Stewart happy to be back with Chevy Racing family (cont'd)

"I don't know if he brings something that Carl didn't have, but the fact is he's a two-time champion," George Hill, vice president of Office Depot, said of Stewart. "So he brings that brand equity and that leadership on the track that we haven't experienced so much with Carl. The bottom line is we think Carl is a winner and we think Tony is a winner. This will just take us even higher to a new level."

Hill said his company wasn't necessarily looking to make a switch, but ultimately felt the opportunity to go with the new Stewart-Haas organization was one it could not pass on.

"I think it's more of a thing where everything fell into place," he said. "Carl was going to be a free agent after this year, and he just signed up again with Roush Fenway and had some other things going on. So when this opportunity came to us, it just made so much sense.

"You think about Tony and what he believes in, and what we believe in. He's a small business owner and we are the small business of NASCAR, if you will. It really all came together really quick, and we're about as excited as you can get."

Well, owning half of a two-car Sprint Cup team is hardly a small business. Stewart hinted that Old Spice and Office Depot have combined to pledge about $25 million between them to help fund what will be only half of the Stewart-Haas operation beginning next year.

The other half -- in what Stewart said will be the No. 4 car because that was the first number he ever ran in go-karts when he was a kid -- has yet to land a sponsor or have its driver named, although Ryan Newman, recently released from his contract at Penske Racing effective at the end of the season, is considered the frontrunner.

So even though he will finish out this season running in a Toyota for JGR, Stewart made it crystal clear Friday that he never has been entirely comfortable outside of a Chevy ride -- and that he looks forward to returning to one next season.

"It's very important, obviously, with what Chevrolet has brought to the table with our open-wheel programs, both in USAC and the World of Outlaws. This is just a natural fit where everything I drive will be under the banner of the Chevy bowtie," Stewart said. "This just all made sense in the end. I've always had a great relationship with everybody at GM; and since we started with the Chevy brand, I've built a lot of close relationships with that brand.

"We've always felt like we were part of their family -- and obviously, being with a different program this year, it's been pretty tough on that relationship."

Chevy also is believed to have kicked in a considerable sum of money to help facilitate the deal, with estimates exceeding $15 million. Dolan declined to say how much Chevy kicked in, and was quick to point out instead that "what we want to be very clear about is that we're a Fortune 500 company that operates on very strong ethical standards. We were not going to create anything from a contractual interference standpoint with any one of Tony's other partners."

In other words, Chevy did not move in with the heavy guns -- or bundles of seed cash -- until after it had been announced that Stewart would be released from his contract with JGR at season's end.

Dolan also added: "We don't have a larger investment in what we do with Tony beyond what we do with other teams that we have involvement with."

One thing is certain. Dolan already is looking forward to next season.

"There is no question that there was a lot of internal work that's been put together to make this day realized," Dolan said. "If you look at the history with marketing programs we've had the opportunity to run in the NASCAR space, we've had some of our greatest performances when we've used Tony as the spokesperson and ambassador for our brand to help us sell our cars and trucks to the consumers. Being able to demonstrate that to the GM leadership helped close this deal.

"From a personal standpoint, it was a tough day to go through the announcement [of the JGR switch to Toyota last year] and a trip to Daytona [this past February] and not see him with the family. We think of Tony as a key member of the family, and he has been. It's almost as though you went through a separation for a period of time and now you've been able to rekindle that relationship and bring him back where we think his home should be. I'll be very pleased on Feb. 18 or 19 -- whatever the date for the Daytona 500 is for next year -- when we can finally see him back behind the wheel of a Chevrolet."

Also
• Stewart leaves Gibbs to become part-owner of Haas
• Newman weighs option of joining Stewart-Haas team