Will Stewart repay loyalty Gibbs has shown to him?

When Joe Gibbs Racing met the media before the 2008 season began, Norm Miller was on stage along with team executives even though his company was no longer primary sponsor of the organization's No. 18 car. The chairman and founder of Interstate Batteries was the first person to really believe in Gibbs when the football coach started his NASCAR operation in 1991, providing the outfit with sponsor capital it needed to get off the ground. Gibbs has never forgotten that. So even if the vehicle bears M&M's colors, Miller is still there by Gibbs' side, right where he'll always be.

Because that's what loyalty means at Joe Gibbs Racing. The organization has won 60 races and three Cup championships, but it's defined by the allegiance its employees have for both the company and the person who founded it. It comes from the top, from the man who so valued the faith that Miller showed in his startup team 17 years ago that, for as long as there's an Interstate Batteries, there will be an Interstate Batteries decal somewhere on that No. 18 car. The man they call Coach stands by his people. And for the most part, they stand behind him.

That much is evident in how long many of his employees have worked at the Gibbs shop. Some, like shop foreman David Wagner and machinist Doug Shaak, have been there since '91, when they started with 15 employees and six cars bought from Hendrick Motorsports. The organizational roster is loaded with people who have been at Gibbs a decade or more, from senior vice president Jimmy Makar and engine builder Mark Cronquist to fabricator Shane Love and valve train specialist Burt Bonfili. Some members of the No. 20 team, like crew chief Greg Zipadelli and car chief Jason Shapiro, have been there since it was founded. Gibbs knows how to keep his people happy, not easy in a sport where crewmen and competitors often jump from one job to the next.

It all makes this saga involving Tony Stewart seem so out of place. He's spent virtually his entire NASCAR career with Gibbs, working since his 1998 Busch Series days for a car owner whose experience handling NFL players helped him shepherd a driver who sometimes finds himself in trouble. Would Stewart be a two-time Cup champion if he had driven anywhere other than Gibbs, and for a car owner whose loyalty and patience have paid dividends? Would any other car owner have put up with Stewart going after an official and slapping a tape recorder out of a reporter's hand? Gibbs could have fired Stewart in 2002, after his driver had an altercation with a photographer after the Brickyard 400. But he didn't. He stood by him, expertly defusing the situation, as he always has.

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And now Stewart, whose current contract with Gibbs expires after the 2009 season, is thinking about leaving. He's exploring options, including one that reportedly involves an ownership share of Haas CNC Racing, even though he's always seemed to loathe the idea of becoming a NASCAR car owner. Maybe it's just a ploy for leverage -- other teams pursued him when his last contract neared an end, too, and the driver still stayed at Gibbs. You hear talk about his affection for Chevrolet. But can Stewart possibly have more loyalty to a manufacturer than the car owner who's mentored him through his sometimes turbulent Cup career?

If Stewart wants to leave Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2009 season, he's perfectly within his rights to do so. He's been with Gibbs a long time, much longer than most drivers and car owners stay together these days. There's nothing wrong with seeking out a more lucrative, or possibly more challenging, opportunity. And to be fair, he's never seemed disloyal to his team. Quite the contrary, he's always come across as a Gibbs lifer. But the idea of Stewart, at the peak of his career, walking away from an organization that's shown him so much faith and support, would almost be defying the company's ethos. And it would have to be a stinging blow to the people he leaves behind.

Because this sort of thing just doesn't happen at Joe Gibbs Racing. When Dale Jarrett left after the 1994 season for Robert Yates Racing, he did so for what at the time was a better situation. In Stewart's case, that will be tough to do. Bobby Labonte left in 2005 because he was on the downside of his career, something Stewart clearly is not. The departures of Jason Leffler in 2005 and J.J. Yeley in 2007 were over performance issues, something the No. 20 team rarely has. Aric Almirola, quite cognizant of Joey Logano looming as the potential driver of a possible fourth Gibbs car, left for more seat time, something Stewart doesn't need. Whenever there's been a driver change at Gibbs, there's always been a very clear, very obvious reason behind it. In Stewart's case, there's not one -- at least not one we can see.

But Stewart hasn't left yet, and the likelihood is that he won't leave at all. It's impossible to imagine the ultra-competitive Stewart driving for a Haas team whose cars are currently 28th and 38th in owner points, regardless of how much he loves Chevrolets. Now, if something opens at Hendrick Motorsports, the equation changes entirely. But as things stand, with Richard Childress needing a driver for his fourth car for next year and Stewart locked up at Gibbs through 2009, the odds seem stacked toward him staying. It would make sense. After all the loyalty Gibbs has shown him over the years, it would seem only natural for Stewart to return the favor.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.