Zipadelli to keep on going without Stewart in No. 20

Tony Stewart may be moving on, but Greg Zipadelli, his longtime crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing, is staying put.

"All good things must come to an end, I guess, at sometime. This is our time," Zipadelli said Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway, where he and Stewart were preparing for Saturday's LifeLock.com 400.

Stewart and Zipadelli have been preparing for Sprint Cup Series races together for nearly a decade. Their first race in the No. 20 car for JGR was on Feb. 14, 1999, when Stewart drove in his first Daytona 500.

That was 338 races ago. And although they will finish out this 2008 season -- their 10th together as the longest driver-crew chief duo in Cup racing -- they will part ways at the end of the year.

Stewart announced Wednesday that he was leaving JGR to become a 50-percent owner of what will be called Stewart-Haas Racing. He also will drive for the new organization, and on Thursday both driver and crew chief confirmed that their professional relationship will soon come to an end.

Zipadelli said that he and Stewart have become close friends and that he expects that part of their relationship to remain the same. But on the professional side, Zipadelli made it clear that his loyalty lies more with JGR.

"My biggest thing is I feel like I'm obligated to Joe Gibbs Racing because over 10 years ago, they gave me an opportunity to start something that most people in this world only dream of," Zipadelli said. "We didn't have anyone hired to work [on what became the No. 20 team]. We didn't have a trailer -- nothing. They hired a driver and asked me to come in and start it."

That driver was Stewart. They won three races together that first season, and 29 more for a total of 32 at the Cup level over the next nine-plus seasons. They also won championships in 2002 and 2005.

Zipadelli admitted that the lure of possibly going with Stewart in the driver's new ownership venture was strong. But not stronger than the ties that bind Zipadelli to JGR.

"I got to work with Jimmy Makar [vice president of racing operations for JGR], bring in a lot of friends that I had worked with in the past," Zipadelli said. "I feel like I owe them an awful lot because they're still there. They've stuck with me through the good, the bad. For me to leave and pursue something different than what I'm doing and where I'm doing it, it's just not me.

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I've kind of always considered myself being about the hunt, not necessarily the kill. Can I do this? Can I get that? Whatever it is in life, I've always kind of been that way in my life.
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GREG ZIPADELLI"I owe a lot of people that are with me. There would have been no reason for me to do anything else other than my friendship with Tony -- which is very strong, very positive. But there wasn't anything else. If I didn't like where I was, or didn't have the freedom I have, or enjoy the people I work with, then it would be a completely different situation.

"For myself, I had to look at what's best for me and where I'm most comfortable and where are my obligations. They are at Joe Gibbs Racing. My guys have supported me and most of them have continued to work with me for 10 years or more. That's important to me."

Stewart said that he sincerely regrets the parting of the ways that is now imminent with Zipadelli.

"I think that's probably been the single hardest part about this," Stewart said. "It's like we've mentioned many times when the topic of Zippy and I come up: it's kind of like a marriage. He's been there both professionally and like a big brother on the personal side. And that relationship is very important to me -- not only now, but down the road.

"For the last 10 years, I had Greg's leadership and have had the security blanket and the peace of mind of knowing that Zippy's in charge of this. He knows me better than 99 percent of the girlfriends I've ever had in my life, I think."

They won together, lost together, learned together, grew together. Their relationship hasn't always been perfectly smooth or perfect -- but has nearly always been entertaining, and their cars competitive.

"Even in the bad times, I think we all learned something," Zipadelli said. "I think we learned from the good and the bad. I think our accomplishments together certainly outweigh any of the stress and drama that we had to deal with at times. ... You think of the good times. Those are the memories you want to keep."

Zipadelli also was quick to point out that they still can make some new ones over the final 18 races of this season. They have yet to win a race this season, although Stewart is defending champion of the event being run this Saturday night.

"We better light up a bang here pretty quick. ... From here on out, we have 18 races to kind of redeem ourselves and put this behind us," Zipadelli said. "We owe it to a lot more people than ourselves to go out and finish on a strong note."


Then it will be off to something new for both men -- Stewart in an entirely new setting and Zipadelli as crew chief for a new driver of the No. 20 car, possibly JGR developmental star Joey Logano. Like Stewart, Zipadelli said he is looking forward to a fresh challenge, even if his parting with Stewart is bittersweet.

"It's new. I've kind of always considered myself being about the hunt, not necessarily the kill. Can I do this? Can I get that? Whatever it is in life, I've always kind of been that way in my life," Zipadelli said.

"For me to start all over again with someone new, to try to learn and to try to make that relationship work -- to try to do what we've done in the past or just be competitive -- it's a challenge. When you think about it, I wouldn't change what we're going through. Nobody wanted it; it's just kind of one of those situations that happened. We're going to look at the positive side of it and try to move forward in a positive way."

Zipadelli said that he thinks highly of Logano, who is considered the top candidate to step up and drive the No. 20 -- despite only being 18 years old and having driven a total of just four Nationwide Series races thus far.

"He's a remarkable young guy. He's very mature for his age," Zipadelli said. "Does he have enough experience? That's a big question that I don't know anybody has an answer to. Experience is priceless, you know.

"It's one thing to do it in other divisions, but when they feed you to the sharks here on Sundays, you're going against the best in the world and they all have tons of experience. There is a lot to this sport from the mental and physical standpoints, and that all comes with time."

In time, as the pending Stewart-Zipadelli split proves, even all good driver-crew chief matches must come to an end. Then they have to find something else to do, or at least somebody else to do it with.