To Indianapolis purists such as Stewart, who cut his teeth racing in what is now IndyCar, it felt wrong to see stock cars racing around the speedway made famous by the Indianapolis 500.
Two decades and a pair of NASCAR Brickyard 400 wins later, the Columbus, Ind., native has since changed his mind.
The change came after watching stock cars race at Indianapolis and seeing the fan support. Despite his initial gripes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway still remains a hallowed place to Stewart.
“I do look at it as the same,” Stewart said Monday in a NASCAR conference call. “That is sacred ground to me. It always will be, always will be. I don’t care how many times you win there, it’s never enough.”
A win would come at a much needed time for Stewart, who sits 19th in the points standings entering Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at the Brickyard. The winless Stewart needs to revisit victory lane at some point during the next seven races to secure a spot in NASCAR’s championship playoff.
The three-time NASCAR champion is riding a bit of momentum from the past weekend. While the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series took its final break of the year, Stewart won a sprint car race July 18 at Tri-City Motor Speedway in Auburn, Mich.
The win was Stewart’s first since he crashed in August in a 30-lap feature event at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. While leading, Stewart flipped his 360-winged sprint car with five laps remaining. He missed the final 15 Sprint Cup races in the 2013 season — costing him a potential championship run — after breaking his right leg in two places.
After the win, the outspoken Stewart was quick to share the news of his win on Twitter, reiterating his commitment to continuing his grassroots dirt-car racing. He followed it up with a third place finish the next night.
“It was a confidence boost for me,” he said. “When you haven’t won and haven’t been necessarily a contender, you start questioning, ‘What is it in the equation that you’re missing? Is it something that you’re doing or not doing as a driver?’ To be able to win and have two good runs like that in a car that I haven’t been in for almost a full year now, that was a huge confidence boost.”
Stewart has reason to be confident in his equipment this weekend after finishing fourth in 2013. He is co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing which has picked up three wins already this season thanks to Kevin Harvick (two wins) and Kurt Busch.
Stewart’s also been busy at his personal playground at the dirt track he owns. The Camping World Truck Series’ Mudsummer Classic Wednesday was at his Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, for the second consecutive season.
Stewart was part of a limited Goodyear tire test in June.
Lap times from the session weren’t released, but Stewart’s race team was believed to have been the fastest during the sessions despite Stewart’s day ending early when a tire blew in Turn 1, leading to a hard crash.
Heading into his favorite track in his home state after having a fast car in testing, Stewart is confident in his chances of adding another Brickyard 400 trophy and returning to victory lane.
“We had a really good car before we blew the tire and crashed it,” Stewart said. “So hopefully this new car that we’re bringing that replaced the one we crashed will be as good as the last one.”
