2010 NASCAR Preview - Media Tour - Day 1
Posted January 19, 2010; Source - Track Communications; Photos - Charlotte Motor Speedway

Headlines from Monday, January 18...

Stewart-Haas Racing Enters Second Year - May Expand

Kyle Busch Signs Contract Extension With JGR

Charlotte Motor Speedway Expanding Seats, Literally

NASCAR Testing Wing vs. Spoiler

Quotes of the Day

Stewart-Haas Racing Enters Second Year

The first function of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway was a luncheon hosted by Stewart-Haas Racing, one the surprise teams of the 2009 season.

Stewart-Haas put both its cars in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup in its first season with Tony Stewart as co-owner. Stewart won four races and finished sixth in the standings, while teammate Ryan Newman finished ninth.


Ryan Newman (left) and Tony Stewart (right)...

"I can promise you one thing, it was a year ago this time none of us knew what to expect, and it was a big question mark as to what was going to happen," said Stewart.

This year, Stewart said, was a lot more relaxing. At the same time, much more is expected of the team - and Stewart knows it.

"I'm expecting a great year," said Stewart. "I feel like both of us being able to get in the Chase last year was something I expect both teams to do. I feel like the changes that we went through and the work we've done over the winter has prepared both of these teams to have a shot at running for a championship."

Newman, an engineering graduate from Purdue University, used a mathematical formula to talk about the 2010 season vs. 2009.

"Two points define a slope," said Newman." We have our point from 2009. Our point from 2010 will determine our success for Stewart-Haas racing in years to go.Just going out there and having a lot better start to the season in Daytona is extremely important - and getting that definition and that second point so we can define our future at Stewart-Haas Racing is also important for us this year."

Newman's crew chief, Tony Gibson, said his main goal for 2010 is to get Newman and the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet to Victory Lane.

"For us, we want to come out and win races," said Gibson. "We let a few get away last year. We want to win races and be a threat to win a championship. Making the Chase was awesome, but that's not good enough. We've got to step up our game."

The entire team has done that, especially when compared to this time last year. Then, the team was frantically working on cars to get ready for the season. And there weren't that many finished cars around.

"The main thing for me is now I can look out of my office and see cars actually sitting out on the floor," said Bobby Hutchens, Stewart-Haas Racing director of competition said. "This time last year, it was a pretty empty shop. I kind of feel like we're two months ahead of last year's schedule, if you could call it that."

Darian Grubb, crew chief of Stewart's No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet team, agreed.

"Last year we were building," Grubb said. "But now, it's actually good to be able to say we're strengthening. The areas we felt like we had some weaknesses, we know where those are and we were able to make a few changes here and there."

Stewart-Haas Racing currently fields two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but could expand in the future, Hutchens said.

"We've talked about that in our shop over the last couple months or weeks," said Hutchens. "That may something that's in our future if it fits our group up here. We're not going to do anything that's going to pull our two cars down from a performance standpoint. Also, we want to bring something in that's going to add to our program.

"We'll use our best practice approach that we've done in about everything we've done as far as choosing different paths to take. When the time comes to see if we expand from 2011, whether it's then or later, we'll do it."

Kyle Busch Signs Contract Extension With JGR

Joe Gibbs Racing announced it has signed driver Kyle Busch to a "multi-year" contract that will keep the defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion with the team for the next several seasons.

"It's something we've been working on for a while," said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. "We probably could've announced this earlier. We were just getting some of the details ironed out and finalized. Watching him grow off the track as well as on the track has been exciting for us. We look forward to many years together racing up front."

Busch said there "wasn't much convincing needed" to come back to the team after the 2010 season, when his first contract was set to expire.

"We struggled a little bit through 2008 and unfortunately missed the Chase [in 2009]. But I see the organization is strong, I see the way Joey [Logano] really came along toward the end of the year and got a lot better. I see the way Denny [Hamlin] ran. I mean, shoot, he had a shot to win the championship.

"Our stuff is there. It's all about having the right people in the right place. Hopefully, [crew chief] Dave [Rogers] is that guy, and he and I can really develop a great relationship like Denny and [crew chief] Mike Ford have."

The team wouldn't say how many years the contract is, though Gibbs said they could announce that in the future.

"What does multi-year deal mean to me?" Busch said. "It means a secure future. Joe and J.D. were very receptive to my ideas, I was receptive to their ideas on how to further along our relationship and our commitment to each other, and to do that was to get the deal done, show our sponsors that we're committed to each other and the people in the shop worried, 'Well,is Kyle Busch going to be here or not?' We put all that to rest."

All of Joe Gibbs Racing's drivers made an appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway's Nationwide Series garage, filling up eight of the track's new frontstretch seats.

In addition to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Busch, Logano and Hamlin, NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers Matt DiBenedetto and Brad Coleman were there, as were NASCAR Camping World East Series drivers Darrell Wallace Jr., Brent Moffitt and Max Gresham.

Charlotte Motor Speedway Expanding Seats, Literally

Charlotte Motor Speedway continued its Fans First initiative with the announcement of approximately 15,000 new premium seats that will be installed along the 1.5-mile superspeedway's frontstretch.

The new seats, which are about 25 percent wider and have arm rests, replace cast-metal seats. All the seats will be installed before the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 22.

"When you sit on the frontstretch seats, you're sitting on history," said Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. "It's our original seating on the frontstretch in the upper rows in Ford, Chrysler and GM grandstands. Our fans are the best. They've been buying those seats forever."

Fans who purchase season tickets - all three Sprint Cup events at the track - will also receive other special incentives. Fans who buy tickets for the All-Star Race, the Coca-Cola 600 on May 30 and the NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America on Oct. 16 will become members of the Victory Lane Club, have personalized, bronze nameplates installed on their new seats - and have a chance to take home one of the older seats.

NASCAR Testing Wing vs. Spoiler

NASCAR is set to begin testing an aluminum spoiler instead of a wing on its new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car this week at Texas Motor Speedway, and several competitors expressed an opinion on the spoiler.

NASCAR will also test at Charlotte Motor Speedway on March 23-24 with the spoiler.

"What NASCAR is going to spend a lot of time doing - whether it's in the Charlotte test or a Goodyear tire test - is figure out what balance is good for our cars in clean air," Ryan Newman said. "This car has been a challenge at times because of the frontal surface area and the fact that it's got a taller roof and a little bit 'squarer' in reference to the whole that it punches in the air.

"It's become a little more challenging running 15th than with the older-style car. It's going to open up a new can of worms in respect to a spoiler on this type of race car."

Newman was involved in a grinding crash at Talladega Superspeedway last year, flipping down the backstretch. He said then he hoped NASCAR would make changes to the car to help it stay on the ground in case of an accident.

"NASCAR has done a lot of testing, and I think that is a definite part of why they're making some changes in respect to spoiler vs. wing," Newman said.

"The fans, ultimately, are what brought these changes along," Kyle Busch said. "They should be appreciative to NASCAR for listening and to following some of their direction."

Said Newman, "Is it a better looking car? I like the looks of a spoiler over a wing, for sure. I've always thought that a stock car or a full-fendered race car, as in dirt late models or late models or even a street stock at your local race tracks, they have spoilers. That's just my preference."

How will a spoiler affect the handling of the car? Time will tell.

"It's going to have some different effects with the cars side-drafting," Newman said. "In the end, I hope it keeps the aerodynamic balance the same front to rear because I think we have a good balance with respect to that. I don't know what it's going to do for the racing, what it's going to be like with the aero push and the things we've talked about."

Busch said he doesn't think the cars will be any easier to drive.

"It certainly can, depending on how big they go on the spoiler," Busch said. "They're talking of keeping the same downforce level in the car, which is only like an inch spoiler. It's still going to make the cars hard to drive."

Quotes of the Day

Kyle Petty, on Charlotte Motor Speedway's new frontstretch seats..."They are 25 percent wider for fat guys like me."

Joe Gibbs on accessibility of NASCAR drivers vs. other sports..."If you try and get a quarterback's autograph on football day, you'll get arrested."

Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, on having success at such a young age..."I never know where I could be five years from now. I could be on top of the world or I could be driving a Zamboni somewhere."