Tony Stewart after winning at Chicagoland in 2007.

Stewart will leave Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of this season to become a 50 percent owner and driver at what is known now as Haas-CNC. He said this is a deal that was seven months in the making. "This was not something that was easy by any means and we did weigh our options heavily."

JGR granted the two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion an early release. Stewart said this was best for both parties. "Knowing that we were going to be parting ways at the end of '09 anyway, we felt like it was better to sever those ties at the end of this season and let us go our different directions and work toward the future."

He is currently ranked 12th in the Cup Series and makes it clear that his focus will remain on the number 20 team in 2008. "The team is very much still in race mode right now. We started this as a team. We're going to finish this as a team and we all want to finish strong."