Tony Stewart Las Vegas Testing Teleconference

Stewart says he is in the best shape of his life heading into the 2007 NASCAR season.

Photo courtsey: joegibbsracing.com

LAS VEGAS - Tony Stewart's NASCAR Las Vegas Testing Teleconference Transcript:

The moderator: We have Tony Stewart in the media center. Tony thanks for coming in and I guess first things just your impressions of the race track, first time you've been on it since the repaving and rebanking?

Tony Stewart: It's perfect. Couldn't have done it better myself.

Q.: You say it's perfect; in what ways and why and how?

Tony Stewart: I don't know if we have time to talk about all that really. Let's go on to something else. It's just perfect. It's really nice.

Q.: What were some of the highlights of your time off, and did you have any time off?

Tony Stewart: After being here today for half a day, I realize every day of my time off was my highlight. It's been a bit of a cluster down here today. Obviously there's a lot of work going on down here and crews are doing a lot of work to get everything ready for the race here.

Just I think probably the highlight of my off-season was probably winning the Chili Bowl (ph) probably the best part about it for sure, winning the biggest midget (ph) race with my own car and new sponsor, so that's definitely for sure the highlight.

Q.: Can you talk about your training regimen and diet? You look like you're in pretty good shape.

Tony Stewart: It's the same as what we were doing I guess – when the Chase started last year is what we started. Same thing as we talked about then. Nothing has changed. Just been sticking to it.

Q.: The Rolex, a lot of people were e-mailing in about it, how did you feel about the chance you got to race there?

Tony Stewart: The best part about the Rolex was the rain. I love racing in the rain. Everybody looks at me like I have three heads. Andy and Busch looked at me that way. I love running in the rain. That's my favorite experience of those road course cars is being able to run in the rain. I feel like it puts the driver back into it because there's no traction control and all that. So when you have a limited amount of grip due to the wetness, it makes it a lot of fun.

Q.: A couple big changes, obviously Toyota is coming in and the Car of Tomorrow is going to comprise about half the races, do you have any thoughts about that?

Tony Stewart: No, I'm still driving a Chevy so that's the only car I'm really worried about.

Q.: Does it matter at all?

Tony Stewart: I don't care if Kia comes in.

Q.: How about the Car of Tomorrow?

Tony Stewart: I mean, it is what it is. We're stuck with it.

Q.: Do you feel like you're stuck with it?

Tony Stewart: Well, isn't it on the schedule? It's something that we're kind of stuck with it.

Q.: Sounds like something you're not looking forward to driving.

Tony Stewart: Not really.

Q.: With IROC, is there any chance, progress of you possibly getting into the race Eldora?

Tony Stewart: I seriously doubt when they cancelled the Iroq race at Eldora that we are going to get a race at Eldora. I think that would probably take precedence.

Q.: Do you just hate coming here to test; not really pleased about being here testing?

Tony Stewart: We've had a long weekend obviously. It hard to sleep last night because our sleep schedules are all screwed up. I've been tired all morning. I'm really looking forward to taking the rest of my one-hour break during the whole day and trying to get some rest and some sleep.

No, I don't really get excited about testing at all. I never have and probably never will. But you know, it's a necessary evil unfortunately.

Q.: They tweaked the Chase for this season, what are your opinions about it? Do you think it's fairer this way and would you have liked it this way last season?

Tony Stewart: It is what is it. As long as it's the same for everybody and as long as the guy with the most points wins versus the guy with the least points wins, the theory is still the same. If you win the race, the points take care of itself. So it really doesn't matter to me.

Q.: Were you behind this morning? You didn't come out until like an hour into the session.

Tony Stewart: I got here about quarter after and ate my breakfast and that's when I got dressed. We were not behind as a team. I was probably behind, but, you know, none of us were in a huge hurry this morning. We typically like to let guys get out and get some rubber on the track before we go out.

Q.: You've been here in Las Vegas for a few big events, and we are about to have another one with the NBA All-Star. Your thoughts on a city like Las Vegas hosting such a big event?

Tony Stewart: I've never not had a good time out here, so it's a perfect place to host any kind of event. Some of the biggest car shows are here. Just about anything you can think of, this is a good place to have any kind of event. If you can't have fun out here, you're a pretty dull person I think.

Q.: Can you compare this track to anything else you've raced on with the new banking?

Tony Stewart: It's so hard to say so far because everybody is just right around the bottom. I'm not sure. It's just so fast around the bottom. We are running ridiculously fast speeds. It's stupid to be running this fast in a Cup car in my opinion. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me why we're running mid to low 29-second laps in a 3,400-pound stock car around here.

u can so tell stewart has better things to do then talk with these guys

hi

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