At Dover, Tony Stewart Tired Of Questions About NASCAR Team’s Turnaround

Add another topic to the long list of things Tony Stewart is weary of discussing: His team’s dramatic turnaround.

“We’ve been talking about that for three straight weeks now,” Stewart said. “We weren’t good before Atlanta. We’ve been good for a four-week stretch now that’s been really good, and I don’t know why it’s turned around.”

It was just part of a typical media session for Stewart on Friday at Dover International Speedway, in which the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader didn’t want to elaborate on last week’s comments about “dead weight” but said he can deal with any distractions that come his way.

“I think the last two weeks have proven I don’t care what the distractions are – I can focus on what I need to focus on,” he said. “Dealing with you guys is a distraction, but we can still go do what we need to do.”

What Stewart will need to do in order to win his third consecutive Cup race is improve his performance from his last two visits to Dover, when he finished 29th and 21st.

Stewart has 10 top-five finishes at Dover in 25 career starts, but only one in the last 14 races.

“Technology has changed a lot the last 13 years,” he explained of his varying degrees of Dover success. “Cars have changed a lot, tires have changed a lot. Been a lot of variables.”

Just how big have the changes made the cars feel? Stewart, who drives all different kinds of vehicles, said it’s not quite as dramatic as driving a completely different vehicle, but “there is a difference.”

“That’s part of the reason why I like driving types of cars,” he said, “because when you do have a change like this, it doesn’t seem like as drastic of a change to me. I’m used to bouncing around to different cars.”

And Stewart knows his championship hopes could hinge on whether he can reverse his fortunes in Delaware.

“We just haven’t been very good here the last couple races,” he said. “We definitely need to pick our performances up.”