For the briefest of moments, Tony Stewart is back in NASCAR, and it sounded like he never left.
The three-time Cup Series champion is returning to the Craftsman Truck Series in a one-off appearance at Daytona International Speedway to commemorate the return of RAM and he was in rare form indeed.
‘Smoke’ ribbed the media and scoffed at NASCAR officials who earned his scorn since his departure from the industry but also showed the softer side that has emerged in recent years as a husband and father. All told, it was the best of Tony Stewart in an environment that he had sworn off to anyone that asked him since November 2024.
For example, Stewart said on Thursday that it doesn’t matter how well the Truck Series race goes on Friday, but he isn’t ever going to run the Daytona 500 again, even though it’s a race he never won.
“Thanks for the reminder, Matt,” said Stewart, to a question asked by Motorsport.com. “Because I never was going to remember that I hadn’t won the Daytona 500.”
But, again, he’s back so maybe at 54-years-old, there could still be more opportunities?
“We can lead every lap tomorrow night and I will not be back here for the Daytona 500,” Stewart said. “I’m pretty good after all these years of saying never. You will not see me here for the Daytona 500.”
Okay, sure, but this is also the same Tony Stewart that said after the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing that he wouldn’t be back at a NASCA R event for a long time either. He left the discipline very frustrated over what direction the industry’s leadership had taken.
Yet, here he is.
“So yeah, I got to quit listening to myself sometimes,” Stewart said with a laugh.
Stewart is the second winningest NASCAR driver all-time at Daytona behind Dale Earnhardt Sr. and had a reputation of being very agitated when someone threw what he deemed a bad block. So now, Stewart has entered a race that has no shortage of bad blocks.
So is Stewart willing to impact some wisdom on Friday night if need be? His answer to that was Stewart in rare form, too.
“I’m more than happy to give lessons tomorrow night when if they’re needed,” Stewart said. “I’m not encouraging it but honestly, when I was in the Busch Series back in the day, that’s how I learned my lessons. If I made the mistake, I paid the price for it.”
The implication is that Stewart wouldn’t lift for a bad block.
“So normally, when you’re sitting there in the infield, and you’re unbuckling, you got a little bit of extra time to sit there and think about how you got there.”
Stewart said asking that question, and getting this answer, is how Motorsport.com makes its money. But preparing for the race, in whatever form it takes, is how Stewart makes his money.
“It’s the one that makes you money and puts money in your pocket,” Stewart said. “It’s the thing I don’t give two shits about over here. All I care about is doing what I can to get in that truck to get myself in the best position to win the race.
“The goal is not to go out there and try to pick fights all night if that’s what you’re getting at. It’s literally to go out there and know that there are guys that don’t have the experience that we have that are going to go out there and make mistakes.
“If and when those situations happen, I don’t want to be collateral damage in them.”
During the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust trial, it was revealed that NASCAR leadership wanted the Superstar Racing Experience league shutdown. SRX went out of business after the 2023 season.
Then NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps said he wanted a ‘knife put into that trash series’ while president Steve O’Donnell wanted the legal department to look into SRX for ‘looking like NASCAR.’ Phelps left NASCAR after the trial.
Has Stewart seen O’Donnell in the garage this week?
“No, I have not had that pleasure yet,” Stewart said. “Not at all.”
Does he want to talk to O’Donnell?
“I’m going to do my deal,” Stewart said. “If I run into Steve O O’Donnell, he’ll have to deal with that part but I’m going to go do me and I don’t really care what he does this week.”
To prepare for this race, which is in a RAM fielded by Kaulig Racing, Stewart has spent the past month on iRacing. He had his spotter, TJ Bell, spot for him in those races. He will also watch Bell spot for AJ Allmendinger in the Duel at Daytona on Thursday night.
And as much as things have changed, this is still pack racing at Daytona, and Stewart used to be one of the absolute best to ever do it.
“But there’s one thing when you come to Daytona and Talladega that hasn’t changed and that’s the air the air is the same,” Stewart said. “No matter how much technology has changed, the air hasn’t changed.
“So, it’s literally learning the truck, it’s learning how it sucks up or doesn’t suck up. It’s what happens when you pull out of the draft. How much does it fall on its face and what happens when somebody tucks down on the door?”
Ultimately, these are things he says he hasn’t forgotten and should come back pretty quickly.
“It’s still Daytona and it’s still learning the draft and all that,” Stewart said. “Even though I haven’t raced with these guys, and I haven’t ran a truck here, we know what this air does here and it’s just matter of learning how the truck reacts to that.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
