Tony Stewart is plowing his way through what might be described as a schizophrenic season.
The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series campaign has been hot and cold for the defending champion.
The past six races provide an open-window look into Stewart’s season. From Richmond to Pocono, he has scored a trio of third-place finishes mixed with runs of 24th, 25th and 25th.
The tour is rolling into the second half of the regular season. Race 15 is scheduled Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
Stewart rang up two wins early in the season, putting him in somewhat of a comfort zone in the race for the Chase despite the fact he has fallen from a season-high of third in points to eighth entering the Michigan weekend.
Stewart said his team cannot rest on the probability that he’ll be in the Chase regardless.
Stewart hasn’t won a Sprint Cup race at MIS since his lone victory at the track in 2000, but his career record there also shows 10 top-five runs. He’s expected to be in the mix at the front as teams race on the freshly repaved two-mile surface.
Stewart said he isn’t concerned about the high speeds that will be generated this weekend.
“The safety of these cars has come a long way, and race track safety, too, with the soft walls,” he said. “I don’t think you are ever really concerned about it until something bad happens. But I’ve been to race tracks, and I’ve seen crashes at 60 mph that hurt people a lot worse than 160 mph. So I feel pretty confident with the safety package that we have, with both the race track side and with what NASCAR has done with the cars.”
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