you guys to confuse the desire of winning versus the pressure of winning; I think the pressure goes away, but the desire is still there, and I think if anything, it makes it easier to focus on what you’re trying to do and what you’re trying to accomplish because you don’t sit there and wonder all weekend, what would it be like to win.

You know what that feeling is like and you know what to do to accomplish that goal, and it’s just a matter of going out and doing the work to accomplish it. But I think it takes a lot of the pressure off to where you can just focus better and worry about the task at hand of what you have to do to win that race.

Q. As far as the Chase is concerned, are you comfortable with the direction your team is headed right now, and who on the outside right now worries you the most?

TONY STEWART: I couldn’t even tell you any more that we’re tenth in points right now. I haven’t – I don’t even know who is 13th in the points or 14th or 15th.

As far as the comfort level, I am very comfortable where we’re at. I feel like we’ve really started to hit on things the last three or four races, and it still has not led us to a win yet obviously. Chicago I thought was a great example, for a large portion of the race, we were a contender to win and the car got away from us there, the handling got away from us the last couple of runs, but for the majority of the day, we were as fast as our teammate was, and the guy that’s been the dominant driver in all of NASCAR racing this year. To be running with him like that is exactly what we were going to have to do to probably win the championship this year.

I felt like consistently over the last three or four races, our performance seems to be pointed in a direction that we’re a lot more comfortable with and I feel like the consistency in our runs now are going to be a big key factor in the success of the rest of the season.

Q. A few years ago you seemed like you would be eager enough to get enough money to get out of NASCAR and race wherever you wanted. Was there one thing that changed your mind about that? This seems like a long-term commitment to NASCAR.

TONY STEWART: It is, but it doesn’t mean that I have to drive. I don’t know how long that I’ll be a driver, but the good thing is, I’ve enjoyed being an owner in USAC. I’ve enjoyed being an owner in the World of Outlaw Series, and I have no doubt that I’m going to enjoy this experience of being an owner in the NASCAR Cup Series.

We’ll see what direction that goes. I have an option now and I’ve always had an option as a driver of deciding when I retire and doing it on my own terms, and I still have that option and on the other hand, I have an ownership role that I might stay involved in NASCAR until I die as an owner.

It’s nice having those options and you know, like I said, the enjoyment I’ve had owning USAC teams and the world of out law teams, I feel like all that has got me ready to be an owner in NASCAR and hopefully will enjoy some of the same successes that we’ve had in the open-wheel series.

Q. Have you made any progress in getting a teammate?

TONY STEWART: We’re still working on it. Obviously I’d love to announce it sooner than later. I think it will be a key to being able to attract sponsors to the second car. We’re still working on that. Hopefully we’ll be able to get – I want to get that done as soon as I can. I feel like that’s a big key in this whole program being successful next year is having the right teammate so definitely want to get that done as soon as possible.

Q. There could be times next season where Tony the driver and Tony the owner are not exactly going to see eye-to-eye. You can’t fire yourself –

TONY STEWART: Sure, I can. It makes it easier to fire yourself if you own part of the team.

Q. How do you reconcile that next year where you’re going to maybe do things from an owner perspective and another from the driver’s perspective?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s what I’ve learned from Joe Gibbs and JD, and you know, you win races and championships with people; it’s not with fancy race cars and by having trick strategies. That’s not what happens in the long haul. In the long run it’s people.

You know, when I’m at the track on the weekend, I’m on the driver’s side. You hire the right people to do the right jobs and it’s their responsibility to do their job and it’s my responsibility to do my portion of it as a driver on the weekends. When we go back on Mondays and Tuesdays and I’m not sitting behind the steering wheel, I’m obviously an owner again but you have to have that confidence that you have the right leadership within the organization to focus on your job of being a race car driver on the weekends and knowing that those people are doing the right jobs and you have to trust that. If you don’t trust the people that you have working for you, you’re never going to be successful.

I think that’s a trust that you have to put in those people that you’ve put in those positions to do the right jobs and focus on what I need to do as a driver to be successful in my part of it.

Q. As an owner now, putting on your owner hat and looking at adding a driver, several guys out there, what’s the type of person you’re looking for in a teammate, certain mind-set or attitude?

TONY STEWART: I think so. I definitely think so. We definitely want somebody that you feel like is dedicated to what we’re trying to do and realizing that we’re taking an organization that’s not had the success that it wants and has the for sight to look forward and see what we’re trying to accomplish and see that we’re dedicated and going to put 110 percent into making this organization the best it can be.

You know, you want a driver that has that same attitude with what they do every weekend. You don’t want a guy that’s just content to run in the Top 15 or Top 20. You want a guy who has every intention every year and a realistic intention of saying, I expect to make the Chase. I want somebody that expects to win races and expects to be a contender to be a championship every year, and if they don’t have those intentions, that’s not a guy that I want driving my race cars.

Q. What about a crew chief? There’s been a lot of talk about who you might pick, and is Ryan Newman still in the running to be your teammate?

TONY STEWART: There are a lot of drivers in the running right now. It’s not narrowed down to just one driver right now.

Obviously the crew chief situation, that is obviously a big factor in what we’re doing. You know, now that we’re back from vacation, it’s kind of the full-court press now on trying to figure out not only who we’re going to have – we need two crew chiefs right now. It’s not just one crew chief.

We have to figure out exactly if we’re happy with the crew chiefs that we currently have or if we need to look outside the organization, and at the same time, looking at the leadership of what we have on the floor and deciding if the team manager’s roles and the people that are going to really be the brain trust, I guess, and the guys that you trust to get everything turned around. Those are key positions right now that are a huge focus for us right now.

Obviously the two crew chiefs whoever they are going to be whether it’s Booty or somebody different, that’s obviously a huge priority for us right now along with getting a driver and other key people in the organization signed up right now.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you and first of all, much appreciated, Tony Stewart, best of luck this weekend for you.

TONY STEWART: Thanks, you guys, I appreciate your time.

I’ve looked at the trademark and it covers almost anything you can think of to put a drivers number on.  The trademark was applied for on July 2nd so its obviously been in the works for a while.

Don’t forget that Tony is on the NASCAR conference call at 2 and then at 3 Ryan Newman will be on.  Just a couple Indiana boys discussing this weekends race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or is there more to this pairing than meets the eye?

Prompted by a NASCAR “Media Alert” announcing Tony Stewart will conduct a teleconference at 2pm Tuesday it makes me wanna think the waiting’s over and Smoke’s next move will get a 3-day jump start on the normal Friday media gaggle prior to each Sprint Cup event.

Personally, I hope it is Newman that’s going to be in the second SHR car. It’ll be kinda cool to see a couple of Indiana boys smokin’ the field.

Now Tony Stewart and Susie have partnered to provide bullet-resistant & knife-resistant vests for all 30 dogs of the Indiana State Police K-9 Unit. These custom-made vests will be presented by Tony to the Indiana State Police on Thursday evening, July 24 at O’Reilly Raceway Park (ORP). The Tony Stewart Foundation extends a heartfelt THANK YOU to Jim England, President, J.D. Byrider and his staff for their hospitality in hosting our guests including Mrs. Susie Jean, her co-founder Mrs. Roz Schmitt and 28 members of the Indiana State Police with 10 of their K-9 “officers”—Kody, Gaston, Zeke, Hondo, Boss, Justice, Camo, Mojo, Andy & Shadow.

The 8:00 p.m. opening ceremonies for the USAC Midget & Silver Crown Double Header will feature a demonstration of the vest and the “sleeve assault” by a K-9 “officer” and his handler. Tony’s sister, Natalie Repenning, has graciously volunteered to play the role of the perpetrator!