Daytona, February 14, 2009: With the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet and the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet both being involved in an on-track accident during today’s final practice session for the Daytona 500, both Stewart-Haas Racing teams have gone to a backup racecar for the season-opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Tony Stewart is now driving Chassis No. 14-454, which is the car he drove to a third-place finish in last Saturday’s non-point Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. It is a carryover chassis from the former Haas CNC team, as it made its debut at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October 2007 with driver Johnny Sauter, who qualified 39th and led two laps before finishing 12th. It participated in winter testing at Daytona in 2008 before Scott Riggs piloted the car in the 50th running of the Daytona 500, where he qualified 27th and finished 21st. The No. 14 team was able to get some track time during final practice with Chassis No. 14-454. It will now be wrapped in Office Depot/Old Spice colors for the Daytona 500.
Ryan Newman is now driving Chassis No. 39-452. Its history consists of three restrictor-plate track tests in 2007, three Talladega races (fall 2007, spring and fall 2008) and one Daytona attempt. This car was tentatively slated as the backup for the No. 14 team if its Budweiser Shootout car was damaged in the race, hence the red paint. Once the No. 14 team’s Budweiser Shootout car emerged from the race unscathed, Chassis No. 39-452 was designated as a communal backup racecar for both the Nos. 14 and 39 teams should anything happen to either team during the remainder of Daytona Speedweeks. The No. 39 team was already using its designated backup car during final practice after crashing its primary racecar in the Gatorade Duel. The No. 39 team was unable to get Chassis No. 39-452 on the track during final practice. It will now be wrapped in U.S. Army colors for the Daytona 500.
Tony Stewart says he won’t meet with Goodyear to voice his concerns after the practice wreck this morning. “I would rather spend my time productively,” he said.
Stewart also said he stands by the comments he made after the practice wreck.
“I don’t say it if I don’t mean it,” he said. “The thing is, this morning’s over and there’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing can change. The important thing is we’ve found a way to put that behind us by winning a Nationwide race for Mr. Hendrick. This was the perfect thing to try to get it out of my mind.”