Stewart seeking elusive victory

The two-time points champion is 0-8 in the race that every driver wants to win.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
As Tony Stewart sat in front of a TV watching the Indianapolis Colts celebrate their Super Bowl victory, he thought about the burden lifted from quarterback Peyton Manning.
"I sent him a text message right after the game was over," Stewart recalled. "I said, 'You got yours, finally. Now it's time for me to go get my Super Bowl."'
That's Sunday's Daytona 500.
The two-time NASCAR champion is 0-8 in the race that every NASCAR driver wants, and one that has been very tough -- or impossible -- for some of the sport's biggest names to win.
It took the late Dale Earnhardt 20 tries, while Darrell Waltrip finally got to Victory Circle in his 17th attempt. Rusty Wallace never won it, and Mark Martin will get his 22nd try Sunday.
Stewart already has 10 victories on Daytona International Speedway's 2.5-mile oval, including the non-points Budweiser Shootout last Saturday and his 150-mile qualifying race Thursday.
Heavy favorite
This week's victories -- and the ease with which he got them -- have made Stewart the heavy favorite to win. Three-time 500 winner Jeff Gordon, who won Thursday's other qualifying race, agreed.
"He looks like he's just been hooked up," Gordon said. "The thing is, you need a great car, a little luck and a lot of confidence to win this race. It looks like Tony has all of that right now."
But Stewart, whose best finish was second in 2004, has been the guy to beat before.
"I'm excited where we are starting the race," said Stewart, who will start third, on the inside of the second row in the 43-car field. "Having had the best car in the past and not being able to finish it off kind of leads me to think it's one lap at a time for 200 laps on Sunday."
And he insists he would give every Daytona win for just one 500 victory.
"I feel like this is the best opportunity that we've had so far to win the 500," Stewart said. "This is definitely the most momentum we've had going into it."
Stewart just missed making NASCAR's 10-man Chase for the championship last year, but won three of the 10 Chase events. Over the winter, he won a pair of midget races in Fort Wayne, Ind., and the sprint car Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Okla.
Even crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who has been with Stewart since he came to Cup in 1999, is whispering in his driver's ear about how this could be the year.
"I'm superstitious about everything, and I kind of feel, the way things are lining up, like maybe we'll have the opportunity to get it done this year," Stewart said.
Lofty goal
A native of Indiana, Stewart started in open-wheel racing but never won his beloved Indianapolis 500 before moving to stock cars. In August, 2005, he finally got to kiss the strip of bricks at the Indy finish line after winning the Brickyard race.
That was a watershed moment, but the overwhelming satisfaction didn't last as long as he thought it would.
"I'm very goal-oriented," Stewart explained. "I said the weight of the world was off my shoulders when I won the Brickyard, and I thought, 'All right, I can die happy.' Than I thought, 'Now I've got to win Daytona.'
"And, if I win Daytona, I haven't won a race yet at Darlington, Talladega, Vegas and California. It's getting those other four tracks and being the only guy who has won on all the tracks we run on. That would be cool."
Stewart shut his eyes, rubbed his stubble of beard and leaned back, thinking for a moment.
"But then Indy will come back into play," he added. "There's always going to be something. I'll never be satisfied."
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