Tony Stewart's last ride with Joe Gibbs Racing results in ninth-place finish

By SceneDaily Staff

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – For a few moments, it looked like a perfect ending was at hand. Tony Stewart, making his final NASCAR Sprint Cup start for Joe Gibbs Racing, was at the front and leading the race with 12 laps to go. But he would settle for ninth in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, ending an era with his championship-winning group.

Stewart admitted that he wanted to win the race, but seemed somewhat satisfied with the ending to his JGR run. The team won two championships and 33 races together over 10 seasons. Stewart is moving to the newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing organization in 2009, where he will be both a part-owner and driver.

“We did everything we could do," said Stewart, who fell out of contention when he made a late pit stop for fuel along with several other lead-lap cars. "The good thing is that we finished competitive tonight and we didn’t win the race so we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish, but they knew we were here and we showed why we’ve been champions and won 33 races with this team.”

Stewart admitted that it's hard to part ways with the only Cup team he's ever worked with - and Greg Zipadelli, the only crew chief he's had in NASCAR's elite series.

"These guys are my family," he said. "When you’ve been with a group of guys for 10 years and the sponsor for 10 years like this - that’s a long time. I know people that haven’t been married that long. It’s just one of them rough nights. We had a shot to win and it didn’t work out for us.”

The lack of a win did sting a bit. Somewhat emotional during a prerace television interview, Stewart admitted after the race that it was difficult to part company with the group he feels so close to - perhaps even more so since they came so close to ending on such a high note.

"I’m leaving a group of guys that I have been used to working with 38 weeks a year for 10 years," he said. "It’s always hard to do that. I guess if we didn’t all like each other it would make it a lot easier to be where we’re all at tonight. When you like the group of guys you’re working with and you always have - it makes nights like tonight even harder.”