Stewart still planning 3-car team

Tony Stewart hopes to ride Superstar Danica Patrick and her sponsor GoDaddy right into the Sprint Cup Series

Stewart-Haas Racing is still working toward fielding three Sprint Cup teams in 2013 with Ryan Newman driving one of those cars, despite losing the U.S. Army sponsorship for next year, team co-owner Tony Stewart said Tuesday.

The U.S. Army announced two weeks ago that it would no longer sponsor a NASCAR race team. It had spent $8.4 million on its 2012 program with Stewart-Haas, which included 12 races for Newman as well as what it spent for at-track displays and other racing-related advertising.

Newman does not have a contract for 2013, and SHR already plans to add to Danica Patrick to its lineup full time. Patrick has sponsorship from GoDaddy.com.

Stewart has said he wanted to keep Newman if sponsorship could be worked out.

“We're still working on it," Stewart said Tuesday during a conference call with reporters. “It's definitely a setback but we’re still pushing forward and doing everything we can to get that done."

Newman has had additional sponsorship from Quicken Loans, Outback Steakhouse, Aspen Dental, Tornados and Wix this year. He also has had races sponsored by Haas Automation, which is owned by team co-owner Gene Haas.

“It was definitely a huge disappointment that we were going to lose the U.S. Army," Stewart said. “But it's not something that we have had a lot of at Stewart-Haas Racing — we have not lost a lot of partners, and especially a group like U.S. Army.

“They have been a lot of fun to work with and they been a very dedicated group and have been very involved with what the race team is doing. We are going to miss having them on board next year."

When the team announced last year that Patrick would run the full Cup schedule in 2013, the idea was to field three cars.

Is that still the plan?

“Yes," Stewart said. “It has been since we signed Danica." Sporting News