Stewart back at Indy with last season behind him

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tony Stewart left Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year trying desperately to hold his career together. He had punched a photographer after the Brickyard 400, the latest blow to the image of NASCAR's bad boy.

As he had done so many times before, Stewart picked himself up and moved on -- all the way to winning his first Winston Cup championship.

Now the Indiana native heads back to the Brickyard this weekend with 2002 firmly behind him.

Indy is still the one track where he desperately wants a victory, but since hitting photographer Gary Mook, Stewart has realized it's not the most important thing in his life.

"Sometimes you have to have something bad happen for something good to come out of it," he said. "I always want to do well when we come to Indy. Coming back to the Brickyard and being so close so many times to having a good day and having it go south was kind of a boiling point for me.

"You hate to have it happen at home like that, but I think we've learned a lot from it. I think Gary's put it behind, and I've put it behind."

It wasn't easy, though.

Overcoming the obstacle

Stewart admitted his terrible temper was too much to handle, and he sought help through anger management classes.

And he had to persuade car owner Joe Gibbs and sponsor Home Depot not to give up on him, that he could fix the problems in his personality that always seemed to slow down his remarkable driving talent.

That meant staving off a near mutiny from some of his crew members, who voted after Indy on whether they wanted Stewart back.

After $60,000 in fines and a spot on NASCAR's probation list, Stewart went back to work and won an emotionally draining race the very next week at Watkins Glen. It was the first step in healing the wounds with his team.

"In this sport or any sport, you need to be able to react to things and put things behind you as quick as possible," crew chief Greg Zipadelli said. "We went to Watkins Glen and talked as a team and put everything behind us."

Leaving another past?

Still, not all is quiet in Stewart's world.

He heads into Indy in the center of swirling speculation that he's about to abandon Joe Gibbs Racing for a rival organization.

His contract is up in 2004, and Gibbs has offered him a long-term extension. But there's a long list of car owners eager to hire Stewart -- considered one of the best drivers in any series -- and Chip Ganassi is leading the charge.

With a highly competitive Indy car operation, Ganassi could give Stewart the one thing in life he really wants: a victory in the Indianapolis 500. The two hooked up once before, in 2001 when Stewart ran in a Ganassi car in Indy, then a Gibbs car in the Coca-Cola 600 later that day.

Stewart has skipped the open-wheel event the last two seasons to concentrate on his Winston Cup effort.

He has denied any talks with Ganassi, and Gibbs hopes Stewart will stay put.

But Zipadelli admits the speculation has left the team on edge.

"I know a lot of guys here in the shop are concerned, and hope that we can get things ironed out," Zipadelli said. "I know I am. We'll do whatever we can."

If the contract talk is bothering Stewart, he isn't letting on.

He is too busy trying to stay calm in what has so far been a very trying season. A string of accidents and mechanical failures, including an engine problem that foiled a strong run at Pocono last weekend, have left him with virtually no chance of winning the title again.

He's been as low as 20th in points, is currently 14th, and has just one victory this year.

But Stewart has yet to yell at a reporter, charge after a NASCAR official, or insult a fan -- all things he's done in years past.

"I think winning the championship has helped Tony. It took a lot of pressure off," Gibbs said. "He doesn't seem to let as many small things bother him. I think the second thing is probably a maturing process over a period of time. I think he's handled everything very well this year."