"I'll get to 99 percent of what I want to do and he's the sounding board to give me the confidence that we are doing the right thing.
"He's a knowledge bank you can't buy and he's been there literally since before I was born. All things aside, the partnership with Jimmy has been the biggest and most important thing that's helped us build what we've got."
Matt Stone was a mechanic at SBR before setting up his own outfit in 2011 as a single-car Super2 team running the loaned SBR 2005 title-winning Ford. Heading into the 2018 Supercars championship MSR is now in possession of the ex DJR Team Penske car last raced by Scott Pye in 2016.
"It's certainly not one level up, it's more like four. It's a big step up and we haven't underestimated it and realize because we were winning [Super2] that we would here [Supercars]. It's a process and we have to put in the work.
"The professionalism is the same as Super2, but here you get more track time and tyres and you're here in the pit lane garage so you get more time to work on things.
"The cars are pretty much the same but in Super2 the rules are a bit different to keep things more cost efficient," said Stone.
Sticking with the the long held Stone tradition of finding talent and nurturing it, Stone has bought Todd Hazelwood with him to the big boy's club. Hazelwood is no Johnny come lately and has pedigree having won the Super2 category last year. So, it's the first time in the main game for both of them and it will be a step learning curve, but one which will not phase them.
"The biggest thing with Todd is that he's been part of the team since day one. He came in as a young driver who made the commitment to race with us.
"At the end of each year we've all sat down and worked out we can do better for the follow year. The relationship has evolved and we've grown it to where we are now," said Stone.
Running a Supercars team is hard enough on its own. Stone on the other hand appears to like a challenge and is still knee deep in the Super2 category, the Touring Car Masters and V8 Touring Cars.
"You have to have the right people around you and certainly I feel we have that. We've built a really good team over the years and in the expansion we have got people we have worked with in the past and they are all very experienced.
"Everyone is very good at their role and the dynamic is really good. I have an understanding of all the roles and what is going on in each department, but I can't be doing every role in the team.
"I'm more than happy to delegate to the people who have the deepest knowledge in each specific area. I trust their decision making as they are the experts," said Stone.
The goals for 2018 are pretty simple and uncomplicated. Stone wants get through each race and then do a little better at the next race and so on moving up through in the field. They know winning the championship is not on the table, but consistent improvement is.
