It’s VERY clear from Stewart’s amicable and accommodating attitude concerning the sudden and unexpected release of this information that he is obviously the source of the “leak” when it comes to news of his possible negotiations with another team. There’s little doubt that he orchestrated the leak in an effort to turn the heat up on Joe Gibbs Racing and improve his position in any negotiations them. When the news came out about Junior last year he made his position clear, he was leaving DEI and ready to talk with other teams. This is much different. Stewart is trying to leverage mysterious talks with other teams to put the pressure on Gibbs to get a deal done. Good for Joe Gibbs Racing in standing up and saying there’s no way they’ll let him out of his contract. One thing is certain, Tony Stewart won’t be getting in any car any time soon that’s not with a top-10 team. Anybody that’s ever listened to Stewart on the radio during a race knows that he doesn’t have the patience to drive any car like that and Haas CNC is far from having have the cars to run with the big dogs.

From Jen: It IS sickening how sweet he has been in his interviews. A complete 180 degree turn.

I don't know why this forum is so anti-Stewart. There are many aspects to consider when questioning why Stewart has made an announcement early.
First of all, Tony has always been a fickle interview. He has gone from fun and playful to 'punch you in the face' mad in one race.
Second, next year's free agency is going to be deep. Can Tony compete with Carl Edwards and others? Why not get an early jump on settling a deal?
Last, I believe that Tony is one of the few drivers who can turn a backmarking team into a Chase team. His racing resume has more depth than anyone else in Nascar. His talks have been less than mysterious. He has stated that an ownership option was presented by Haas/Cnc. Given Tony's recent purchases and interests, owning a Cup team is a logical step.
I personally would like to see a Sprint Cup team co-owned by Harvick and Stewart, with the same two as drivers. I belive Harvick is ready for it, and the timing may be right for Srewart.

Ah,Talladega is too much fun and over too soon. They should have a whole week of racing like Daytona. Both days had the absolute best racing.

I will give you the very good news first. I had the opportunity to talk with Mike Helton and asked if there were plans to take a race date away from Louden. He said that that will NOT happen anytime soon. (emphasis on the not is the way he said it).

As you who watched know, it was the Dale and Tony Show both days. Started well but the end was not so good.I don't know about Jr, but Tony has apologized for Sunday. I have not read up on the news on Nascar.com but I guess JG has blamed the wreck on Jr. Nice way to talk about your teammate,Jiffy.

Talladega has long been known for "the big one" and when you think it is going to happen right in front of you, you don't want to see it. Menard's spin was directly in front of where we sit and we thought he was going to come right back out onto the track into the pack. Scary.

I hope Lepage gets a suspension. That was really dumb. How long has he been racing? He has taken the blame since, but he was screaming at the time that it was all the spotter's fault. He is probably right and the spotter should get some of the blame but not all of it. Another factor is that everyone was in a rush because it was reported that rain was in the area and could shorten the race. The rain fortunately held off both days until the evening.

Another dumb move award should go to Nascar. I forget who it was, but one driver got penalized because he missed the Nationwide drivers' meeting. The penalty was for him to start last which didn't even matter because he qualified last anyway. We said that if Nascar really wanted to punish him, they should have made him start first and tell him to make a run for it.

Items at the benefit auction we went to was the opportunity to go to Victory Lane on Saturday and on Sunday. I intended to bid on some stuff and realized after I got there that I forgot my credit card.I'm glad I realized it before I had started to bid on anything. Just think, I might have been there with either Tony or Kyle. Oh well, I saved some money.

The deal with Chrissy Wallace and Tony is that Tony helps sponsor her car. He and Mike Wallace are good friends. Wallace helped Stewart get to the right people when he wanted to drive in Nascar so Tony is repaying a favor. She is a very talented driver. But, the Home Depot girlfriend appears to be finally out of the picture, so who knows.

I saw Tony in the media center talking and laughing with ESPN reporters and knew the stories would fly.I know how much he "likes" ESPN and I believe he is filling them full of you know what and really enjoying it. Haas would have to be totally out of the picture for Tony to associate himself with that team. The rumors of a Stewart and Harvick partnership have been circulating since last year. I could believe that happening, but owning and driving at the same time is very difficult. And as SJH says, Tony is finding out what he's worth to use as a bargaining tool at contract time. He is very loyal and has already said he will stay with Gibbs until he retires, but that might be in 2009.

On another note, Roush had a terrible weekend. I'll bet he's ripped out what was left of his hair.

Robby Gordon fans who led the uprising when he was going to be fined by Nascar, are asking everyone to take a minute and vote him into the All Star race. You can vote as many times as you want.

http://www.nascar.com/promos/allstar/vote/

or text from a Sprint or Nextel phone the word "NASCAR" to "7777".