Tony Stewart’s meteoric rise to the top of NASCAR wasn’t done alone. From his Rookie of the Year title in 1999 to his 2002 Winston Cup championship and the 19 wins garnered in six short years, crew chief Greg Zipadelli has been the man providing Stewart with the proper tools for success.

For more than half a decade Stewart’s engines have been powerful, his cars have been reliable and his pit stops have been fast – all under Zipadelli’s watch. Proof is in The Home Depot Racing Team’s point finishes of fourth, sixth, second, first, seventh and sixth.

“When we started this team back in late ’98, we put a young group of people together and we all made a commitment to work together and take care of each other as best as we could as a company,” said Zipadelli, quick to defer credit to those who surround him. “Without them we couldn’t have gotten as far as we have in the past six years.

“Everyone takes a lot of pride in what we’ve been able to accomplish and how we’re structured. They ought to. They’re the hardest working group of guys in the garage. I’d be willing to put them up against anybody. I’ve been lucky that they’ve all hung together and I haven’t had any indication that any of them wanted to leave. To me, that’s good. They all plan on being here this year and in the years to come.”

Zipadelli’s mechanical skills are matched by his human resources abilities – a must for the modern day crew chief, who wears the hat of full-time mechanic, visionary and coach. What needs to be done to the race car, what needs to be done in time for the next race, and what needs to be done to keep the team happy, are all under the crew chief’s job description.

Thanks to many years of motorsports experience, Zipadelli knows race cars and team chemistry, allowing him to continue the juggling act that no crew chief can ignore.

“From the time I get up in the morning to the time I go home, I wear those hats,” said Zipadelli. “With today’s job, you wear those hats all the time – with the crew and the driver.”

As evidenced by the team’s six-year tenure, Zipadelli wears those hats well, which is why many are picking the #20 team of Joe Gibbs Racing to once again figure into the 2005 championship race.

“After our first season, we looked back on the year and pinpointed some areas where we needed to grow in order for us to become a threat to win races week-in and week-out,” said Zipadelli. “We won six races in our second year, so I think we did that. But at the same time, our consistency is what seemed to hurt us, and that’s why we finished sixth in points.

“But that also showed the strength of this race team, which is a very positive thing to have. If you looked back on that season and saw how many times we were one or two laps down and wound up finishing in the top-five, it would be impressive. Those are the things that made us a championship contender.

“We went into 2001 knowing we could win, but also knowing that we had to improve our consistency,” continued Zipadelli. “We finished second in points that year, so that showed me we were a better team than the year before.

“We still battled with consistency on the way to our championship, but so did everyone else. When it came time to capitalize and make the championship ours, we were able to do that. We proved more to ourselves than anybody else that we could do that. Can we come back and win another one? You bet. Winning one championship has made me more determined to win another one, and that’s true for this entire team. Everyone on this team knows how we got here, but we also know that we can be even better.”

Building championship race teams is nothing new to Zipadelli. The Berlin, Conn., native first began working on a NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour car owned by his father at the age of seven, and by age 14, he was preparing race cars for his family-owned Sherwood Racing Team.

By the time he was 20, Zipadelli was a championship-winning crew chief, leading Modified Tour driver Mike McLaughlin to the series championship on the heels of five wins and 15 top-five finishes. Two years later, McLaughlin was offered a ride in the NASCAR Busch North Series with prominent New England car owner Mike Greci. At the behest of the driver, Greci named Zipadelli as crew chief for the Busch North effort. The tandem recorded five wins between 1990 and 1993.

McLaughlin departed Greci’s operation at the end of the 1993 season, but Zipadelli stayed with the team and worked with a handful of drivers in 1994 and 1995. Zipadelli’s perseverance paid off in 1996 when driver Mike Stefanik joined the team with substantial sponsorship backing. While no wins were recorded that year, eight top-five and nine top-10 finishes made way for a championship season in 1997. Stefanik marched to the Busch North title that year riding a wave of consistency with two wins, 14 top-five finishes and 16 top-10 finishes, giving Zipadelli his second NASCAR touring series championship in less than a decade.

Upon receiving his second championship ring at the age of 29, Zipadelli headed south in 1998 to join Roush Racing’s Cup operation as the chassis specialist for the #99 team of driver Jeff Burton. With Zipadelli’s astute recommendations for chassis setups, Burton won two races, earned 18 top-five and 23 top-10 finishes and finished fifth in points.

Zipadelli’s ascension up the racing ladder wasn’t over. In fact, it had just begun.

When team owner Joe Gibbs began laying the groundwork for a second team with Stewart behind the wheel, he conferred with veteran Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Jimmy Makar as to who would be the best choice to lead the #20 Home Depot Racing Team. They looked no further than Zipadelli.

“We’ve got the biggest group of competitive people ever put together under one roof at Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Zipadelli. “We’re all focusing and aiming in the same direction all at the same time. That’s the key thing. It’s not myself. It’s not Tony. It’s everybody.”

Keeping that competitive fire in check is yet another job of the crew chief. In Zipadelli’s case, it’s a job that has made him a better crew chief.

“Tony has helped me mature as a person and as a leader by having to adjust to some of the situations we’ve encountered over the years,” said Zipadelli. “We’re both emotional people, and sometimes we wish that we didn’t have to be so emotional about things. But this sport is an emotional sport. When you put a lot of time and effort into something, and you wind up disappointed, sometimes it’s hard to control your emotions.

“On the positive side, I think that is what makes Tony such a passionate person for the sport because he has so much emotion. He’s a winner. He’s a racer. He has a lot of love and passion for this sport and its competitiveness. He’s not a good loser. But like the old saying goes, show me a good loser and you won’t find a good winner. That’s what makes him special. He’s brought a lot of fun moments and some tough moments to this race team. But that’s what this sport is about, and it’s made this race team better.”

Zipadelli makes his home in Mooresville, N.C., with his wife Nan and son Zachary.