JOLIET, Ill. -- As far as anniversaries go, it's a modest one.

But you can't get to 10 -- or even two -- before you get the first one out of the way. And soon after that people quit counting until you're old and the anniversary becomes an afterthought at best, a forgotten memory at worst.

No, we're not talking marriage here. Not the usual kind anyway.

“

A year ago, I was about half scared to death. Obviously I had made a decision that was definitely a life-changing and a different career-path decision for sure.

”

TONY STEWART

We're talking the one-year anniversary of the official birth of Stewart-Haas Racing, which was announced at Chicagoland Speedway last July. It was then that Tony Stewart made it official: he was leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, and his career merely as a driver in the Sprint Cup Series, to become owner/driver at the newly formed Stewart-Haas organization.

No one really knew what to expect. But one year into his new deal, Stewart's racing operation is sporting the look of one that will have a long and very successful run in the sport.

"A year ago, I was about half scared to death," Stewart admitted as he prepared for Sunday's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland. "Obviously I had made a decision that was definitely a life-changing and a different career-path decision for sure."

Stewart said he wasn't certain at the time what it would all mean. He added that he has been pleasantly surprised.

"It was hard to anticipate what exactly the reality of the changes were going to be and what the rules were going to be," Stewart said. "We thought we had an idea of what it was going to be like and it hasn't disappointed us, but it's been smoother than I thought it was going to be.

"At that time a year ago, we didn't have a competition director, we hadn't hired a crew chief. We had a lot of variables that were unknown at that point. Once we got these key people in place, it made my job a lot easier and it's been a lot smoother than I thought it would be at this point."

It has been so smooth that it has been nothing short of remarkable. Stewart hired Bobby Hutchens as competition director and Darian Grubb to be the crew chief of his No. 14 Chevrolet, and eventually hired Ryan Newman to drive the other Stewart-Haas car, the No. 39, with Tony Gibson as Newman's crew chief. (Continued)