NOTEBOOK \ NASCAR

Stewart still considering retirement: Tony Stewart made headlines when he said he was "ready to retire" after a frustrating race at Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday. Although Stewart later said he had spoken in the heat of the moment, retirement remains a possibility when his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires at the end of the 2009 season. "I'm not going anywhere for 2 1/2 years," Stewart said Friday as he prepared for the Subway Fresh Fit 500. "We just have to assess in 2 1/2 years where we're at and whether we're still having fun or not. If we are, we'll stay. If we're not, we'll go do something else." Stewart might have more fun if he can find his way back to Victory Lane. He has had four top-10 finishes but no victories in his first seven races this season. I made my father a promise when I was a kid that the day I wasn't having fun driving race cars any more, I'd quit," Stewart said. "It's not exactly the safest sport to just participate if you're not having a good time doing it." The 35-year-old Stewart has had fun at Phoenix International Raceway. Since his victory here in November 1999, Stewart has four top five finishes on the 1-mile oval, including second last April.
Chevy time: Chevrolet has won six of the first seven races, and it looks as if it will be the manufacturer to beat tonight. The drivers with the top five practice speeds Saturday -- pole-winner Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart -- all drive Chevys. The fastest non-Chevy driver was Kurt Busch, sixth on the speed chart in a Dodge. Kevin Harvick, who won both Cup races here a year ago, is also in a Chevy, but he was 22nd, still struggling to find the handle on NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow. Tonight will be the third time the COT has raced, but the first on a track longer than a half-mile. It will be used in 16 of the 36 races this season.
Off and running: Jamie McMurray finished second to Jeff Gordon in qualifying and will start from the outside of the front row. After a forgettable 2006 season -- his first with what is now Fenway Roush Racing -- McMurray is 10th in the points standings. He attributes the improvement to a better attitude, which helped him bounce back after a crash at the season-opening Daytona 500. "Over the winter I worked on the mental side on just being prepared, and its easy when things go [well] to have a good attitude and to always be positive than it is when you go through what I went through last year," McMurray said. McMurray can't put 2006 behind him fast enough. Although McMurray won a career-high 5.2 million, his average finish of 23.6 was the lowest of his six-year Nextel Cup career. "I just kept saying last year, It just can't get any worse,' "McMurray said. "And I'd show up the next week, and I was, like, 'Wow, I was wrong.' It just seemed like everything could go wrong. Roush-Yates engines are super-reliable and it seemed like we'd end up with the one that would break. It just seemed like if it could go wrong, it went wrong. So, yeah, certainly in my Cup career it was the worst, and it was frustrating."
Associated Press
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