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Ward Burton
Guest
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As the broiling sun beat down on Daytona International Speedway, Tony Stewart sprawled in an easy chair in his cool, darkened motorhome, a contented look on his face.
A tennis match was flickering on the big TV screen in the corner, but the sound was turned down and the defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion wasn't watching. He pursed his lips, thought for a moment and said, "You know, I just got tired of being angry."
This is the new Tony Stewart: a man in control of his emotions and his life.
Racing once consumed him. Now, Stewart enjoys spending time with his infant niece, Emma Rose, riding his motorcycle, and becoming immersed in a new hobby, scuba diving. Stewart is even cutting back on what has been the love of his life: short track racing.
"I've found things outside of racing that I'm enjoying doing, too," he said.
A year ago, as he ground toward his first Cup title, Stewart was often anything but cool and contained.
He added to a reputation as NASCAR's "bad boy" by punching a photographer, was fined by his sponsor, Home Depot, for his bad conduct, and had strained relations at times with crew chief Greg Zipadelli and the rest of his Joe Gibbs Racing crew because of his behavior.
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Stewart needed help and he got it, turning to a sports psychologist midway through the season.
"The first thing he said is, 'You're an average person in a not-average environment anymore,' and that's how it all started," Stewart said. "It definitely helped a lot. We dealt with him the whole last half of the year."
The psychologist became a fixture at races, often watching from Stewart's pit.
No longer.
Stewart talks with him occasionally on the telephone, but he's mostly on his own now, and enjoying life more, even though the first half of the 2003 season has not been kind to him.
Engine failures, crashes and other problems have left Stewart with only one victory and eight top-10s in the first 17 races. The latest miscue came in the Pepsi 400 when Stewart ran out of gas heading into the first pit stop and never got back into contention, finishing 21st.
He has rallied a bit since slipping to 20th in the standings but will still go into Sunday's Tropicana 400 in 11th place, 602 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.
Instead of the tantrums and black moods of the past, though, Stewart has dealt with the adversity with a quietly calm demeanor.
"We just haven't had the luck we've had in the past," Stewart said. "I think we've all learned how to deal with it. Five years of Winston Cup racing, we've had to deal with just about every emotion involved and what can happen in a Winston Cup weekend. It's learn as you go.
"You do your job, and every day that I keep my mouth shut and I don't respond to something that somebody makes me mad about, that Monday or Tuesday Mike's not calling me and saying, 'You've got to do this interview or that interview to do damage control,"' Stewart added, referring to his public relations man, Mike Arning. "I actually get part of my life back by just sitting here and letting people do what they do."
Zipadelli, whom Stewart credits with holding the team together and getting the driver through last season, sees the difference in Stewart, himself and the rest of the team.
"It's about not doing things that we've done in the past, you know, letting emotions take over and stuff," Zipadelli said. "That's on everybody's part: mine, Tony's, the team. I just think he's done a better job of not letting things he can't control get him worked up."
And Zipadelli said the problem wasn't all Stewart's.
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"We all learn and grow from our mistakes and things in the past," the crew chief said. "I know I have. I still lose my temper and I'm still a hothead. I just try not to take it out on individual people anymore because I don't want to hurt people's feelings.
"I think that's all Tony's done. Rather than taking it out on the people who work for him and things, he's still mad and upset but he's just not taking it out (on anyone)."
Stewart said there's another important factor in the change of attitude.
"Probably the biggest thing was winning the championship and just taking that pressure off," he said. "And we want to win another one right away, as soon as possible. But just getting that first one out of the way was big for us."
With more than half the season left, Stewart hasn't given up on winning that second championship this year, although he knows the odds are against him.
"You never know. I mean, there's no blueprint on how to win a Winston Cup championship," he said. "If we won all the races the rest of the year, I'm not sure that's still a guarantee that we can catch up and win the thing."
The new Tony Stewart added serenely: "We'll just do the best job we can, hope our luck gets better, and take whatever that gives us at the end of the season."
