J.D. Gibbs expects to keep Stewart with team

J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said yesterday he expects Tony Stewart to remain with the organization until his contract expires after the 2009 season.

"We've had no conversation of leaving before the contract is up," Gibbs said prior to yesterday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. "There's too much that we've already built and invested."

Gibbs said he was not surprised to learn last week that Stewart is exploring ownership options with several Sprint Cup teams, including Haas CNC Racing.

Gibbs added it's unlikely that JGR will be in the ownership mix for Stewart.

"Right now, probably not ownership with JGR. I think our deal is kind of set the way it is," Gibbs said. "There's some stuff we could do to get him started with his own team, if that's what he really wants."

Gibbs left open an option that would allow Stewart to own a separate Cup team and drive for JGR. "I haven't thought about it, but there's probably some stuff there we could look at."

Broken ankle sidelines Franchitti

Dario Franchitti was forced to skip the Aaron's 499 after breaking his ankle during a crash early in Saturday's Nationwide Series race.

Franchitti had qualified 43rd in the No. 40 Dodge. A first-year driver for Ganassi Racing, the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner was replaced by David Stremme. Stremme, second in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, led twice before finishing 28th.

Steve Hmeil, a CGRFS spokesman, said he wasn't sure what the long-term plans for Franchitti or whether Stremme will replace him this weekend in Richmond.

Franchitti won last year's SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway on his way to securing the IRL title. He was hoping to make his first Sprint Cup start at RIR.

Kenseth's ups, downs

Matt Kenseth's up-and-down season continued when his chance at victory was lost when he cut a tire in Turn 1 on the 20th lap. Kenseth has four top-10 finishes but four finishes 30th or worse.

"[Talladega] shouldn't be hard on tires," said Kenseth, who finished 41st. "I guess it's just bad luck."

There were several tire issues in Saturday's Nationwide Series race. But only a few laps later, teammate Carl Edwards made an unscheduled pit stop because of low tire pressure, which put him a lap down 44 laps into the race.

Lug nuts

Five cars were sent to the rear of the field before the start, including South Boston's Jeff Burton (unapproved adjustments), Stremme and Robby Gordon (driver changes). . . . Dale Earnhardt Jr. led here for the 14th time in his 15 starts. -- Ralph N. Paulk