Stewart enjoying his time in a new kind of spotlight

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Usually this is the public side of Tony Stewart reserved for only after race victories.

All smiles. Cracking jokes. Actually appearing to have a good time as he talks with the media.

Yet that was the Tony Stewart on display the last two days at Talladega Superspeedway. Heck, he met with hordes of media on consecutive days and pleasantly endured mostly all the same questions -- smiling and laughing during every answer along the way.

Clearly, Stewart is enjoying himself. This is Tony's time in the spotlight, and he is not only willing but eager to embrace it.

This is the Dale Earnhardt Jr. contract saga of 2007 all over again, but this time with Stewart in the starring role instead of Earnhardt.

Stewart's current contract to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing expires after 2009. Will he stay or will he go? Either way, it's obvious that his life will never be quite the same.

After word leaked Wednesday that Stewart talked with Haas CNC Racing about possibly becoming a driver and at least part-owner of the team, Stewart's future has been the talk of the Sprint Cup garage. Other owners have taken notice, too, with two of them -- which Stewart would not identify -- rushing forward during the last 48 hours with new offers of their own.

Stewart admitted Friday that it is an exciting time. He stressed that it wasn't his idea to come forward and make his future possibilities a public spectacle, but he also sees no need to offer an apology for the fact that it is now so.

"We didn't really go public with it. Somebody else went public with it, and then we had to go public with it," Stewart said. "You guys [in the media] have been around this sport long enough. It's hard to keep secrets. This was a secret that was kept a lot longer than most in this business.

"We were all surprised the discussion we're having today didn't happen a month or two ago. It's like I've said -- there is nothing broke, there is nothing that needs to be fixed where I'm at. It just got out that an offer had been made to us, and with that it's made us have to talk about it. Honestly, you're excited as a driver about it. We even had an offer come to us this morning. We've had two offers in the last two days come up. So to me, it's very humbling and I feel very honored to be in the situation I'm in where that many organizations are interested in me as a driver." (Continued)