Hamlin, Busch business as usual amid Stewart chatter

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Tony Stewart made waves Thursday when he announced he has received offers from multiple teams regarding his services when his contract is up at the end of the 2009 Sprint Cup season.

And while Stewart and his possible departure from the Joe Gibbs team was the talk of the garage Friday at Talladega Superspeedway, JGR's other two drivers, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, weren't consumed by the possible loss of a teammate.

"I didn't hear anything Tony said [Thursday]," Busch said after Friday's first practice.

Tony Stewart acknowledged that he had received offers to drive for other teams, with ownership options included.

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Hamlin said he paid very little attention to Stewart's announcement and that he wasn't all that surprised anyway.

"It is what it is," Hamlin said. "I mean, if he chooses to go, he chooses to go. But if he doesn't, we're definitely going to keep him as our team leader. That's what happens when you start getting to the end of your contract. The other teams start looking.

"Other teams know when your contract is up, and when that happens, they start looking. If you get a big offer thrown at you, maybe you weren't anticipating going anywhere, but it raises your eyebrows and grabs your attention. Maybe that's just the case this time."

With the addition of Busch to the Joe Gibbs Racing garage this season, the team has all three cars currently in the top 12 in points with two wins and 10 top-fives among the three. But with focus shifting to contract talks and not track performance, distraction could impede what has been up to this point a championship-caliber season, although Hamlin says that won't be the case.

"It definitely won't affect the 11 car [Hamlin], or the 18 [Busch], for that matter. I think all those guys are going to stay focused -- even though they all work together [with the 20 team] around the shop," Hamlin said. "I don't think it will be a distraction. Everyone knows their job. We're staying focused.

"With our whole FedEx team, we're staying focused. We know we have a great set of tracks coming up for us and we're not going to let any kind of distraction like that kind of get a hold of us."

Although Busch is new to the fold, Hamlin and Stewart are in their third season together and not all has been rosey. The duo has had disagreements on more than one occasion, most recently at Daytona in July last season, when Stewart and Hamlin collected each other 14 laps into the Pepsi 400 and both blamed the other for the crash.

But Busch and Hamlin agree they want what is best for Stewart, and if that means he leaves JGR, then they will support him no matter where he goes.

"I think he's going to [make] the best decision that's good for him and his future," Hamlin said. "That's important for me, as his teammate and a good friend of his -- for him to do whatever he thinks is right."

"For me, I'd love to have Tony stay over here at Gibbs and be his teammate, be his friend," Busch added. "And if not, I'm sure I'll still be able to be his friend. [If that's] what he wants to do in this sport, more power to him."

If Stewart does become a Cup owner next year, or in the near future, he already has one driver who might be interested in piloting a car for him.

"I think I could drive for him," Hamlin said with a smile. "I think we've got sort of the same personality, so he would be able to put up with my crap at times."