(photo courtesy of nascar.com)
You had to know that it was only a matter of time before Tony Stewart took Stewart-Haas Racing to Victory Circle. The All-Star race was no fluke. The former #66 and #70 Haas-CNC Racing teams were, in the past few years just race fillers of sorts. Neither of those teams were even top 25 teams, but look where the teams are now in the 2009 standings, the #14 Office Depot Chevy driven by Tony Stewart is leading the points and the #39 Army Chevy driven by Ryan Newman is 4th in the points.
There were many doubters, this reporter included, that THE SMOKER (Tony Stewart) could have that much of an impact on the organization this quickly. It is quite remarkable that both of the race teams are having a huge turnaround in performance over the 2008 race year. As much a this reporter hates to admit it, there is one and only person responsible for the 180 degree change and that would be none other than THE SMOKER!