Rick Minter's OBSERVATIONS
Some key storylines this week in NASCAR. Stewart: Some Sirius radio talk

STEWART

Tony Stewart often has said that his main passion is driving race cars, but he seems to be plenty serious about his role in Sirius satellite radio's NASCAR coverage this season.

Sirius has become the official satellite radio partner of NASCAR, taking the role held previously by XM Satellite Radio.

Stewart will host a show on Tuesdays from 8-10 p.m. Other NASCAR programming includes "The Driver's Seat," from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, which features host John Kernan and a rotation of drivers and former drivers, including Buddy Baker, Johnny Benson, Randy LaJoie, Ron Hornaday, Ricky Craven, Phil Parsons and John Andretti.

STEWART

The day's coverage kicks off with "The Morning Drive," co-hosted by veteran NASCAR journalists David Poole and Marty Snider.

Stewart said he likes the idea of having a show in which he controls the content.

"I get to talk about anything I want for a few hours," he said. "I think anybody would like to have a show like that."

And he promises his show will feature more than just NASCAR content.

GORDON

"We'll talk about NASCAR and other forms of motorsports and things that are outside of motorsports," he said. "Sirius has been very flexible in allowing me to talk about anything I want. … We're always going to have to be on our toes, and it's going to be a great challenge."

In his first show, Stewart issued a challenge of sorts to Carl Edwards, with whom he had an on-track run-in at Pocono last year that angered Edwards.

"The next time that I hear Carl Edwards tell me that he's going to make me bleed, he'd better be ready to do it right then and there. Straight up," Stewart said, according to a transcript released by Sirius. "I don't care what the fine is from NASCAR. I've got $50,000 saved."

Stay tuned.

Racin' on the side

Even in NASCAR's offseason, drivers are chasing checkered flags.

David Stremme raced his Late Model car at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., in December, and among the entries in this week's 21st annual O'Reilly Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., are Cup drivers Tony Stewart, J.J. Yeley and Kasey Kahne.

Yeley's bringing along his Cup sponsor, Interstate Batteries, which will back the No. 47 he'll drive and the No. 18 owned by Yeley and driven by Ricky Gaunt. Yeley, who struggled in his rookie season in Nextel Cup, is one of the best ever in USAC. He has 51 career victories and five championships.

Stewart already has won two USAC races at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Memorial Coliseum.

The USAC Web site reports that Stewart stormed from midpack to the front in both races. He took just seven laps to move from ninth to first in the second race and now has four victories in four starts at Fort Wayne during the past three years.

Kahne has been racing this winter, too. The Evernham Motorsports driver won a heat race and finished fourth in a sprint car race at the Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway in Australia.

No. 24 driver to run the 24

Jeff Gordon has joined a growing list of NASCAR drivers who also run road-racing events. Gordon, who rarely competes in anything other than his Nextel Cup No. 24 Chevrolet, spent last week running laps on the road course at Daytona International Speedway as he prepared for his first Rolex 24 at Daytona, on Jan. 27-28.

The four-time Nextel Cup champion and three-time Daytona 500 winner drove the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley, which he'll co-drive with car owner/driver Wayne Taylor and Italian Max Angelelli.

"It's really been a great experience," Gordon told reporters at Daytona. "I've never been on this road course before, and it's a pretty challenging track to learn.

"That last time out, I was getting a good feel for it. I'm with the right team. I'm having fun and enjoying it. It's a lot different peeling off that banking at the start/finish line and turning into the infield."

Gordon is trying to become the third driver - A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti are the other two - to win both the Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24.

Gordon's Cup teammate, Jimmie Johnson, potentially could be that third driver in the history books. He's the defending Daytona 500 winner and also is entered in the 24.