NSCS: Tony Stewart feels better than ever, looking to have success

Following a season cut short by breaking his leg to last year and controversy off the track taking the forefront, Tony Stewart says that he’s feeling really good and ready to go.

“This year during the holidays, I just stayed home and relaxed and enjoyed time with my family and friends, and then went to Arizona and the Chili Bowl and got to see some friends that I haven’t seen for a long time,” Stewart commented. “So from the personal side, that was the best thing that I could’ve done. Physically, after the surgery on December 1^st, this is the best that I’ve felt so really excited to get back into a car and get going again. As you guys saw when I walked up, I’m walking fairly straight with not much of a limp so feeling really good.”

With the events that have taken place away from NASCAR on the sprint car tracks, Stewart admits it will be some time before he gets behind the wheel of a sprint car again, but says that it’s made his “desire more stronger than it’s ever been”.

“I’m not happy about the last two years of my life, so it’s given me more drive and desire to get back to the old form that our fans and sponsors have been used to seeing so I’m looking forward to it,” he added. “This is probably the most prepared that I’ve been in awhile for a season to start.”

Stewart is hoping to expand on his relationship with Chad Johnson, something that he feels has been there since the beginning, personality wise. He notes that it’s just taken himself getting used to the engineering path that Johnson and the sport have taken.

“As everything evolves, you have to keep changing as a driver to do well,” he added. “I feel getting that first year under our belt and there’s a lot of new people on the 14 car underneath Chad is a positive change for us, as well and should get us off on the right foot this year.

Beyond trying to get his own on-track success back up to par, Stewart has three drivers underneath him – 2014 Sprint Cup Series Champion Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick and Kurt Busch. When the team was originally put together, a lot of questions were asked as to whether the combination would work. However, as Stewart points out, the “ticking time bomb was a good combination”.

“We have four drivers and four crew chiefs and owners that have the same passion and drive to win championships,” he stated. “I think we knew from the start – we didn’t know that we were guaranteed to win a championship the first year out, but at the same time we knew the driver and crew chiefs would work well together.”

With Harvick having won the championship last year, it proves to that Stewart-Haas Racing has the tools to have success. Now, it’s about putting the magic together for the other three teams.

“There’s definitely room for improvement with the other three teams and that’s what we’ve worked on in the off-season to bring the standard of those three teams to match what Kevin’s done,” Stewart stated.

Stewart added that they found some trends last year that should help them in developing their package.

“Danica and Kevin were feeling a lot of the same things in their cars. Kurt and I were feeling similar feels together,” he noted. “So it’s just about figuring out how to work together and how to work with the crew chiefs to take what we have. There were times that we tried what Kevin was running, and I was slower because I wasn’t as comfortable as I was with my package. It’s just figuring out trends and figuring out the positives from each car. I think that’s what we focused on this winter was finding the best of everything and putting it into one package.”

Though in trying to improve those other teams, they are also faced the new rule changes that bring a new testing policy for teams to only be allowed to test as part of Goodyear tests, and a reduction of horsepower. Stewart says that has placed more emphasis on simulation programs, wind tunnel time and their technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports as HMS provides their engines and chassis.

“They’ve spent a ton of money and resources on developing the new engine package for this year,” Stewart commented. “It’s been an exhausting process, but at the same time, it’s shown us some strength in the organization. We feel confident that we’ve been able to take the areas that we have the ability to make improvements on and executed it.”

NASCAR plans to expand on the rule package with it fully debuting in 2016. There are discussions that the enw package may be implemented for the All-Star race in May at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is an opportunity that Stewart is excited about having.

“That’s kind of what the drivers were all in favor of in the first place and the rules package this year is a step between, which I think was a good step by NASCAR,” Stewart explained. “So we’re keeping everybody moving the same direction and not just jumping right away to the 2016 package. I think it’d be a great idea to take that event – I mean, that’s an event that’s for the fans anyway. As much as we all want to win it and there’s a great big prize there, it’s a great opportunity for all of us to try that package.”