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Team owner Joe Gibbs has offered reigning Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart a long-term contract extension but isn't sure whether Stewart will eventually sign the deal. "Obviously I don't have the answer. But I would expect him to stay here," Gibbs said during a teleconference Tuesday. "The most important thing for drivers is to have a place where they think they can win races. Our number one job as a race team is to make sure we're in the forefront of what's going on and that any driver would think he has a chance to win in our stuff." Stewart's current contract expires at the conclusion of the 2004 season, but Gibbs said he prefers to sign drivers and sponsors in his organization to long-term deals long before contracts expire. Already this season, Gibbs signed Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Bobby Labonte, to a contract extension and Gibbs apparently is close to announcing extensions for Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli and his team's sponsor, Home Depot, sources said. Rumors have been rampant over the past several weeks about Stewart's future. The most common scenario mentioned is Stewart moving to the Dodge camp and Chip Ganassi Racing. Asked Tuesday whether Dodge was involved in courting Stewart, John Fernandez, director of Dodge Motorsports Operations, said: "Actually we've got a great lineup of drivers that we're working with today, and I don't know if Tony is under contract with Joe Gibbs right now, so we're not pursuing Tony at this point in time." Stewart, himself, has denied looking at other teams. Tuesday, he said he had received the contract extension from Gibbs but had not reviewed it. Zipadelli said he hoped Stewart would remain with the Gibbs organization.(
