Tony Stewart explains 'big risk' involved in leaving Joe Gibbs Racing

It’s been over a decade since Tony Stewart took the leap of faith to leave Joe Gibbs Racing and partner with Gene Haas, forming Stewart-Haas Racing. It wasn’t the easiest decision for the NASCAR legend, and one that included a pretty big risk.

In an interview with NBC Sports, Stewart talked about his decision to leave Joe Gibbs Racing and partner with Haas in 2009. He also explained the big risk involved.

“I think I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with a guy (Gene Haas) that is an extremely smart businessman and built a great business from the ground up that has the ability to have sustainability,” Stewart said. “But not all these partners have that opportunity. I think my risk was I was leaving a championship-winning team (Joe Gibbs Racing) that I’d won two championships with and leaving that organization to venture out with an organization that had a car 34th and 36th in the points at the time. That was my big risk.”

Stewart won two championships (2002, 2005) at Joe Gibbs Racing. He then won his third NASCAR Cup Series crown while driving for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2011.

Tony Stewart explains how risks are different today

Stewart opened up on the risk he took over a decade ago. But that was from a competitive standpoint. Today, he says NASCAR teams face much bigger challenges in the sport.

“For partners coming into the sport now, it’s a financial risk,” he said. “It’s not got cheaper to operate a NASCAR team like this new car was designed. It’s costing us more money than it’s ever cost us to run these cars.

“If you want to have strong partners and strong people coming into the sport, there’s got to be some sort of stability and these permanent charters are what would do that and be a step in the right direction for these teams and organizations. But we’ve got to have that cooperation with NASCAR to make that happen.”

Stewart also recently commented on Josh Harris buying a minority stake in Joe Gibbs Racing. He referred to it as a “great opportunity.”

“You think about what happens if Joe Gibbs goes away,” Stewart said. “What happens if Rick Hendrick goes away? Jack Roush goes away… Richard Childress. So you think about key people and owners in this series, what does the future hold?… It’s inevitable. We all start. We all finish at some point in this journey, but you want to see these great, iconic organizations continue, and I think it is a great opportunity.

“I think it’s foolish to sit there and say, no that’s not something you would consider at some point. I mean, if you have the ability and the confidence that your program can continue down the road, I don’t think you look [at it] that way… Think for some of these owners that are getting up there in age, they have plans and they’re making plans on when they’re gone, [so that] these organizations can maintain and stay a part of the sport.”