Notebook: Stewart having fun, not going anywhere

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- No, Tony Stewart is not retiring. Yet.

On Friday, he explained that his sudden outburst at Texas Motor Speedway was a product of the lousy day he had on the track. But he didn't rule out the idea of walking away when his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires at the end of 2009.

"I'm not going anywhere for two and a half years," Stewart said. "It's just like anybody else. We have to assess in two and a half years where we're at and whether we're still having fun. If we are, we'll stay. If not, we'll go do something else."

Joking with Subway spokesman Jared Fogle and the media during a news conference, Stewart said it all comes down to enjoying what he does for a living.

"I made my father a promise when I was a kid that the day I wasn't having fun driving racecars any more, I'd quit," he said. "It's not a sport where if you're not having fun, it's not exactly the safest sport to participate if you're not having a good time doing it.

"I'm here; I'm having a good weekend so far. We're having fun, the team and I are having fun and that's the main thing."

Juan more time, with feeling

Stewart didn't seem particularly pleased with Juan Montoya last weekend, based on his post-race comments, but the Colombian said the supposed feud is overblown.

"Yeah, we're cool," Montoya said. "The thing is the press makes a fuss out of everything and we don't. He's OK with it. I'm OK with it. You guys are not, but I don't care."

Not so sweet home, Alabama

Elliott Sadler is still trying to get a handle on the Car of Tomorrow. He qualified 21st for Saturday's race and was 36th in Happy Hour. Still, Sadler expects to have more fun this weekend than next, when the series visits Talladega.

In 15 starts, he's posted just three top-10s -- and been on his roof at least twice.

"Talladega and I don't get along too well when we go there," Sadler said. "It's going to be a tough race. It's just Talladega, no matter how fast you are or no matter who you surround yourself with as far as guys you like to race with or guys you don't want to race with.

"We just want to miss the wreck. It's gonna happen. It's just part of the racing gods at a restrictor-plate race like that, but we'll go down there and do the best we can."

The power of positive thinking

With four top-10s in seven races, Jamie McMurray is 10th in the standings and credits a school called Prime Performance for helping improve his outlook.

"I think the best example is if you ever play golf and you walk up to the golf ball, and you say, 'Don't slice it. Don't hit in the water. Don't hit it in the water,' you'll hit it right in the water," McMurray said. "Everybody does it. You just can't help it.

"Typically, if you tell yourself don't do something, don't do something, you'll probably do it. So it just kind of teaches you how to think correctly."

Whatever he's doing, it's working. McMurray's having his best season since he scored nine top-fives for Chip Ganassi in 2004.