Tony Stewart says Dover NASCAR win won't cure all team's woes
Tony Stewart admits he would never have predicted the resurgence that brought his Stewart-Haas team victory in the Dover NASCAR Sprint Cup race
The three-time Cup champion has been struggling for form in the early stages of this year's campaign, and between the fourth round at Bristol and the 11th at Darlington never came home higher than 15th.
Charlotte brought some light with seventh from 25th on the grid, then last weekend at Dover he surged up the order and ultimately into the lead just three laps from the end.
"Last week was a step in the right direction, and a bigger step than I possibly could have imagined," Stewart said of Charlotte.
"This week [Dover] is a step in the right direction; it gives us hope.
"I'll be 100 per cent perfectly honest, I was preparing for a very long day.
"But I'm proud to be sitting here saying that I was very wrong, because this was not a little bit of tweak here, a little bit of tweak there.
"This was going and really sitting down and saying, OK, we may have to abort everything that we are doing to try to come up with a new package."
NOT FIXATED ON CHASE QUALIFICATION
Although he now sits 16th in the championship, Stewart's Dover win means he currently qualifies for a wildcard entry into this year's Chase.
He insists however that properly rectifying his team's issues is far more important than a token offering across the final races.
"I've done this enough and been in the Chase enough that being in [it] is not a novelty for me," he explained.
"To me it's a bigger deal to me to get our programme turned around. Our goal is not just to make the Chase; our goal is to be contenders.
"I would rather miss the Chase and the effort to be in the process of building our programme to where we have an opportunity to not just be in the Chase, but have an opportunity to win it.
"I want to get this whole programme turned around to where all three drivers go to the racetrack every week and feel like they have an opportunity to have a good result.
"As much as this is a great win and a great victory for us, and great momentum builder for our organisation, one win won't change our direction."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Silverstone: Circuit of Wales is not viable
Qatar MotoGP: Marquez beats Rossi in action-packed race
Redding: I've got to 'do a Marquez'
Brake issues hindered Rosenqvist’s chances of IndyCar victory in Long Beach
Ayrton Senna's famous Honda NSX up for sale
Yamaha to test completely new MotoGP bike at Jerez
Krack: Aston Martin frustrated by inconsistent F1 penalty decisions
The ex-F1 driver taking on NASCAR with a new team
The early benefits and challenges of NASCAR's Next Gen car
How Penske's rookie sensation opened NASCAR's new era in style
Six key themes to follow in the 2022 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments