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Monday, September 10, 2007

Chevrolet may make play for Tony Stewart after 2009 season

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RICHMOND, Va. - Joe Gibbs Racing will be moving to Toyota next year, but that doesn't mean Chevrolet plans to go away without a fight. General Motors said it may try to steal Tony Stewart away from Gibbs when his contract runs out in two years.

"We'd be interested in Tony staying with Chevy," said Brent Dewar, a vice president with General Motors. "I understand he's through the 2009 season with Gibbs. We'd love for him to continue with Chevrolet down the road. We've just got to sit down and see if it makes sense for all parties."

When Gibbs announced the change to Toyota last week, Stewart said he's pushing his current team for a contract extension. He owns Chevrolet teams that compete in the World of Outlaws and USAC and Dewar said that connection could be an avenue that allows Chevrolet to bring the two-time Nextel Cup Series champion back into the fold.

For now, however, Stewart said he's committed to Gibbs, even if it means driving a Toyota Camry in 2008. At the same time, he maintained an allegiance to Chevrolet.

"The good thing is I'm still part of the Chevrolet family," he said before Saturday night's Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at the Richmond International Raceway. "We are through the rest of this year and we're going to do the best we can to win races and a championship for them. I'm still with Chevrolet with the World of Outlaw teams and my USAC teams. So just because I'm not going to be there with the Cup side doesn't mean that I'm not still part of that family."

Although Toyota hasn't won during its first season in the Nextel Cup Series, Stewart said it won't take the Gibbs organization, which will include Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in 2008, long to turn that around.

"I've always trusted Joe and J.D. (Gibbs)," he said. "If I didn't believe in that, I wouldn't be in contract negotiations extending my contract. We wouldn't be working toward that goal if I didn't believe in them."


Clean and fast engine

Now that Robert Yates is headed to retirement, one of NASCAR's most-successful engine builders hopes to work on a new engine that's good for the environment.

His son, Doug Yates, will take over at the end of the year. His father won three Daytona 500 races and the 1999 Nextel Cup Series championship with Dale Jarrett. Now he wants to devote his attention to a cleaner engine - and his grandchildren.

"He's on a mission," Doug Yates said. "Him and Al Gore may make another movie together, it's just going to have a NASCAR slant to it because there are going to be green engines in there. That's kind of his passion and he's got some initiatives and some things he wants to do. And he's got seven grandchildren that hopefully he can go to see some things that he didn't see when I was growing up."

Robert Yates skipped Saturday's race at Richmond so he could celebrate his 41st wedding anniversary.


Testing at Talladega

Fifty-two Nextel Cup Series teams will test at the Talladega Superspeedway on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for the Oct. 7 UAW-Ford 500.

That race will feature the Car of Tomorrow, the first time the futuristic car will be used on an oval bigger than one mile this year.

The new car is wider and taller to enhance safety and competition. NASCAR has used the car on short tracks, road courses and one-mile speedways this year, but Talladega is the widest, biggest racetrack on the schedule. Races there traditionally feature three-wide, 10-deep packs of traffic.

"When you look at Talladega historically, they have had some of the most exciting races and tightest competition," said NASCAR vice president Robin Pemberton. "That racetrack is one of the widest tracks we go to. It is the biggest track we go to. So the races there have historically been great."

Adding to the significance of the new car's debut on a superspeedway is the fact it's the fourth race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. It's one of 10 races that will help determine this year's champion.


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Article Number: 000091

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