Love him or hate him, Tony Stewart is no fool. Behind the scruffy exterior and sometimes tempestuous behavior is a very intelligent, calculating individual.

Lost in the shuffle of last week's still-bubbling Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer controversy was the news that Stewart had agreed to terms on a five-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing.

The deal locks up Stewart to remain behind the wheel of the orange and white No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet through the 2009 season. Reports have crew chief Greg Zipadelli also close to agreeing to his own contract extension through the 2009 campaign as well, one of the key elements for Stewart to re-up with JGR.

By electing to stay with the only team he's known in Winston Cup racing, Stewart turned his back on what potentially could have been a much more lucrative deal elsewhere. Of particular note was a possible alliance with team owner Chip Ganassi, who reportedly was ready to offer Stewart the Moon -- as well as Mars and Venus -- to jump ship.

"I did have some very flattering offers, and it felt good to be a wanted man," Stewart said after his new deal was announced.

But Stewart never has been and likely never will be a man obsessed with money. Sure, he probably could have earned a few million more greenbacks over the life of a multi-year contract with Ganassi, but the Indiana native is more into counting championships rather than his cash. As long as he's getting a fair deal that provides him a certain level of comfort, he's a happy camper.

Granted, signing with Ganassi had an additional lure that Gibbs Racing couldn't provide right now -- although that's not to say it may not be part of the final sweetener in the overall deal to retain Stewart. Ganassi has the one toy that Stewart would love to play with: namely, an open-wheel Indy car capable of winning the biggest race in the world, the Indianapolis 500.

But at what price, Stewart probably had to ask himself. If he leapfrogged to Ganassi's Winston Cup team just to get a yearly ride at Indy, what would Stewart gain in the long run? After all, Gibbs Racing is the organization that nurtured him and brought him to where he is today, the reigning champion of Winston Cup racing.

Gibbs Racing is also the same organization that spearheaded Bobby Labonte's push to the Cup championship three years ago, as well as his resurgence this season.

	Gibbs and Stewart have already won a Cup title together.

At 32, Stewart is in the prime of his stock car racing career. He's also with an organization that knows how to win championships and has all the necessary parts and personnel in place to do it again and again and again over the next six years (Stewart has one year still remaining on his current contract before the five-year extension kicks in in the 2005 season).

Now, if I'm Tony Stewart, I have to ask myself two questions:

"Do I leave an organization that has won two Winston Cup championships in the last three seasons for another organization that has yet to win its first Cup title, just to get a shot at driving in the Indy 500 every year?" And, "Am I not better off staying with the team that has taken me from virtually nowhere to the heights of Winston Cup racing, with an additional sidebar agreement that will let me race at Indy once a year if it makes sense for everyone?"

If I'm Stewart, I choose the latter option, particularly with Gibbs giving him his blessing to pursue the elusive Indy 500 title. Rumors have even circulated this season that once he hopefully locked up Stewart to a long-term extension, Gibbs might even be amenable to becoming a minority investor in an existing Indy car operation (Ganassi's IRL team keeps popping up), or possibly even jointly foot the bill along with Stewart to run a one-car operation solely for the annual Memorial Day classic.

There's also another very significant element to Stewart staying with Gibbs Racing: loyalty to friends and colleagues, one of his most significant and admirable traits. If you're a friend of Stewart's, you stay a friend for life. Why, he still hangs out regularly with many of his grade school and high school buddies from back in the Hoosier state.

It's much the same way with Stewart's feelings about Zipadelli. If team owner Joe Gibbs had not assured Stewart that Zipadelli would remain crew chief for as long as Tony was behind the wheel, it's a safe bet that Stewart would have hit the road rather quickly -- and probably called Ganassi Racing his next address. But because Gibbs was willing to make it a package deal -- what's good enough for Tony is good enough for the man they call "Zippy" -- Stewart was more than willing to stay on board.

It's that loyalty factor at work again, both with Zipadelli as well as the rest of the Gibbs Racing organization.

"I'm happy to have all of this worked out," Stewart said after his contract extension was announced last Thursday. "Joe Gibbs and everyone associated with Joe Gibbs Racing have been very good to me in the seven years I've been here. They've always given me everything I need out on the race track, and they've always been there to support me off the track as well."

When I heard about Stewart agreeing to terms with Gibbs Racing, I was glad to hear it. The first thing that popped into my mind was that Stewart had indeed made the right choice for both himself and the organization. While all too often people think only of the driver as "the team," the fact is there are several dozen people back at Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters who are dependent upon Stewart for their own livelihoods, in a sense. They're the ones who don't get the headlines, but are just as vital to Stewart's success as his talented feet, hands and eyes are. I'm talking about folks like guys on the pit crew, body fabricators, engine developers, even the guy who sweeps up the floor at the end of business every day.

But another thought occurred to me after I heard of Stewart's re-signing -- and I can't help but wonder how much it also played into his ultimate decision to stay put.

It's an acknowledged fact that Stewart is a student of NASCAR history. While his roots and heart may always be in open-wheel competition, he's become a walking and talking encyclopedia of NASCAR heritage and lore. And when he was mulling the pros and cons of staying with Gibbs, going to Ganassi or possibly looking at some other wild card option, I'd say it's a safe bet that Stewart looked at the track record of other recent Winston Cup champions and found a very significant common thread between them.

For, since the late Dale Earnhardt won his second Winston Cup title in 1986, every successive champion (with the exception of Bill Elliott in 1988 and Rusty Wallace in 1989) has remained with the organization that took him to the championship: