by richard teague tinynascars@yahoo.com
Stewart To RCR I Hope! Now is that a headline or what? The past few days I’ve been taking with some friends (yes I do still have a few of them, even after I’ve been writing this column, although they may be mad at me sometimes) and every single one I talked with says that if Stewart goes with Gibbs to Toyota, they ain’t going to like him no more. Now to some of you that may seem like no big deal and it don’t matter to you who Tony drivers for, but to us it is a big one Real Big Deal! We’re talking TOYOTA, not Ford or Chevy or Dodge, TOYOTA. Why even Chevrolet is freaking out over it, and they want to keep Stewart in a Chevy any way they can.
The way I understand it, and how I come up with sending Stewart to RCR is that when you have Chevrolet with their big bucks and Toyota with their many dollars, this could be more exciting than Dale Jr. and DEI. You haven’t heard much about how Tony feels about the car change, only a comment or two, and he really can’t say much more than that. He knows that with the hoopla that Junior just went through and all the other stuff that has been going on in NA$CAR, he needs to bide his time. The other day Gibbs wanted to talk about extending his contract, which is up in 2009, but ole Tony said he wants the time during the off-season to be off, with no talk of contracts. He probably only wants to hear about what’s for Christmas dinner and what’s on the New Year’s party menu.
There I go picking on Tony because of his size, we all know size don’t matter, especially when it comes to a NA$CAR driver. Hey sure, Stewart could loose a couple of pounds, but he ain’t the only one. He gets the job done, though, and real well too. Supposedly Stewart could leave Gibbs before the 2008 season because something in his current contract says that any major equipment changes can be considered as an out for him. Bubbas and Bubba-ettes, if changing to another car manufacturer ain’t major then what the heck is? Soooo if Tony wants to stay in a Chevy it seems that here is his way out. This stuff about no talkie contractie may be the beginning of the “Silly Off Season.”
As for RCR and Stewart, well that’s easy. I mean, heck, what other Chevrolet team has a better program and could afford Tony than Richard Childress? He could be Front Row Joe’s teammate or maybe Mayfield & Riggs, yea right. There is one other team that would give Stewart shelter from the storm and that’s DEI. Oh baby wouldn’t Mrs. T love to get the pot stirred up in the off season. She’s had enough fun during the regular season, so from now until the 500 would be right up her alley. HMS is totally out of the question, but then again, there is Casey Mears. We know just how loyal Rick Hendrick can be, don’t we. Watch your back Casey. Who says ya’ can’t compare NA$CAR to major league sports? HMS and Rick are getting more like the Yankees and George Steinbrenner every year.
Na, I don’t think he’d do it again to another driver like he did to Kyle Bush, but ya’ never know. With the new four car team limit, he won’t be able to add another driver. The limit of teams makes it a great chance for Childress. It is Stewart’s next work place because Richard said a while back that he plans to have a fourth team soon but would not name a driver just yet. Hmmmm Another strike against DEI is that there isn’t much talk about a 4th car and it would appear their plate is full now. Like Mr. Spock would say, it’s only logical that Tony Stewart would be driving for Richard Childress Racing next season. And that will just fine with me (and a bunch of other people, I bet). I’ll even go further and say Home Depot could live with it too.
Did ya see that Bruton Smith’s Christmas lights caught fire the other night? BS was home and the firemen had to tell him, “Hey BS, you’re on fire.” But ole BS probably didn’t give the fire fighters a free ticket to anything, like Brian France did when the cops came over to his house. Ya’ll remember when he was out drunk driving and made it back to the safety of his condo and the police came knocking and nobody went to jail? I may be wrong about Mr. Smith and he just might have served eggnog and handed out gifts, I sure would have showed my gratefulness to those guys. It’s like that guy that saved Jack Roush in that lake that time. Bet he goes to any NA$CAR race he wants to. Jack impress me as the kind of man that shows his gratitude and can also show his ire if need be.
I am not suppose to be doing this, since I had a gag order placed on me from the 81st district court about not talking about my contract negotiations with my friend and publisher Will. Well I’m not talking about it, it’s my fingers that are moving and not my lips, so here goes. Negotiations are not going well and Will is being a Missouri Mule, as far as my fingers are concerned, but the little guy is seemingly getting into the Christmas spirit and I really do think the deal will be done and the lines will be signed right after Christmas.
I’ve been working on my Night Before Christmas poem and I think it may be a nice one. Here’s a taste for ya:
T’was the night before Christmas
And all around DEI
The stockings were hung
Right next to the spies
Since the long cold season
Was over and dun
Junior was history
Time for Teresa to have fun
The eight car is repainted
Mark is ready to fly
He shares the seat again
And hopes not with a spy
With one junior alone
In this famous stable
Truex now to sits
At Junior’s old table
That’s enough and remember, it’s just a start and could get better. It could get worse. But hey, who’s writing this, me or you? Now if you got some ideas I am always open to them, but it don’t mean I’ll use them. If I do think one is better than mine, I’ll put it in instead. Like Mick said, it belonga to me. Seriously, if you got one, send it in and ya’ll know where, it’s at the top of this column. Well, I’m done again. Remember, If it ain’t NA$CAR, It ain’t s**t!!
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