Stewart seeking to be top earner

His contract with Joe Gibbs racing expires after the 2009 season.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Tony Stewart is apparently testing the free agent market, in search of a deal that likely would make the two-time champion NASCAR’s highest paid driver — but also could drive him out of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Stewart’s deal with JGR runs through 2009, and he said last summer he was interested in signing an extension with the team he’s driven for since 1998. But contract talks moved slowly, with Stewart saying in January he was in no rush to get a deal done.

Then came a pair of internet reports Wednesday alleging Stewart is in negotiations to purchase at least a portion of Haas CNC Racing in a deal that would require him to leave JGR. ESPN.com reported Stewart had asked to be released from his contract at the end of last season.

JGR president J.D. Gibbs indicated Thursday the team intends to hold Stewart to his contract.

“We’ve got Tony signed through ’08 and ’09, and we want to go full bore and win a bunch of races and championships together,” Gibbs told The Associated Press in an e-mail. “Our hope is that if you do that, then long term this will be the spot he chooses to retire. But the reality is we only control these next couple of years, and we went through this his last contract negotiations when he had a lot of options out there.

“Our hope is we do our job, and he retires here.”

Stewart, winless this season, is tied for sixth in the Sprint Cup Series. In nine full seasons with Gibbs, he’s won 32 career Cup races, championships in 2002 and 2005 and more than $67 million in prize money.

Cary Agajanian, who represents Stewart through the Motorsports Management Int. agency, cited the sensitivity of contract talks in declining to comment.

“His contract is through 2009 with Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Agajanian, “that’s about all we know, and all we can say.”

Stewart previously has stated he’d like to retire from NASCAR still driving for JGR, and that he can’t imagine a scenario where he’s not working with crew chief Greg Zipadelli. The two are in their 10th season together, the Cup Series’ longest active driver-crew chief pairing.

And based on Stewart’s own past negotiating, many believe his desire to test the market is nothing more than a bargaining chip to use with JGR. He used similar tactics during extension talks in 2002, when he leveraged an offer from owner Chip Ganassi to secure a better deal with Gibbs.

But Stewart has more options now, and there’s even more at stake for the driver, who turns 37 next month and likely is negotiating his final contract.

He long ago set in motion an aggressive business plan that centers around his love of grass-roots racing, and the former sprint-car star now owns several lower-level race teams and has ownership in a handful of race tracks, including full ownership of Eldora Speedway in Ohio. Moving into an ownership of a Cup team would complete his portfolio.

There’s widespread speculation that General Motors is trying to lure Stewart from Gibbs, which left GM at the end of last season after 16 seasons with the manufacturer. JGR now fields Toyotas, and the Japanese automaker allowed Stewart to continue his Chevy deals despite the conflict of interest.

GM heavily supports Stewart’s many race teams, and Stewart acknowledged in February that the move to Toyota was difficult for him. Haas is a GM team that has a support alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, the leader of the Chevy teams.