TALLADEGA, ALA. - Joe Gibbs Racing may be willing to open the vault to keep Tony Stewart, but an ownership stake probably won't be part of any offer.

"The reason my dad went back to coaching the first time was to pay for his last contract," J.D. Gibbs said Sunday, referring to Joe Gibbs' return to the NFL for a second stint. "If we have to send him back in, I have no problem with that."

Stewart is under contract with Gibbs through 2009, but he admitted Friday he has been approached with two offers from other teams that involve ownership. A few days earlier, SI.com reported he was close to a deal with Haas CNC Racing.

Joe and J.D. Gibbs addressed the issue before Sunday's Aaron's 499, reiterating that they don't plan to release Stewart from his contract early and hope he'll remain with the organization.

Joe Gibbs said that because he knows how important winning is to Stewart, there's plenty of incentive for him to stay.

"Every decision I've seen him make is to win races," Gibbs said. "Tony doesn't have to worry about money. Tony's got enough money to last the rest of his life. I think it's been 10 great years and we're hoping that somewhere in this we wind up staying together."

J.D. Gibbs said it's unlikely an ownership stake in JGR will be part of any contract offer from the team, but it's possible the team would help Stewart start his own team. He said Toyota has offered to back Stewart in his sprint car endeavors.

Asked if he was disappointed in the way Stewart has handled fielding offers from other teams, J.D. Gibbs said, "I think some stuff has gotten out that I would rather have not gotten out. But the way Tony has handled it over the past week in our conversations, he's been great."

ROUSH MISTAKE? Both Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards blew right-front tires and crashed out of Sunday's race, possibly because Roush Fenway Racing was too aggressive with stagger, or wheel angle.

Edwards finished 40th and Kenseth, who is having one of the most difficult stretches of his career, was 41st.

"We had a little bit of tire trouble in practice, and I guess we didn't fix it well enough," said Edwards, who has won three times this year.

Kenseth has finished 30th or worse in four of the past five races and has fallen to 19th in the points.

"It amazes me that you can blow a tire at Talladega, but I guess you can," Kenseth said. "We did everything according to Goodyear's specs. We just can't seem to get anything to go our way."

HARD KNOCKS: After running in the top five briefly Sunday, Zephyrhills' David Reutimann was caught up in a 12-car crash on the last lap but still wound up 20th.

Tampa's Aric Almirola ran as high as seventh early but hit the wall on Lap 51 of 188 when his right-front tire deflated. On his pit stop for repairs, he was penalized for speeding off pit road.

Almirola is not scheduled to drive Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s No. 8 Chevy again until June 22 at Sonoma, Calif.

Lakeland's Joe Nemechek, after starting on the pole, also was caught up in the last-lap crash. He finished 25th.

FRANCHITTI STATUS: Dario Franchitti made it to the track Sunday on crutches after breaking his left ankle in Saturday's Nationwide Series race. He'll fly to Indianapolis today to see noted motor sports orthopedic surgeon Terry Trammell, and his status for Saturday's Richmond race will be determined after that.

David Stremme subbed for Franchitti in the No. 40 Dodge on Sunday and was in contention for a top-five finish until getting caught up in a last-lap crash. His status for additional races is uncertain because he is under contract to Penske Racing as a test driver.

Tony Fabrizio