Stewart Shifts Mindset from Indy

Having missed out when he was an IndyCar racer, Indiana-native Stewart finally secured a home win at the Brickyard last weekend, which has moved him to the top of the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings.

But rather than continue to enjoy the sweetness of last weekend's victory, Stewart is already looking to continue his impressive run at this weekend's Watkins Glen road couse race, where he will also compete in the Busch and Grand Am Sportscar support races.

Stewart has now won four of the last six races and he already has one foot in the 'Chase for the Championship', with only five races remaining until the points are reset.

"It's kind of a mind-set shift, now we got through the Brickyard and didn't do anything stupid," Stewart said. "We've got a lot of momentum and the win has added a ton of momentum, obviously. We have found some things that are working for us. It really puts the pressure on everybody else to catch up with us.

"I always look forward to the road courses just because it's a weekend of something different from what we've done the past five or 10 weekends. We go to a road course just like we do any track. We go there to win."

Stewart will use his famous 'number 48' chassis this weekend, which dates back more than four years. He has used it to secure all four of his previous road course victories at Sonoma (2001 and 2005) and Watkins Glen (2002 and 2004).

"If you get the combination right you can go out and win. If you miss something and you're a little bit off, you're not going to win," Stewart added. "The two races we won at Watkins Glen we had a very, very good race car that drove well all day.

"In between those races there was a year where our car didn't drive real well and we didn't win. It's just a matter of doing the same things you do at any other race track. If you get the package right and your driver is good at road courses, then you've got a shot at winning a road course race."

Stewart reckons part of his secret to winning on road courses is his mindset, and that some of the drivers who are used to ovals are not mentally prepared to turn right as well as left on race weekend.

"Some work harder at it than others," Stewart added. "With some of those guys it's the old saying 'it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.'

"Some of these guys have done nothing but race stock cars on ovals all their lives, but even though it's still a stock car, when it comes time to run the road courses it's something totally different.

"It just depends on their attitude when they get there and how good they want to be."