'Special' victory for Stewart sure bet of more to come (cont'd)

They had some extra helping hands and minds loaned from their good friends at Hendrick Motorsports, which supplies the Stewart-Haas teams with chassis, engines and lots of technical information that they all share. But Sunday's victory was a byproduct of an organization that, while new, was obviously well prepared to deal with any adversity that might come their way at the tricky Pocono track.

"Nobody got upset. Nobody lost their heads when I crashed the primary car," Stewart said. "They just do their jobs and they're efficient at it.

"That's half the battle, just having a group of guys that have the same confidence that I have behind the wheel. They have that same confidence as crew members, and in the preparation at the shop before we come here [to the track]. It's not like they all of a sudden had to roll a backup car out and try to set it up from scratch. It was basically ready to go when it came off the trailer."

Special trust

Grubb knew the backup car was ready to go before the race. But even he was a little astounded as to how quickly Stewart guided it through race traffic once the green flag was dropped.

"I knew we were fast when we went from 43rd to 20th in about the first 22 laps," Grubb said.

In the end, Stewart had to win, ironically, by slowing down to conserve gas over the final laps. It went against his very nature, but he did what Grubb told him had to be done. Again, the confidence in each other and the trust level exhibited were those not usually associated with a new team.

Joe Custer, vice president at Stewart-Haas Racing, called the victory "very historic" and admitted he was "thrilled." But Stewart at first bristled on Sunday when he was asked where it ranked.

"Why does everybody say that after every race you win? They want to know where it ranks. We don't keep rankings," said Stewart, who earned his 34th career Cup victory. "We keep trophies. They are on a shelf and you scoot one over and slide the new one in there next to it. You love having the opportunity to do that, but it's not about rankings. It's about enjoying the moment."

Yet a few minutes later, when the question was phrased a little differently and Stewart was asked if he'll think Sunday's win was a special one some day "when he's in a rocking chair," his answer softened considerably.

"I'm not trying to downplay what happened [Sunday] because I am very proud of what's happened," he said. "But we are still in the middle of the season. ... The good thing is I hope I won't be in a rocking chair anytime soon -- but there is going to be that day when I look back on this moment.

"It's like I told [team co-owner] Gene Haas [after the All-Star win] at Charlotte: 'There's only one first and it doesn't matter how many races you win, there's only one first time that you go to Victory Lane with a new organization.' This was our first one with a point win. So this is the only first that we're going to have in this situation. The rest of them are just going to be a number and stats down the road. So it is special."

He is right about that. And about the fact that there will be more victories and memories and statistics of note for Stewart-Haas Racing down the road.

The fan with the beer can bet on it again the next time he heads to Vegas.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.