DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Wearing eyeglasses, a black shirt with the Stewart-Haas Racing logo and black jeans, Tony Stewart very calmly sat on the stage alongside Ford executive Raj Nair and fellow Ford owners Roger Penske and Jack Roush ready to address reporters about the upcoming NASCAR season.
It's a new gig for the newly retired three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion -- new in his role solely as team owner at the track and also new in representing Ford's blue oval.
Ironically, it was the legendary Penske who cut up first, reminding Stewart he was in the wrong color attire -- black for his team instead of white for Ford.
"We'll get him in gear here before long," Penske joked. "My white one (shirt) may be too big, though.’’
Stewart grinned and insisted he had "no answer" for the tease. Roush took a good-natured shot at Stewart a few minutes later -- a welcome-to-the-club rite of passage. The popular driving champion, however, smiled a lot and looked absolutely comfortable answering questions on stage as an owner only for the first time in 18 years of full-time NASCAR competition.
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"To be honest, it's kind of nice," Stewart said, smiling at his more-narrowly defined role. "If I'm late to practice, nobody yells at me. If I leave practice early, nobody yells at me. And if I don't show up for practice at all, nobody yells at me. That side has been kind of nice. Really, the only drama I've had so far is Roger picking on me about the color of shirt I wear."
In fact, after Stewart answered questions on stage alongside his fellow Ford owners, he lingered in the media room for nearly an hour doing one-on-one interviews and just generally catching up with reporters. It all had a first day of school feel to it.
Stewart was optimistic about his four-car team's chances in Sunday's Daytona 500, particularly noting the promise and enthusiasm he sees in Clint Bowyer taking over the No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford for Stewart.
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A Ford driven by Penske driver Joey Logano won The Clash exhibition race last weekend. Kevin Harvick and Bowyer will start alongside one another in the 500 on the third row and Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch will start on row four. Roush's Trevor Bayne will line up next to Danica Patrick on row six.
"We'll need to check about halfway through the race and see how happy they are, but up to this point, they're really really excited," Stewart said. "Kevin, Kurt, Clint and Danica, they've all been really happy and pleased with what we've got this year.
"Working with Jack's team and Roger's team, it's good to have some good allies out there on race day and I think we've already seen with Roger's bunch how good that relationship is working out so far on the race track.
"So we're looking forward to a great weekend."
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