As a native Midwesterner more comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt, there is little Tony Stewart has in common with Wall Street shark Gordon Gekko, the fictional character made famous by actor Michael Douglas in the 1987 film Wall Street.
However, there is one aspect of Gekko’s persona that resonates with Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing, coming into the Federated Auto Parts 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.
Gekko believed that greed was good, that it “clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit” and that it “marked the upward surge of mankind.”
With three Sprint Cup wins already this season, Stewart will make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the eighth time in his career no matter how he finishes at Richmond. But, a victory Saturday night would give him four wins, placing him in a tie with Denny Hamlin for the No. 1 seed when the 12-driver, 10-race Chase starts Sept. 16 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.
Greed is indeed good for Stewart. A win would stymie a seven-race slide that has seen Stewart drop from fifth in points to 10th, with only an 18-point buffer separating him from 11th-place Kasey Kahne.
Staying in the top-10 is a priority for Stewart, for those in the top-10 get three bonus points for each of their wins to start the Chase. The drivers in the wild-card positions of 11th and 12th get a spot in the Chase, but no bonus points for any of their regular-season wins.
With all the talk of Stewart’s slide and the breathlessness over how so many drivers have to win in order to make the Chase, Stewart can silence everyone by stomping to his fourth Sprint Cup win at Richmond and the 48th of his career. The three-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion would be back, because as Stewart showed last year when he went winless during the first 26 races but then won the Chase opener at Chicagoland to begin a five-win charge toward the title, a late-season victory could again be the spark that sets Stewart on another epic run.
Are there other drivers who could really use a win at Richmond? You bet. But Stewart is taking a page from Gekko.
Dressed impeccably in an Armani suit, Gekko delivered his “greed is good” line to a room full of shareholders. With an Office Depot/Mobil 1 firesuit serving as his Armani, Stewart will take to Richmond’s .75-mile oval in a similar mindset. The 14-year Sprint Cup veteran could very well deliver to a crowd of nearly 90,000 at Richmond, as Stewart has proven to be a common denominator when it comes to winning in the Commonwealth.
In addition to his wins in September 1999, May 2001 and May 2002, Stewart has 10 top-fives and 18 top-10s to give him an average finish of 10.6 in 27 career Sprint Cup starts. He has also led a total of 935 laps with a lap completion rate of 98.3 percent. And outside of Sprint Cup, Stewart has two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins at Richmond, along with a win in his most recent visit there in April, as Stewart won the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown – a 75-lap charity Late Model stock-car race.
Those numbers are all very good and well-earned, and Stewart plans to add to them on Saturday night, because in this case, greed is good.
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