He's also bracing for an emotional time ahead, especially at Homestead in the final race of the season, which will also be his last with Greg Zipadelli as his crew chief. The tandem has been together at Joe Gibbs Racing for 10 years and has won two series championships.
"We've been thinking about it ever since we said we were going to make a change," Stewart said. "Every week that it gets closer, the reality sets in more that it is coming to an end, but the great thing is, we don't talk about it, we don't think about it. When we come to the race track, we do our job and do it the way that we've always done it for 10 years.
"I think Homestead is where it's really going to be obviously huge for all of us."
The team is not dwelling on the impending split, Stewart said, but instead "coming to the track and doing what we do best every week, and that's going out and trying to win races."
And when time allows, or demands, Stewart turns his attention to next season, when he will be a part owner and he and Ryan Newman will be the drivers for Stewart-Haas Racing.
"It's a lot different that just showing up, putting the uniform on and getting in the car for sure, and that's a busy enough job," Stewart said of also being a team owner.
"But it's the most excited I've been in a long time."
JGR president J.D. Gibbs expects the finale to be emotional, too.
"I think there'll be a lot," he said. "I think with Tony, it's 10 years in Cup, but he was here two years before that, so we knew him. We were about the same age when he first got here and got to hang out and kind of walk him through when he was nervous going to his Nationwide stuff and his first Cup race. All that stuff was kind of nerve wracking, and it was kind of fun to watch all the success that he's had, on the track and off. It'll be sad."
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BURTON'S BLUNDER: Jeff Burton was running 12th when a caution came out on lap 458, and what happened on pit road cost him his second-place point standing before the day was over. He finished 17th.
While heading down pit road, Burton was about to turn into his pit box when Jeff Gordon pulled alongside him on his way past, blocking the path. When Burton finally did turn, he was too far down the road, and he was unable to get his car into the box as NASCAR requires.
After his pit crew jacked up the right side and changed the tires, the NASCAR official pointed out the infraction, and Burton had to serve a one-lap penalty the next time around.
"We didn't know we were over the line until we already had the tires off," Burton said. "The official didn't do anything wrong. It's hard to make everything happen that quickly."
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KYLE'S TRIALS: Kyle Busch's Chase troubles continued on Sunday.
The driver who dominated the first 26 races and has faltered badly since hit the wall on lap 161 and drew a two-lap penalty from NASCAR for intentionally causing a caution. He did that by stopping his car on the track to bring out the yellow, then driving away.
Busch has won a series-high eight races this year, but is winless in the last 10. He had more trouble with about 150 laps to go, hitting the wall in Turn 4, and finished 29th.
He's now last in points among the 12 drivers in the Chase.
"We just can't seem to catch a break," Busch said.
J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, which owns Busch's team, said the way the Chase has unfolded for Busch has been unfortunate, but the team still has reason to be proud.
"The biggest thing for me is this is our first year with Kyle. We didn't know what was going to happen," Gibbs said Sunday. "If you could have told us at the beginning of the year you could have this happen, even with the Chase issues, in a heartbeat we'd take that."
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SPONSORSHIPS: The track announced that it has secured sponsorship for each of its races in the next two years, with Goody's sponsoring the spring events and Tums the fall events.
Goody's has sponsored 20 Cup races at Martinsville since the 1983 season.
The announcement was especially big for Martinsville, coming at a time when many Sprint Cup Series teams are struggling to find full sponsors for this season, and for next year.
On Saturday, Johnny Benson won the truck race without a primary sponsor on his truck.
"It's really exciting, especially in today's time with the economy being what it is, with sponsorships harder to come by, to have a company step to the plate," said track president Clay Campbell, whose grandfather built the track. "It couldn't be a finer day for us."
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PIT STOPS: Staff Sgt. Robert Hankins, 27 and a Martinsville native, won an essay contest and was the grand marshal for Sunday's race. Hankins is serving his third tour of duty in Iraq, but was able to attend the race while on leave before returning to Iraq. ... Johnson has led the most laps in five of the last six races and has led at least one lap in eight races in a row. ... Sam Hornish Jr. was the top finishing rookie. He ran 34th.
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