NASCAR report: Anyone seen Tony Stewart?

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart is in a slump.

He has dropped to 15th, 53 points behind the 12th and final spot for the Chase, since his race at Bristol on March 21, where he finished second and was fifth in the points standings. His post-Bristol finishes have been 26th, 23rd, 32nd, 16th and 23rd.

His Stewart-Haas teammate, Ryan Newman, is 16th in the standings, 71 points out of 12th, but his results have been better. Since Bristol, he has a fourth at Martinsville, a victory at Phoenix, an 11th at Texas, a crash and a 35th-place finish at Talladega and an eighth at Richmond.

Newman's crew chief, Tony Gibson, said in this week's team release that it's not too early in the season to begin thinking about points.

“We look at points every week. We have to,” Gibson said. “You can’t wait until the last three races to try to get into the Chase. We try to lead laps or at least lead one lap to get our five bonus points. We just try to get as many points as we can each race. It’s about 26 races, not 36. We’re coming up on race 11 this weekend at Darlington, so we know we have to dig to get into the top 12.”

Extensions for Knaus, Gustafson

Hendrick Motorsports announced contract extensions for crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson.

Knaus, the only regular crew chief that Jimmie Johnson has had since coming to the Cup Series, said he feels at home at Hendrick and has no desire to move.

“This No. 48 team and the No. 24 team are very important to me and I'm glad to be a part of that and I want to stay here for a long time to come," he said.

Johnson said he’s relieved the extension is official.

“Between Chad and I, we made a promise a long time ago that if I'm driving, I'm driving his race car,” Johnson said. “So I feel pretty confident that he'll always be here."

Gustafson, the long-time crew chief on the No. 5 driven by Mark Martin, was asked at Richmond where he might wind up with Kasey Kahne joining the Hendrick team next season. Gustafson said he would work where Hendrick wanted him to work.

“Mr. Hendrick has always been above and beyond, so I am not concerned about it,” he said.

Under the lights at Darlington

The Cup drivers will make their second consecutive night appearance this weekend with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Saturday.

The "Track Too Tough To Tame" isn't quite as tough after getting a smooth coat of asphalt, or at least that's the way Jeff Gordon sees it. Gordon has seven Darlington victories, tops among active drivers.

“Now it’s smoother and has more grip, but it’s still pretty treacherous because you do run right up next to the wall,” he said. “It can still bite you, but not quite as much as it used to. It's faster now and that is a factor.”