STEWART: WHAT NASCAR NEEDS?

I watched the Richmond Winston Cup race last Saturday night. Despite
the fact that we had a first time winner (and a "rookie" at that), it was a
snoozer.

The only excitement in the race was on restarts when Tony Stewart
had a "bad" pit stop and would come out 3rd or 4th. Then we got to see some
actual passing for the lead. But when Stewart finally would get the lead, he took off.

Everyone in the mainstream media is just gushing at Stewart’s feat
(and feet for that matter). They treat him like he’s the next Jeff Gordon. They may be
right; he may be the next Jeff Gordon, boo’s and all. If and when he starts winning double
digit races in a year, year after year, and the boos start because of the lack of
competition, then we can truely call him the next Jeff Gordon.

Maybe it’s me. I just can’t get that excited about Stewart. I
watched him struggle in the Busch Series where he wasn’t able to do anything unless his
equipment was perfect. I watched him run the IRL with the best equipment and dominate
races there, but he tended to be a little rough on the engines, DNF’ing more times than he
should have.

I was watching his victory lane interview just waiting for him to
say something inappropriate, like he did the time after he dropped out of the Indy 500. He
hasn’t been that good with the media in post-race interviews, but he did alright Saturday
night. Perhaps he knows that Gibbs would not put up with that kind of language.

And did Bobby Labonte seem really excited about his win? I mean,
really, really excited? It looked to me like he was saying all the proper things, but
without much enthusiasm. Perhaps he’s thinking that his days of getting the good equipment
at Gibbs racing are in the past.

Gibbs is having the same kind of season this year that Penske did
last year. Penske brought on Jeremy Mayfield and Jeremy helped Rusty Wallace a LOT. But
then Jeremy won a race…and suddenly stopped being a contender. Will that happen with the
#18 and #20 teams? Will the teamwork continue now that Stewart has a win?