Defending Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart, the guest in Tuesday’s national teleconference, had to put down his Chihuahua to get better reception on his cellphone.
Yes, racing’s bad boy has a lap dog.
“Everybody kind of laughs,” Stewart said of the reaction he gets from his 6-pound female named Kahle. “Their first impression is, wow, this tough guy has a Chihuahua. (But) it doesn’t make it very easy to bring a 150-pound dog in a 45-foot bus all weekend.
“Having a little dog with us that’s used to traveling, she’s kind of been our good-luck charm from Day One. The races that we don’t take her to are normally races we struggle. We kind of look at her as a piece of the puzzle, of the luck.”
Stewart has been lucky and good this season. He leads NASCAR’s loop data statistics in driver rating (118.2), average running position (7.0) and consecutive passes without being passed (33), among others.
He is “only” fifth in the standings because of the engine failure that left him finishing last in the second race of the season, at California Speedway. In six other races, Stewart has four top-five results, including a win at Martinsville, Va.
“Tony has been on since Daytona,” said Greg Zipadelli, Stewart’s crew chief. “He’s been like a machine. He’s been fun. He’s really intense about his race car, giving good feedback.
“I think it goes back to the guys at the shop being able to build good race cars week in and week out. We’ve had a lot of new race cars and they’ve all performed pretty good.”
Phoenix fun
Stewart is looking forward to Saturday night’s race at Phoenix International Raceway. The 1-mile oval, now owned by International Speedway Corp., is in its second year of hosting biannual Cup races.
“I love coming to Phoenix for a night race,” Stewart said. “If you can’t have fun with that, you’re never going to enjoy a race at Phoenix. The lights make us look like we’re running twice as fast, and when we bottom-out in the turns you see the sparks fly out from underneath the cars. It’s a good show.”
It was a sad statement for some Colorado NASCAR fans.
After all, Phoenix used to be compared to Pikes Peak International Raceway, the former Fountain track that went out of business last year.
Busch Series drivers used to often say that PPIR – which needed a Cup race to stay alive – was the best 1-miler in the West.
Schrader locked in
Ken Schrader, 50, Nextel Cup’s oldest regular and author of the recently released book “Gotta Race,” plans on competing in five races from Thursday to Sunday.
In addition to Friday’s Busch race and Saturday’s Cup event, he will compete in Thursday’s NASCAR West Series feature in Phoenix. On Sunday he is entered in an ARCA event in Salem, Ind., and a late models feature under the lights in Danville, Ill.
Schrader says he has already started 24 features this year, including all seven Cup races and 12 short-track late model events similar to what Colorado National Speedway has to offer every Saturday night in Erie.
Footnotes
Andy Graves resigned as team manager of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and will be reassigned another position within the company. Before moving into NASCAR, Graves helped Ganassi and driver Juan Pablo Montoya win the 2000 Indianapolis 500. … NASCAR has unveiled a crewmember roster for Nextel Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series teams. Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, which has failed to qualify for five of the seven Nextel Cup races, is not listed. FRR also is not listed in the Cup’s media guide, presumably because it decided to run a full Cup season just two months before the season began.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
