Tony Stewart: ‘I’m going back to being me again’

Feeling the best he’s felt in two years, Tony Stewart’s life has returned to some form of normalcy after consecutive seasons of professional and personal hell.

When Stewart and members of the team he co-owns, Stewart-Haas Racing, met with the media Tuesday as part of NASCAR’s media tour, it was as if he had taken a step back via a time machine. Sitting alongside Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick and defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick, Stewart was laughing, smiling and confident. Emotions which were in short supply the past 18 months. He even appeared to be thinner.

“Are you kidding?” Stewart said. “When have you ever heard of me having an exercise program? That’s why (SHR) wears black clothes -- to make me look slimmer.”

What Stewart won’t contest is that he’s ready for the 2015 season to roll. The gruesome broken leg he suffered in the summer of 2013 continues to heal and his limp is far less pronounced than it was at the end of last season following a fourth surgery in December. He will have a fifth -- and he says hopefully, final -- operation at the end of this season to remove a titanium rod attached to the bone.

And Stewart continues to move past his involvement in an accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. last August during a sprint car race in upstate New York. A grand jury would exonerate Stewart of any wrongdoing, but the events took a great toll. In the immediate aftermath Stewart missed three Cup races and sought counseling.

“I’m ready to put the last two years behind me and never look back,” Stewart said. “I’m not talking about it, I’m not thinking about it. I’m going back to being me again.”

If Stewart is to be himself again that would presumably include a return to Victory Lane, something he failed to do a season ago, snapping his 15-year streak of winning at least once. Improved health and more familiarity with a car that was radically different than he was accustomed to should also help.

The three-time Cup champion is also encouraged by the improvement he’s seen in crew chief Chad Johnston, who took over the No. 14 team prior to last season. Stewart and Johnston struggled to develop a rapport, an issue compounded by Stewart’s health and later being absent following the Ward tragedy.

But Stewart says Johnston became more confident towards the end of 2014 in his pit and strategy calls. And in the offseason Johnston revamped the 14 crew, hiring a new car chief and two engineers.

“I’ve never questioned who I am and what I do,” Stewart said. “We’ve had two rough years that I don’t think I’d wish that on anybody. Deep down inside I know who I am as a person and I know who I am as a driver and that’s what I want to get back to.

“That’s what makes the start of the 2015 season so exciting to me -- flipping the page.”