Tony Stewart still in the Chase -- as an owner

ByBOB POCKRASS
October 6, 2016, 11:21 AM

— -- CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kevin Harvick knows his team co-owner is disappointed that Stewart-Haas Racing has two and not three cars in the Chase for the Sprint Cup quarterfinal round.

He expects that co-owner, three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, to finish off his Sprint Cup career with his head up after being eliminated from the Chase in the opening round.

"They're all disappointed that they didn't make it out of the first round because of the way that they had run through the middle of the year and towards the end of the [regular season]," Harvick said Tuesday.

"I think and hope that they would want to close it out on as high a note as possible and go out with as many good runs as possible. Why wouldn't they?"

Stewart had announced a year ago that 2016 would be his final Cup season. The season got off to a disastrous start for Stewart, who broke his back in January while driving a dune buggy, and had missed the first eight races of the season.

With a win in June at Sonoma, Stewart earned a spot among the 16 drivers in the Chase. Finishes of 16th, 23rd and 13th weren't good enough for Stewart to advance following the race Sunday at Dover.

"I'm not going to let falling out of the Chase ruin what I think has been a really good year," Stewart said. "There are still a lot of races left and we are going to go out and try to win a few more. We've had a lot of fun this season and that's not going to stop because we are out of the Chase.

"We gave it our best at Chicago, New Hampshire and Dover. We made our car much better throughout the weekend in Dover and I was pretty proud we could walk out of there with a 13th-place finish. It just wasn't good enough this year to advance."

While Chase drivers typically take more than they give on the track, Stewart raced Sunday at Dover as he would in many circumstances.

At Dover, Stewart was pitted right behind Joey Logano, who also was vying for a spot in the next round. Logano said Stewart could have made his life miserable by pitting close to Logano's box. But he didn't.

"He left me plenty of room," Logano said. "That's something that's really appreciated. ... It just could have been a mess."

Stewart talked last week about having grown weary of the NASCAR schedule.

"I think the grind has just wore him down," Harvick said. "It's really not about racing. This is a grind. It wears you out, having to deal with the things over and over and over.

"How you deal with it is different. He's just ready to relax and go have fun."

Part of that will be as an owner, trying to make sure Harvick and Kurt Busch -- both still alive in the Chase -- and Danica Patrick and SHR newcomer Clint Bowyer have everything they need.

Harvick said Stewart is a different owner than many would envision, that he isn't out there barking orders.

"Tony is a very different type of leader than I would have imagined coming over and working with him on a day-to-day basis," Harvick said.

"He's going to be the guy that's going to sit back, he listens to everything that everybody says and he tries to put that into action the best way he knows possible."