Tony Stewart
- Height: 5-9
- Weight: 170
- Born: May 20, 1971, Rushville, IN
News and Notes
May 14
This week: Stewart has never won this race even though he's been involved in it every year since his rookie season in 1999. That year he started 21st and finished a career-high second. He started 17th and finished fifth last year. He has four top-five finishes and five top-10s in nine appearances.
Last week: Stewart was 21st at Darlington.
Etc.: Stewart, the 1997 Indy Racing League champion, dropped by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week and all but closed the book on running in the Indy 500 in the future. "There's part of me that thinks running at Indy and in IndyCar is a chapter of my life that is closed, and then there is the emotional part of me that says, 'Never say never,'" Stewart said. "I don't know if I will ever get in an Indy car again, but if that happens, it's obviously going to be a long way down the road because I have a lot of commitments on the NASCAR side. If I was going to come to Indianapolis again, I don't want to come and show up and run the month of May. If I am going to do it, I need to start at Homestead, and I need to run all the races leading up to the month of May to really feel like I am being fair to the team and being fair to myself, and have enough time in the car to where when we show up in the month of May, we are ready to go." ... Stewart noted that when he is comfortable with the car and the people he is working with and can get up to speed, he can be a real threat to win the race. But he can't do that if he is doing a one-race effort while driving in NASCAR. "As long as I am driving a stock car, that basically takes that part of it out of the equation," Stewart said. "I'm not going to be one of these guys who just shows up and runs the Indy 500. I've run the Indy 500; I want to win the Indy 500. I honestly don't believe that you can just come in on a one-off race and do that. It's virtually impossible. You can't come in and expect to be as good as the guys doing it every week." ... While Stewart all but closed the door on a return to the Indy 500, he is excited to see the recent unification of IndyCar racing, which has brought 39 cars to the Speedway this year to battle for the 33-car starting lineup. "I'm really excited to see everybody back," Stewart said. "... I think you're going to see one of the most competitive fields ever at Indy this year."
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