Tony Stewart stands by tough call to change crew chiefs

As an Indianapolis Colts fan, it's been a rough couple of days for Tony Stewart.

"We're in a state of mourning," he said Thursday.

As an owner/driver, Stewart understands what it's like to be on both sides of the management/athlete relationship, so he gets why his favorite NFL team released quarterback Peyton Manning.

Stewart had to make a tough call himself last season. Before the Chase, he decided that he would cut loose crew chief Darian Grubb after the season. The decision became easy to second-guess when Stewart went on to win the Sprint Cup championship.

But handing over the reins to Steve Addington -- the crew chief for Las Vegas native Kurt Busch the past two seasons and for his brother, Kyle Busch, the previous five -- is a decision Stewart stands by.

"We didn't just change to make a change," Stewart said. "There were reasons to make a change. You look across the board, there are teams that make changes all the time. I don't have a habit of switching crew chiefs very often. I'm in my 14th year, and this is the third crew chief I've ever had."

It's nearly impossible to gauge whether the decision is correct after only two races. Stewart has started with strong cars, qualifying third at Daytona and second last weekend at Phoenix, but he finished 16th and 22nd, respectively, in those races.

Now Stewart, 40, heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400. It's a track where he has competed well, with three top-three finishes, five in the top five and eight in the top 10 in 13 Sprint Cup races here.

Somehow, though, Stewart has yet to pull into Victory Lane.

"I would love nothing more than to be able to check a box off that we won a race here finally," Stewart said.

Stewart should have won last year's Cup race at LVMS. He led 163 laps of the 267-lap event, at one point opening a four-second advantage.

The race changed on lap 151 when an air hose got caught on the corner of Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet. Stewart then dragged the hose out of the pit box, resulting in a stop-and-go penalty by NASCAR, which sent him to the back of the lead lap and into 23rd place.

"I've never had an air hose get caught in a fender like that," Stewart said. "It's just a freak deal."

The man known as "Smoke" rallied but finished second to Carl Edwards.

"It was probably one of the lowest points of the year as far as guys leaving the racetrack," Stewart said. "There were 41 guys that wish they could've been in the position we were in, and we left probably the most dejected of anybody in the garage area for finishing second. I was actually proud of our guys for that. They knew that we had a car to win the race, and they knew we should've had that opportunity to win."

Stewart and Edwards nearly had a replay in the season finale at Homestead-Miami, with Stewart this time beating Edwards to the start-finish line.

They finished with the same number of Cup points, but a tiebreaker for most number of victories gave Stewart his third championship.

Except for a Christmas vacation in Las Vegas, Stewart didn't take much time to enjoy the accomplishment, quickly going back to work with a new crew chief. His fans are waiting to see if that switch was the right decision.

That's OK because Stewart, who is from Indiana, can relate.

"When I go home, I go to Colts games," he said. "It's hard to imagine being at a Colts game and not having Peyton Manning there."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.