When Tony Stewart surprised almost everyone to leave his cushy job at Joe Gibbs Racing to assume ownership of Haas CNC Racing, people assumed the worst. The obvious comparisons were for Stewart to have a similar path to other driver-owners, Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip. While on the surface that makes some sense, but Stewart’s situation is drastically better.

1. Haas is already an established team. While Gordon and Waltrip basically converted hobby/Busch teams into their Cup outfits, Haas has been a one or two-car Cup team since 2003. With a lot of infrastructure already in place, Stewart didn’t have to drop cash for everything at once. It also meant more tweaking than simply scrambling to get all the pieces in place before Daytona.
2. Stewart has firsthand experience on how to build a raceteam. During Stewart’s tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team grew organically into a powerhouse. Stewart was able to observe how Gibbs ran his team, worked with sponsors, grew slowly, and emphasized hiring and keeping talented employees. This is another large difference compared to Gordon and Waltrip. Neither was with a championship-caliber team(Gordon was with RCR at a time when they were still rebounding from the loss of Dale Earnhardt). So when it came time to start their own teams, they lacked the blueprint that Stewart surely has.
3. Tony Stewart is a better driver than Robby Gordon. It sounds obvious, but for as talented as Gordon is, he still is prone to costly mistakes and fits of poor judgment. Stewart has won at least one race every year since 1999.
4. Tony Stewart is more marketable than Michael Waltrip. In a move worthy of its own Ripley’s Believe it or Not episode, Michael Waltrip managed to fully sponsor three cars in his maiden Cup voyage based on little more than his persuasion and pitchman skills. What might be more impressive, though, is that Stewart landed enough sponsorship to fully fund two Cup cars in a year filled with unsponsored teams, merges and contraction. Not only is Stewart one of the top drivers, he is also one of the most marketable and recognizable drivers on the circuit. Having such a resource at Stewart-Haas is a great advantage long term.
5. Stewart can learn from Gordon and Waltrip’s mistakes. Gordon and Waltrip made plenty of mistakes building their teams. Gordon gambled on an unproven engine manufacturer and Waltrip expanded to three teams too quickly (there was also the PR nightmares regarding jet fuel and Waltrip leaving the scene of an accident). Stewart will surely observe and learn from these blunders in the coming years when he begins to shape his organization.
6. Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman are better drivers than anyone Haas has ever had. With all respect to Scott Riggs, Ward Burton, Johnny Sauter, Jeremy Mayfield and Jeff Green, Newman and Stewart are the best and most accomplished drivers ever. While previous drivers have never dazzled, Haas managed to remain in the top 35 and gather occasional top 10’s(14 total). Newman and Stewart will only improve on these numbers.
7. They’re using Hendrick Engines: Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon both used engines from sources (Toyota, Menard) that were new to building NASCAR engines. As expected there were growing pains with both programs and both teams saw large batches of sour engines. If step one is making the top 35, then a reliable engine program is an enormous advantage.
8. They’re using Hendrick Engines: Not only is Stewart-Haas set up with an existing engine program, they have one of the top engine programs in the sport. In fact, Hendrick’s technical support will provide Stewart-Haas with similar resources that Gibbs Racing once received from Hendrick as a startup team.
9. Haas has technology on their side With on-track testing axed for 2009, the emphasis shifts to collecting data elsewhere. For Stewart-Haas, they have a state-of-the-art “rolling wind tunnel” in their shop, which means they actually have a technical advantage in one area of the sport. The biggest key for Stewart is acquiring the right engineers and other personnel to best utilize their advantage.
10. Tony Stewart isn’t stupid. Simply put, why would Stewart go to Haas if he didn’t believe he could win races in year one. Tony Stewart could have gone to almost any team in NASCAR if he wanted. He didn’t need money either. Stewart hates losing and if there wasn’t a legitimate chance for Stewart to succeed at Haas he would have gone somewhere else.

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