Secret to Stewart's success --  a hands off approach (cont'd)

If anything, Stewart should take a bow for finding key people to head up his operation, folks like crew chief Darian Grubb and teammate Ryan Newman. In the case of Grubb, Stewart said Grubb's cool demeanor is the perfect compliment to Stewart's fiery personality.

"Darian is just so even-keeled and even-tempered that it's hard to get him off-center from that standpoint, and I think that's been a key factor in keeping me real calm all year," Stewart said. "No matter what happens, he just keeps a level head about it and it's kind of one of those situations I think I feed off of him, so when he's calm, I'm calm and it's kind of been that way all season for us."

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It's been kind of nice to just be able to go [to the shop] and not really have to walk around as an owner and check on everything as much as you're walking through as a driver and thanking those guys for their hard work.

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-- TONY STEWART

And Stewart can thank Rick Hendrick for that. It was Hendrick who suggested Grubb's name to Stewart when he began his search during the off-season.

"Rick came and said, 'Hey, I think I've got a guy that would be a perfect fit for you,'" Stewart said. "And that shows you the level of commitment that Rick Hendrick has given Stewart-Haas Racing this year in helping us find key people like Darian and Tony Gibson and Bobby Hutchens. We really rely a lot of Rick and his opinions and input."

Having a driver like Newman, with his extensive engineering background and ability to provide additional feedback, has also been a plus. The fact that the two drivers have an excellent working relationship has made Stewart's job that much easier in 2009.

"We're really good friends, both at the race track and off the race track," Stewart said. "I think our relationship off the track makes us better teammates on the race track too. That was a huge component, no matter whether it's your first year, or whether you've been a team owner for 20 years, finding the right combination for crew guys, for teammates, that's a huge factor in the equation.

"If you have two guys that aren't working well together, the equation doesn't work. Ryan is a very large piece of that puzzle. Every day and every week that goes by, it just convinces me more that we made absolutely 100 percent the perfect decision."

So does Stewart consider himself the glue that holds the team together? If anything, he'd rather be an owner known for a hands-off approach -- and so far, that's worked to perfection.

"Well, I don't know about the glue part, but I was the one that had to go find some of those key people at the end of the year," Stewart said. "This year it's been going and seeing the guys a couple of days a week and everybody has been busy. So it's not like when I show up -- it's almost a little bit of a distraction because the guys kind of stop doing what they're doing and they get out of the rhythm for the day.

"But you go there and you just spend time with your guys and you know that everybody is doing what they're supposed to be doing, so you really don't have to worry about it. It's been kind of nice from that standpoint to just be able to go there and not really have to walk around as an owner and check on everything as much as you're walking through as a driver and thanking those guys for their hard work."

While the final practice was run without incident, the first Saturday session was filled with drama. Even before most of the field had completed one practice lap, Jimmie Johnson lost control coming out of Turn 4 and spun through the infield grass. He was able to keep the No. 48 Chevrolet off the wall and drove it back to the garage area, where the crew checked it out, replaced all four tires and removed the grass from underneath the car. He returned to the track and was able to complete 16 laps without further incident.

However, Max Papis was not so lucky. Just as Johnson was returning to the track, Papis suffered moderate damage to the left rear quarterpanel of his No. 13 Toyota after contact with the wall.

"It burped once coming out of Turn 4, then it switched ends completely," Papis said. "I don't know what happened. I have to look at it."

Papis' crew was able to pound out the bent sheet metal and he returned to the track for final practice, although he was slowest of the 42 cars which logged laps.

Greg Biffle spun late in the first practice and tapped the wall with the right rear corner of his No. 16 Ford, causing slight damage to the corner of the bumper. It obviously didn't slow him down, as he was fourth-fastest in the final session.