Charlotte II: Tony Stewart preview

WEEKEND OUTLOOK: Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart will become the sixth driver to pilot the No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports this year, as he will compete in his only event for JRM this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Friday's Dollar General 300 will be Stewart's third NASCAR Nationwide Series race this season. In two starts, Stewart has one win (Daytona) for Hendrick Motorsports and a runner-up finish (Texas) for Kevin Harvick Inc. He has led 28 laps this year.

SMOKE'S TURN - As mentioned, Stewart is the sixth different driver to climb into the driver's seat of the No. 5 Chevrolet this year. He joins Dale Earnhardt Jr. (7 races), Mark Martin (1), Ryan Newman (4), Scott Wimmer (6) and Ron Fellows (2) as other drivers to race this season.

SERIES CREDENTIALS - Stewart will make his 89th Nationwide Series start this weekend at LMS. He's earned eight victories, 27 top-fives, 37 top-10 finishes and six poles. His average finish is 16.0 and average start is 15.3.

HISTORY IN "THE QUEEN CITY" - In seven Nationwide Series starts at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Stewart has two top-five and two top-10 finishes, leading a total of 16 laps. Stewart's best finish was a third-place showing in his first race at LMS for car owner Bobby Labonte. He finished 16th in his most recent race at LMS (2006), driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc.

LMS STATS - The No. 5 JRM Chevrolet has three starts at Lowe's Motor Speedway (two with Jimmie Johnson and one with Dale Earnhardt Jr.) with finishes of 10th, 33rd and 13th, respectively.

NIGHT RIDERS - The No. 5 team has performed well under the lights in 2009. Four of the team's nine top-10 finishes have come in night races. The No. 5 car has led a total of 68 laps this season, all but eight of which have come at nighttime.

TEAM STATS IN 2009 - The No. 5 team has competed in 20 races in 2009, earning four top-fives, nine top-10s, and one pole. Earnhardt Jr. nearly took the car to victory lane on Sept. 5 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 16 laps in the Degree V12 300 en route to a third-place finish. The owner of JR Motorsports has been the most successful behind the wheel, as Earnhardt Jr. has three top-fives and four top-10s in seven races in 2009.

TAR HEELS - Four members of the No. 5 team are from the state of North Carolina: car chief Cam Strader is from Wilson, N.C., shock specialist James Bowser Jr. is from Fayetteville, N.C., engine tuner Howard Shipwash is a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., and mechanic Ricky Mace calls Hickory, N.C. home.

CHASSIS INFO - The No. 5 Delphi team will run chassis 402. Earnhardt Jr. drove chassis 402 to the team's best finish of the year - a third-place finish at Atlanta. The team has raced this chassis in four races (Lowe's, Chicagoland, Michigan and Atlanta) in 2009.

STEWART (Looking ahead to racing at Charlotte) - "It's going to be a lot of fun driving for Dale Jr. and Mr. Hendrick this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway. I raced at Daytona earlier this year with HMS, and was lucky enough to get a victory. This will be my first race under the JRM banner and it's exciting. JRM consistently puts strong cars on the track, and we're hoping to capitalize on that with the Delphi team this weekend."

STEWART (Does racing in the Nationwide Series take anything away from your focus on The Chase?) - "No, it doesn't take away from your focus unless you go out there and get hurt, or something like that. If you didn't run the Nationwide Series race or a Truck Series race that day and you went out and went fishing that afternoon, you could just as easily trip over a log and break your arm and maybe hurt yourself more than you would if you were in a race car. You have to live life, and if you want to drive race cars, then that's what you should do. If that's what's going to make you happy, then as a driver, that's what you need to do."

CREW CHIEF, BRIAN CAMPE (How would you rate the Delphi team's performance in 2009?) - "We're happy with some of our results so far in 2009, but we're never satisfied. You can't ever be satisfied in this sport. There have been a few races, here and there, where we've been caught up in someone else wreck, or just had a little bad luck. I think if you overlook some of those misfortunes, our team's season is much more impressive."

CAMPE (Thoughts on racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend?) "We're looking forward to having Tony (Stewart) in the Delphi Chevrolet this weekend. Tony can drive the wheels off a race car. Anytime he climbs behind the wheel, you have a shot a victory. Hopefully, we can keep our fenders clean, be there at the end of 300 miles, and put ourselves in position for a win."

-credit: jrm