Zipadelli feeling the heat as Chase draws near

Stewart's crew chief frustrated by recent run of rough luck

LONG POND, Pa. -- Frustration oozed through crew chief Greg Zipadelli's voice as he shouted over his radio following Tony Stewart's run-in with Ryan Newman 91 laps into last week's Nextel Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Tony Stewart's standing this year's standings compared to this time the past two seasons Year Rank Deficit 2006 11 -458* 2005 3 -85 2004 4 -302 * -- Eleven points out of 10th , the final position to qualify for the Chase.

The choice words sounded as though they were aimed at Stewart for battling so hard with Newman, who was trying to make up a lap on the defending Cup champion and race leader.

They weren't.

Stewart just happened to be in the way.

"I don't know that I was upset with Tony,'' Zipadelli said Saturday at Pocono Raceway, where practice for Sunday's race was called for rain and fog. "I was upset with the situation. Lap 91, we've got half the field a lap down. [Expletive] happens.''

The accident left Stewart with a 37th-place finish and dropped him from seventh to 11th in points, 11 points out of the top 10 guaranteed a place in the Chase for the Nextel Cup that will be set after the next seven races.

Thus, Zipadelli's frustration.

"Yeah, it's getting to me,'' he said. "I'm tired. I'm putting in a ton of hours at the shop. The pressure is probably on me more than anybody. Everybody knows Tony Stewart can drive if we give him cars that are capable of winning.''

Seldom does Stewart have cars not capable of winning, but that's not always enough. A good car was ruined five weeks ago at Michigan because of an accident with Jeff Green, leaving Stewart 41st.

A good car was ruined the following week at Sonoma, Calif., because of a run-in with Boris Said, leaving Stewart 28th.

A good car ran out of gas on the green-white-checkered flag two weeks ago at Chicagoland, leaving Stewart 32nd.

An extremely good car was ruined last week at New Hampshire because of the run-in with Newman, leaving Stewart 37th.

In the only race where Stewart has avoided trouble the past five weeks, he won at Daytona.

The sum result has Stewart on the outside of the Chase looking in.

"To have someone like Tony Stewart, a two-time champion and being as strong as he has been all year, sitting outside the top 10 right now is a huge message to everyone in the garage,'' points leader Jimmie Johnson said.

Stewart admitted that he raced Newman harder than normal for the situation because of the way Newman raced him and others earlier in the race. Nobody had to tell him the implications.

But Stewart doesn't plan to change his style any more than Zipadelli plans to ask him to back off the next time such a situation arises.

"Tony has got to do what he feels is right on the racetrack,'' Zipadelli said. "I'm not going to tell him what to do. I never have. I'll talk to him about what I think here and there, but that was miles compared to a lot of times I've been upset.''

Stewart blames his string of bad finishes on bad luck.

"We're not launching the space shuttle here,'' he said. "We have to go out and do what we do every week. We're not changing anything. We're just going to have to go out and try to win the race like we always do.

"That's been our approach for 27 years now, so we're not going to try and reinvent the wheel. If you win races, the points take care of themselves.''

Greg Biffle, who moved into the No. 10 spot with his eighth top 10 in the past 10 races, understands. He went through a similar stretch of bad luck with seven finishes of 15th or worse in the first nine races to leave him 23rd in points.

"I just slid over there underneath his trailer and gave [the bad luck] to him,'' Biffle jokingly said of Stewart. "It's funny. It happens and it seems like you can't shake it sometimes.

Spin cycleRace leader Tony Stewart spins in Turn 4 at New Hampshire Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"Then you get nervous going into the next one. It's like, 'Gosh, are we gonna have another finish?' ''

Biffle is confident Stewart will rebound and make the Chase purely on performance. He also said you have to race differently when you're on the bubble.

"You just be careful,'' he said. "A couple of times at Loudon I had to get myself out of some positions I was in. Sometimes it's better to get in line and wait it out than press the issue right then.''

Newman said Stewart admitted that when the two talked this past week to iron out their differences.

"In the grand scheme of things he realized he could have been nicer,'' he said. "We can always be nicer out there as drivers. It's just a matter of doing it.''

Newman made light of his make-up session with Stewart, who said some harsh things about Newman's unwillingness to play the give-and-take game on the track.

"It was a give-and-take-type situation,'' he said. "I punched him once and he pushed me once. We're good. It was just a couple of hard-headed Indiana guys going for the same spot.''

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who missed the Chase a year ago, doesn't wish bad luck on anybody. But he said it would be nice not to have to worry about a driver like Stewart once the Chase begins.

"Tony knows the equation,'' he said. "He knows exactly what he needs to do week in and week out. He's really methodical on how he wins championships.''

Few, however, expect Stewart to miss the Chase.

Stewart doesn't expect to miss it, either.

"Obviously, it's a recovery weekend,'' said Stewart, who will start a "lucky'' 13th. "Everything will be all right again. We've just got to get caught up.''