Tony Stewart will start 12th on Sunday at Fontana. Credit: Autostock

Stewart ready to move on after Daytona drama

Kenseth, Biffle fastest in Saturday's practices at Fontana

FONTANA, Calif. -- Between the warm breeze that blew through the Nextel Cup garage, the scenic mountains in the background and having a fast car in practice, Tony Stewart was feeling good.

"I'm calm, cool and collected,'' Stewart told a cluster of reporters on Saturday from the back of his hauler at California Speedway. "You're going to have to work real hard to tick me off today.''

Several tried.

	Happy Hour Speeds Auto Club 500 Pos. Driver Make 1. Matt Kenseth Ford 2. Brian Vickers Chevrolet 3. Kurt Busch Dodge 4. Greg Biffle Ford 5. Mark Martin Ford Complete Speeds, click here 1st Practice Speeds, click here

One reporter reminded the 2005 Cup champion that he had the third-fastest car from Joe Gibbs Racing in qualifying -- J.J. Yeley will start fourth, Denny Hamlin fifth and Stewart 12th.

Another kept asking about the turmoil that surrounded Stewart last week at the Daytona 500 when he was involved in incidents with Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch.

Others asked what came of conversations Stewart had with both drivers Friday night.

"What you guys have to remember is you guys don't need to be in every part of our lives,'' said Stewart, trying to stay in his happy place. "Let us deal with ourselves. You guys don't need to be a part of everything that goes on this garage area.

"The stuff that happened last week is left over last week. I talked about it. Guys go on to the next week.''

Stewart looks at this week as the real start to the NASCAR season. He reminded that all the craziness at Daytona, where drivers spend 10 to 12 days practicing, meeting sponsors and doing interviews, is no more the norm for NASCAR than restrictor-plate tracks.

He's looking forward to Sunday's race at the two-mile Fontana track that will give his team and others a better indication of how they'll race all season.

"This is package we use at a lot of the mile-and-a-half tracks,'' said Stewart, who survived a multitude of problems to finish fifth at Daytona. "These are the tracks that we really want to work hard and get our car going good.''

Stewart is keeping a close eye on the five Roush Racing teams and four Hendrick Motorsports teams that were ahead of everybody else in the garage on intermediate tracks early last season. He didn't have to look hard to find the Roush teams in practice.

Greg Biffle led the second practice with a fast lap of 183.538 mph. Teammate Carl Edwards was fifth fastest, followed by Kenseth at nine, Mark Martin at 13 and Jamie McMurray at 20.

Kenseth had the fastest lap in the first practice, with Biffle fourth, Martin sixth, Edwards 15th and McMurray 26th.

Stewart was second fastest in the first practice and 18th in the second practice.

"Last year when we were here Zippy [crew chief Greg Zipadelli] and I were wanting to hang each other we were so bad out there,'' said Stewart, who finished 17th. "We were scratching our heads going, 'Man, we don't know what to do to this thing to make it drive good.'

"I feel like we're starting the year off a lot better, at least the way we were today. If it drives anywhere reasonable tomorrow like it did today, I'm going to be really excited about the season.''