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LOUDON, N.H. -- The good-luck charms have arrived by the bundle, horseshoes and four-leaf clovers and various other talismans of good fortune dropped on the front stoop of Joe Gibbs Racing. Tony Stewart has received enough to fill the trunk and passenger side of his No. 20 racecar, but he's still looking for the right one.

It's been that kind of season for the two-time NASCAR champion, summed up by last weekend at Infineon Raceway when he was taken out in a wreck not of his own making. He has plenty on his plate these days -- his racetracks and open-wheel teams, his flooded hometown, his future. And looming above them all are his results on the racetrack, frustrating roller-coaster finishes that could have Stewart on the outside looking in when the Sprint Cup tour returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September.

So keep the lucky charms coming.

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I still have two ARCA teams I'm talking to, a [Craftsman] Truck team, and now the 5 car is available today. ... There's nobody in this garage area that's not going to look in that direction. You've got to look at that.
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TONY STEWART"We just haven't had any luck all year," Stewart, 11th in points and without a victory this year, said Friday at the 1-mile oval. "It seems like the races where we do get ourselves in good position toward the end, we get out of that position. I think it's that way in everything and every aspect of life. You have to have some luck on your side, too. There's somebody you know in your life that just has absolutely rotten luck, and no matter what they do, they can't get a break. It seems like in this sport, it always comes around. For every bit of success you have, you're going to have a low moment, also. You just have to weather the storm and wait until it gets back on a high note again."

If only on-track performance was the only thing Stewart had to worry about these days. Almost as pressing is a looming decision about his future, and which team he will be competing for next season. Although Stewart has one year remaining on his contract with Gibbs -- and team officials have shown no inclination of letting him out of the deal early -- reports persist that the he's on the brink of joining Hendrick Motorsports-supplied Haas CNC Racing as driver and part-owner, and perhaps taking fellow Indianian and reigning Daytona 500 champ Ryan Newman with him.

True? "Oh, no no no," Stewart said. "I still have two ARCA teams I'm talking to, a [Craftsman] Truck team, and now the 5 car is available today. I still have a lot of work to do."

The No. 5 car became open Friday when Hendrick Motorsports announced it was parting ways with Casey Mears at the end of this season (read more). Would Stewart consider exploring that option? "Absolutely," he said. "You've got to. There's nobody in this garage area that's not going to look in that direction. You've got to look at that."

But before the Hendrick haters faint at the idea of a driver stable including Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- with eight titles between them -- understand that Stewart may well be using the Hendrick opening as leverage with Gibbs, because all of these possibilities disappear if Gibbs holds him to that final year. The odds of him staying?

"I don't know," he said. "There are a lot of variables to look at still. We've got all the information except for what's happened [Friday]. The good news is, we have time to look, still. We're going to have to make a decision at some point."

Newman is playing coy, as well. But he clearly appears to be exploring options beyond Penske, the only NASCAR home he's ever known. Does that include an alliance with Stewart? "I keep that part of it private, but I will do the best that I can with what I have to work with," he said. "And that means whether it's at Penske Racing or whatever. I look forward to any options, but I will take the best option available, whether it's staying or leaving."

It's been a busy season for Stewart, on and off the track. There's the unknown of his contract situation. There was the stress of putting on this year's Prelude to the Dream, a massive charity event filled with Sprint Cup drivers at Stewart's own Eldora Speedway, on a day when rain cast the event in doubt. And there's the flooding in his hometown of Columbus, Ind., caused when the swollen White River put much of the city underwater. Stewart has played a prominent role in relief efforts.

"The water's receded, but there's still a lot of damage," he said. "It's not something that in the next six months it's going to all be fixed. This is something people are going to be affected by for a long time. But at least the water side of it has gone down and given everybody a break. It looks like there are a lot of parts of the country that are still dealing with what we had. But you still every day can go by somewhere and see somebody who's been affected by it."

Of course, all these burdens are nothing new to Stewart. "I've always got a lot of stuff," he said. "I still have four open-wheel teams and three racetracks that I'm part of. There's always something that needs your attention and something that needs to be done. But that's the one thing I've learned from [team owner] Joe Gibbs -- put the right people around you, and have good people in the right places. It helps take that weight off your shoulders so you can do your job."

Now, if only his racecar would come around. Of course, some of Stewart's best seasons -- like the 2005 championship campaign, fueled by a stretch between mid-June and mid-September where he never finished worse than eighth -- have been defined by successful stretches in the summertime. If he only knew why.

"The wisecrack comment would be, if I knew what it was, we'd have done something nine years ago," he said. "I don't know. I really don't. The only thing we can think of is, when the tracks get hotter and slipperier, that's when we do a little bit better. I don't know if it's just the set of tracks we come around at this time or what, but for nine straight years we've been this way. I don't want to break the string of 10 years in a row. Hopefully, we'll get on that run soon."

In the meantime, he'll load up on more good-luck charms. And field more questions about his uncertain future.

"After [Friday's] announcement [about the No. 5 car], it may be pushed back even more now," he said. "We'll wait and see. However long it takes to make the right decision. ... When we know when it's going to be, we'll let people know. Every week somebody asks, and it's like kids in the back of the car going, 'Are we there yet?' No, we're not there yet. We will let you know when we are there."