Tony Stewart hopes to make some noise for the title after winning last Thursday night at Eldora. (Photo: Jeremy Bryner | The Podium Finish)
WHEATLAND, Mo. – Tony Stewart is no stranger when it comes to making a late season rally for a championship.
In 2005, Jimmie Johnson seemed like a surefire pick to win the NASCAR Cup Series after winning at Dover International Speedway. However, smooth, consistent finishes by Stewart in the final eight races of the year proved indelible over Johnson’s Helter Skelter results as “Smoke” won his second career title.
Most recently, Stewart parlayed consistency by going on a hot streak late in 2011. After placing 15th at Kansas, the fourth race of the 10-race Playoffs, Stewart ranked seventh, 19 points behind leader Carl Edwards. From there, the Columbus, Indiana native wasted little time reasserting himself into the picture with finishes of eighth or better in the final six races of the year, including three victories in the season’s final four races.
All of that hard work and the well-timed wins gave the edge to Stewart over Carl Edwards to break the tie for Cup glory. By all means, the 52-year-old racer knows what it takes to pull it all the stops when it matters.
Then again, in 2023, while Stewart has shown no signs of slowing down as a competitive racer, it is a bit of a different picture this time around. Mainly, Stewart, one of seven full-time Camping World SRX Series racers, puts his hopes for a shot at the title at a track he has yet to race at in his career – Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri.
If there is any comfort, points leader Ryan Newman has not raced at the 3/8 mile dirt track as well. Stewart pointed out this fact ahead of Thursday night’s season finale.
Stewart was flawless last Thursday night in Race No. 5 of the SRX season. (Photo: Jeremy Bryner | The Podium Finish)
“I can tell you from my side, I know the same amount of information as you do,” Stewart said. “You know, neither one of us has been to Lucas Oil. I’ve seen it on TV, obviously, and it’s a beautiful facility. I’m excited to be there but you don’t know what you don’t know.
“And I think that’s kind of the best part about the scenario of Ryan and I racing for a championship is that we have never been there before, never competed there before and now we’re going to go settle a championship at a race track that we’re going into blind. I think that’s going to make it kind of fun.”
The fact that Stewart has even the slightest shot at the championship is all thanks to his victory last Thursday night at Eldora Speedway. Like Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees, Stewart had a perfect game at Eldora by sweeping the heats and winning the main event.
Although Stewart put the perfect race evening effort at his familiar stomping grounds just north of Rossburg, Ohio, Newman, his championship rival, had a good evening as well by placing third.
At this juncture, it may take another perfect evening to muster one last, genuine challenge against his friend and former Stewart-Haas Racing racer.
Despite the perfect game performance by Stewart, he knows he’ll have 11 other hungry drivers, including Newman, who’ll stand in his way. (Photo: Jeremy Bryner | The Podium Finish)
“Ryan definitely has the upper hand here, but we’re going to do everything in our power to try to do whatever we can to catch him by the end of this thing,” he said. “You know, we’ve seen in racing throughout the years that all it takes is one moment, one corner and it completely changes the complexity of it.”
Over the years, Stewart and Newman have battled for wins and championships from USAC to the premier division of stock car racing. From 2009 to 2013, Newman and Stewart were teammates who duked it out for victories and titles in Cup.
Suffice to say, Stewart respects Newman and tipped his cap to his familiar foe in terms of slugging it out for SRX supremacy.
“We’ve been teammates for a long time and we’ve been friends for years,” he said. “This is what you would consider an ideal situation, I think for both of us, to be racing each other for a championship.”
Heading into the season finale at Lucas Oil Speedway, Stewart is 39 points behind Newman. An 11th at the season opener in the first Stafford Motor Speedway race put Stewart behind the 8-ball before finishes of seventh at the second Stafford race, third at Pulaski County Motorsports Park and a seventh at Berlin preceded last Thursday’s electrifying Eldora win.
No matter if it is 2011 or 2023, Stewart knows he can give it his all at Lucas Oil Speedway. (Photo: Jeremy Bryner | The Podium Finish)
In the meantime, Newman has been the epitome of incredible consistency with finishes of second at the first Stafford race, a win in the second Stafford race, fifth at Pulaski and third place results at Berlin and Eldora.
Similar to Jeff Gordon’s position in the 1996 championship chase against Terry Labonte, it will take a virtually perfect performance and circumstances to close the gap. When it is all said and done, like Stewart has proven throughout his racing career, he will give it his all even if he issued a cheeky warning against Newman.
“He’s got a pretty good point lead but anything can happen,” Stewart said. “If all of a sudden he gets spun around on the pace lap, you’ll probably know it was me because that may be the best shot I’ve got at catching him before they drop the green.
“But, I think it’s fun for us to have this opportunity. You want it to be about who does the best job over six weeks.”
