We hope you enjoyed Ovalscreams post on Winnie. We apologize to our readers for the lack of activity on this blog, but that was such a good post, it deserved to be left on top. The truth is, Ovalscream set the bar so high with that post, it must have scared the rest of us.

Oh well, vacation is over and it is time to get back to work.

This particular Tony Stewart fan, that is I, has had a difficult time looking forward to the prospect of my favorite driver going to a different team and a different car number. I am gradually accepting it, but only with the realization that Smoke’s attitude has changed to the point where there are other things in racing that are more important to him than winning as a race car driver. He is optimistic about his chances of helping his new Stewart-Haas racing team step up, and be competitive, but, he admits, it could take a while to build the team. We just have to get used to the fact that he will be happy driving around the track like Kyle Petty, as his team gains strength and competiveness.

That being said, we are finally getting a little excited about what will be the #14 team, but that is for next season. This season, we wonder if Smoke still has the fire to win a few. He got out of his car at Daytona a few weeks ago, when he had a car that looked like it could win. Yes, he was sick, and yes, it was probably for good reason, but there was a time when he would rather soil his firesuit than get out of a potentially winning car.

So, Smoke ain’t what he used to be. Since he is the part owner of a new NASCAR Sprint Cup partnership, this is probably a good step towards being politically correct–something else we aren’t used to from Smoke.

But can he make it three in a row at the Brickyard, next weekend? That is a tough call. If he does win, I will then lose all my doubts, and start being optimistic about Stewart-Haas Racing, because another Brickyard win will mean that Smoke does still have the fire. After all, that is a very tough race to win, and when everybody wants to win it just as bad as any other driver, it makes it even tougher. Mike of Trouble in Turn 2 has a little to say about how tough it can be in his excellent article, “Pick Your Ten Favorite NASCAR Races”

The actual race itself isn’t always filled with passing and a few drivers tend to dominate. It’s still one of the most prestigious venues in the world of motorsports and teams tend to spend a little extra time massaging their cars and getting everything just right for this race. Unlike Daytona where a good restrictor plate car only translates to three other races, The Brickyard 400 goes a long ways towards speedway bragging rights…read more

In spite of my griping about the changes Tony Stewart is going through, we think he will continue to show that he has a strong drive to win, it will just be with a different way of winning in mind.