The Call

In Las Vegas this week, Tony Stewart confirmed what most of us had guessed: the decision to go a different direction in terms of crew chief Darian Grubb was made before the Chase ever started.

You heard me.

Stewart sat down with Grubb and they had The Talk. After that, it seemed like there was something different in the mix.

“It just seemed like it took a lot of pressure [off] at that point,” Stewart said. “It was somewhat of a coming to Jesus meeting for both of us. It seemed like Darian’s demeanor calmed down after that and it was kind of business as usual.

 “The longer this thing went into the Chase, the more we were just determined – we were standing behind each other 100 percent until this thing was over with and we would take what we could get. The good news is we’re going to be at the head table on Friday, and we’re going to be together and we’re going to be able to celebrate our three years together with a championship.”

 Grubb is an engineer. He plans stuff, organizes things, makes decisions based on math, science and the engineer’s mindset. Stewart is not a planner, at least not outwardly, and he makes decisions by the seat of his pants most of the time, or by the fire in his gut.

Grubb was a Hendrick Motor Sports man, born of pressed white shirts and creased trousers. Stewart is more of a Donny Schatz T-shirt and jeans kind of guy. Grubb was more corporate, Stewart more Casual Monday-through-Friday.

Stewart’s only other Cup crew chief was Greg Zipadelli, a fiery racer hewn from Northeast granite who went to war against the best the Whelan Modified Tour had to offer, and Addington is cut from the same slab, only with a southern drawl.

Addington approaches the race weekend differently than Grubb does, and it’s from the Joe Gibbs Racing mold, not the HMS mode. Still, Smoke wanted Grubb to play the string and finish the deal with him.

 “When I sat down with Darian and we had the talk and I told him we were going to make a change at the end of the season, the one thing that I wanted him to understand is I didn’t want him to leave right away,” Stewart said. “I wanted to finish out the year with him.

 “I knew that at that point he was going to do whatever he wanted to do. I told him we started this together and I wanted to finish this year together and I will give you 100 percent and I hope you will me and we will see what we can get before it’s over with.”

 “I had been around Steve at Joe Gibbs Racing, and I felt like he always did a good job over there,” Stewart said. “When we made the decision we were going to make a change and we looked at a list of guys that we thought were legitimate candidates for it, that came into play a lot.

“I just think our approach, our mindset as far as sitting down and talking to him about what his thoughts are, how he thinks about a race weekend, and mine are more similar than Darian’s and mine were.”

Well, 10 races later and with the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion banner hanging in the rafters over there off N.C. 73, it seemed to work out all right.

Grubb will find a home; not too many championship crew chiefs sit idle for long, especially those who have won the Daytona 500 to boot. He’s got offers already, and he’ll pick one and continue to be Darian Grubb, which is plenty good enough whether you’re wearing a button-down and khakis or a Steve Kinser tee and cutoffs.

Stewart made the change when he felt he had to, and it might turn out to be the right call. It might be the best thing that ever happened to both Stewart and Grubb. They will always have a magical string of races at the end of the 2011 season to remember, and the ring and the money and the fame that goes with them.