Beech Tree News Network

Tony Stewart loves driving his dirt cars, and nothing, not even the thought of bodily harm, is going to change his mind. It’s nothing new in NASCAR to see top drivers moonlighting on off nights at dirt bullrings, but Stewart is more dedicated than most. Until breaking both bones in his right lower leg in an accident at Southern Iowa Speedway—a dirt track—in early August Stewart had planned on racing 70 times on the dirt in 2013. Instead Stewart is sidelined until February recovering from the crash and subsequent surgeries, and Mark Martin is wheeling the #14 Chevy for the rest of the season.
Despite the circumstances involved to get Martin in the car, letting him drive it is a perfect solution for Stewart, and a positive thing for the future success of Stewart’s NASCAR teams, Michael Waltrip Racing, and for Toyota Research and Development.
Martin has been retired from  full-time competition for three years, driving partial schedules first for Hendrick Motorsports, and more recently for Michael Waltrip Racing in a Toyota. Martin, 54, was a consistent title contender during his full-time tenure in the sport, and has proven to be a winner even though he only runs roughly half the season’s races now.
So if you’re Tony Stewart why do you put him in your car?
First, Martin is an old school driver. He can tell you more about what’s wrong or right with a car by doing a few practice laps than most engineers can tell you by putting the car on a chassis dynamometer. He’s old school. He figures things out by feel and that ‘seat of the pants’ instinct that so many great drivers have possessed. Tony Stewart’s cars haven’t been the greatest in 2013. In fact, they’ve been kind of disappointing. The team has managed only two wins in 2013, one for Stewart, and one for Ryan Newman. It was going to be a struggle for Stewart to even make the Chase for the Championship.
Chances are Martin will be able to sit down with Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing general manager Greg Zipadelli and give them input that will pay immediate dividends for the team. Mark Martin knows race cars, and the cars will be better when he goes back to Michael Waltrip Racing than when he arrived at SHR.
This is a good move too for Michael Waltrip. In 2014 Brian Vickers is slated to drive the car that Martin vacated at MWR. By releasing Martin 14 weeks early it allows Vickers’ team an extended test session to get ready for next year’s full season run. It also doesn’t hurt Waltrip’s good-guy image to ‘loan’ Martin to an ailing, and popular, racer for a few months.
Finally, when Martin comes back to MWR, and Toyota, he will have real, empirical data that will make the Toyotas more competitive against the Chevy Impalas that have been dominant at times in 2013. Martin will basically be able to tell the TRD engineers where the Chevys are better than the Toyotas, and vice versa. With the new, non-identical body styles in NASCAR’s highest levels knowing where another make and model is a little faster or slower than another could be a vital piece of information heading into the off-season, when teams will lobby for concessions from NASCAR to make their cars better and more competitive.
It has to kill Tony Stewart’s soul that he can’t drive a race car right now, but it’s probably a small bit of comfort that his teams will be better in February for having Martin as his fill in driver.
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One more Mark Martin note. Have you noticed how well Danica Patrick has raced since Martin came into the fold at Stewart-Haas Racing?
On Sunday in Chicago Danica finished on the lead lap in 20th place, her best finish since the season-opening Daytona 500. Since joining the team at SHR Martin has taken Danica under his wing, and she has talked openly about all the advice and ‘little things’ he’s brought to her. Patrick has said that Martin has been very supportive and the time he’s spent with her has gone a long way toward helping her improve on the track.
The fact that Danica is listening to Martin and running better tells me two things. First, she wants to get better and be competitive. She’s not happy to just rest on the laurels of a fat sponsorship to give her job security. Second, it tells me that even at 54 years old Martin is still excited about being in the sport, and his energy and excitement spills out and is contagious to the people around him.
He’s 54, and he probably never will get to contend again for a title, but as far as being a racer goes Martin is one of the best drivers and fiercest competitors in the garage. Why wouldn’t you want this guy around for a few months to improve your race team? It was a great move by Tony Stewart to tap Martin to fill in for him for the rest of the season.
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I had a rough week picking the NFL schedule this past week. After opening at 12-4 I slipped to 10-6 in week two, bringing my season record to 22-10 overall. I’ve been assured that this is still pretty good, but it’s a long way from my goal of picking 70% of the games correctly this season.
Despite my less than stellar record last week I think I’ve learned some things about the NFL in 2013.
The Oakland Raiders aren’t the worst team in the league. That distinction belongs to the Jacksonville Jaguars. In fact the Jags are so bad that a group of fans is lobbying the teams’ owners to bring in Tim Tebow as their new quarterback.
Speaking of quarterbacks, if Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in the league then Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay is the most explosive qb in the NFL, and Michael Vick is the most exciting. Rodgers threw for over 350 yards and three touchdowns in the first half last week. Vick is thriving in his new offense and it certainly looks like new Eagles coach Chip Kelly is going to give Vick every chance to thrive in Philly.
Running backs are over rated unless you have one of the league’s few elite backs on your roster. NFL teams now just use up running backs and then toss them aside. If your team’s All Pro from last year gets hurt don’t lose heart. Chances are they can find some speedster to plug in the backfield for a season or two and run them to death until another All Pro comes along.
The Dallas Cowboys are terrible. Tony Romo is not an elite signal caller, Jason Garrett is not yet a good head coach, and the team has no chance of succeeding with a team loaded with poor attitudes. It also doesn’t help that owner Jerry Jones has to constantly meddle in everything.
My winners this week are; Eagles, Chargers, 49ers, Steelers-I just don’t think they will open 0-3, Cowboys, Vikings, Patriots, Saints, Lions, Giants, Ravens, Falcons, Bills, Seahawks, and Broncos. I’m a little worried that the Jets could nip the Bills at home, but I think the Bills are a better team right now. Likewise I’m not sold on the Cowboys, but they are at home and the Chiefs aren’t that great. The Falcons are 1-1, but I think they’re on the way up, and they play the Dolphins that seem to be playing over their heads right now.
My player to watch this week is Bobby Rainey of the Cleveland Browns. The Browns traded Trent Richardson this week, so Rainey will get plenty of touches for a week or so. The team has signed Willis Mcgahee, but it will take some time to get him up to speed on the offense, so any Cleveland highlights should feature Rainey.
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Next week: Why Mark Stoops is already a better coach than Rich Brooks, and more NFL picks.