INDIANAPOLIS – Alba Colon doesn’t take pictures of race cars. As Chevrolet’s Sprint Cup program manager, she’s involved in the monotonous, science-and-sweat daily business of helping crew chiefs and engineers put her manufacturer in victory lane.
But a few minutes before the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, Colon caught herself snapping a quick shot of Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet as it staged at the exit of pit road. Stewart, the retiring three-time Sprint Cup champion, had agreed to take a ceremonial lap ahead of the field before the green flag as he made his last start in his home state race. He had asked that select friends and family, including Colon, be on hand for photographs. Jeff Gordon, who won four titles with Chevrolet before retiring last season, also was in the field after agreeing to return as a replacement for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. This made for a poignant moment that went beyond business.
“I certainly never take pictures of this,” Colon admitted to USA TODAY Sports. “No, this is a big deal. Jeff has been with us forever. Tony has been with us forever. Both are great friends of mine, but not only that, for the brand, they have done a lot for the brand. So for Chevrolet, yes, this is a big deal. It’s a big deal they are leaving, and it’s very sentimental.”
Amid a season in which their run of Sprint Cup dominance is under siege, Chevrolet officials could be left wondering if this type of moment will be a long time coming again.
Gordon and Stewart represent seven Sprint Cup titles (with the possibility of one more for Stewart as he most likely will qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup) for a company that has won the last 13 manufacturer titles. Part of that run has been borne of quality of teams (like the series’ most successful, Hendrick Motorsports) and drivers (like Gordon, Stewart, and six-time champion Jimmie Johnson), and part by the fact Chevrolet comprises a large portion of the field (21 entries out of 40 on Sunday.)
Rival manufacturers that have toiled under Chevrolet’s run of dominance are unlikely to weep much for this age of parity, especially a Toyota Racing Development outfit that worked nine seasons after entering NASCAR’s top series in 2007 before winning the championship with Kyle Busch last year. But Chevrolet’s most successful teams, Hendrick and Stewart-Haas Racing, are built for winning titles now, fielding veteran lineups. At HMS, Johnson, 40, and Earnhardt Jr., 41; at SHR, 2014 series champion Kevin Harvick, 40, and 2004 series titlist Kurt Busch, 37.
Toyotas have been ascendant this season in leading the manufacturer standings over Chevrolet, with Joe Gibbs Racing winning 10 of 20 events, including a repeat by Kyle Busch at the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. JGR, which has nine of the Toyota wins, also fields a comparatively youthful lineup of Busch, 31, Denny Hamlin, 35, Carl Edwards, 36, and Matt Kenseth, 44.
And it also has race-winning prospects awaiting their turns in a Cup ride, including Daniel Suarez, who leads the Xfinity Series standings; Erik Jones, the defending trucks series champion; and William Byron, who leads that series for Kyle Busch’s team.
And then there’s Martin Truex Jr., 36, a race-winner this season for the JGR-affiliated Furniture Row Racing.
Ford boasts Team Penske’s Joey Logano, 26, and 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski, 32, and has a well-regarded rookie prospect in Ryan Blaney, 22, matriculating with the Wood Brothers. And SHR will join the manufacturer next season, a move that might already have contributed to a stagnation at HMS as its collaboration with SHR inevitably wanes.
Chevrolet has young millennials already in Cup in 20-year-old former Xfinity Series champion Chase Elliott – who replaced Gordon at HMS - and Austin Dillon, 26, currently in Chase-qualification position in his third Cup season at Richard Childress Racing. There’s also perennial prospect Kyle Larson, 23, of Ganassi Racing, who currently holds the 16th and final Chase spot. But none of this group has proved themselves as a winner in Cup yet, underscoring the scope of the task in replacing Gordon and Stewart.
“We always have to be thinking of the future and the next generation of drivers,” Colon said. “That’s what’s in the back of our minds. But outside of that is the character and the experience that (Gordon and Stewart) bring to the sport and they have a lot of followers in this sport. So we are developing younger drivers that we expect to provide for the fans.
“It’s hard but it’s part of the game. It’s part of life, unfortunately, it’s part of the business.”
That doesn’t mean that the last race of the season – the expected last for Stewart as a driver and as a Chevrolet-affiliated team owner – will be any less odd or emotional.
“The guys, we have talked. We said, ‘How is Homestead going to be?’ " Colon said. “I am always with all my teams. It’s going to be weird when we don’t visit them the next year. But it’s a decision. It has been made and, again, let’s just enjoy the races we have together. Let’s try to win a championship. But Homestead is going to be hard.”
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