Happy Hour: Tony Stewart’s possible hour in the car on Sunday

It’s time for Happy Hour. As always, tweet us your thoughts or shoot us an email at [email protected] if you want to participate.

Tony Stewart is going to start Sunday’s race before he hands the car off to Ty Dillon. According to Stewart, that handoff will be at the first caution, whether it’s at lap 2 or lap 102. Stewart said his plan is to drop to the back of the field and ride around before that caution happens.

“And if it means we go 80 laps or 100 laps or whatever, it’s not likely that the race will go that long without a caution, but if it does, the level of intensity is pretty sanitary at that point,” Stewart said Friday.”It’s not really ramping-up yet. So, I don’t feel like there’s any danger in that. It’s later in the race when guys are really having to make things happen; that’s the part of the race when we really need to be out of the car. There will be ample time to get that caution to get us out. The good thing is that Talladega is so big that even if it’s 40 laps from the end of the race when Ty gets in it, he’s going to have enough time to do what he needs to do.”

Stewart is getting out of the car during the race because of doctor’s orders on his healing back. If Stewart was to be caught in a vicious crash at Talladega (a place that has potentially the highest big crash risk in NASCAR) and potentially reinjure himself.

By starting the race, Stewart gets the points for the finishing position Dillon accomplishes. And yes, if Dillon was to win the race, Stewart would qualify for the Chase. Is there a likelihood of that happening? Yes. It is a strong one? We certainly don’t think so.

On to your questions and comments.

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Who would win a fight between Erik Jones and Mike Harmon? – Jim

If you missed the Xfinity race on Saturday, Harmon went spinning after contact from Jones. Harmon was in his own car, a car that’s typically seconds off the pace. Jones was in JGR equipment, stuff that’s typically setting the pace.

While Harmon was understandably upset about the incident because of the huge financial impact the crash has on his race team, there’s no denying he was in the way. And it’s quite surprising that, given the gulf between the haves and have-nots in the series, incidents like this don’t happen more often.

@NickBromberg Could you feel the rage at RIR after another Cup winner in the Xfinity Series? Can the heat races be easily improved?

— Brian Cullather (@Briancullather) April 27, 2016

No one is unhappy when Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins, right? Perhaps the best way to get that drum to stop beating is to rig races for Junior to win every week?

That’s a joke, people.

As far as the heat races go, there needs to be more incentive. What if there was a random draw for heat race starting positions instead of qualifying before? You could at least have the drama of good teams and drivers having to work their way through the pack. Or perhaps assign more value to the races when it comes to money or even a few points?