It is rare in motorsports that you see a driver be able to transcend the boundaries of one style of racing and cross over to another. Drivers of old like A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Nigel Mansell are revered for their abilities to complete such feats. Yet, in modern times, so few are able to make that kind of jump. Tony Stewart is one of those few.
Stewart made the unconventional jump from the Indy Racing League, where he ran a meager eleven races per season, but had the distinct honor of being crowned champion, to NASCAR, where the season tripled in length. He also went from light, low downforce open wheel machines, to the heavy “metal caskets” of stock cars. And to no one’s surprise, he excelled.
Stewart is a three-time Cup champion, becoming the only driver to win under three different entitlement sponsorships, and only driver to win via a tiebreaker. However, after his most recent championship in 2011, it has been a famine for Stewart on the track, with only four wins since that year. Add onto that the off the track issues, and anyone can see why Stewart’s luck has not been on his side.
The bad luck outside the car began in fact in a car. In 2013, Tony Stewart broke his leg while driving a sprint car on a dirt track, ending his racing season on the spot. When Stewart would recover to return to NASCAR racing in 2014, tragedy would strike again over the summer. As he returned to dirt racing during the week when not racing in Cup, Stewart struck and killed fellow driver Kevin Ward Jr. Tony would sit out of racing while the crash was investigated, and while he was cleared of all wrongdoing, he was clearly changed by the crash.
Now, in 2015, the Tony Stewart race fans once knew seems to have disappeared. The man, who carried himself with such confidence and fire, has seen his flame extinguished. Languishing low in the points and without many strong performances to show for himself, could this be the time for Tony Stewart to retire?
This would certainly not be the way Stewart would want to go out. He would not want to leave NASCAR as a driver who was a three-time champion, then relegated to the twenties in the point standings. That story has played out all too often, as the Labonte brothers come to mind. Tony would want to go out as a celebrated hero, much like Jeff Gordon has been receiving in 2015. Could 2016 then be the year he pulls the trigger?
The timing certainly seems right for him to step aside and focus on his ventures as an owner of both Tony Stewart Racing in USAC and Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR. There are plenty of up and coming drivers too that could take his place and compete at the Cup level, including Ty Dillon, Erik Jones, and Brian Scott. But would the arguably fiercest competitor of NASCAR’s modern era want to hang up his helmet? Most definitely not.
Tony Stewart will always be remembered as a champion in every type of racecar he drove, but now the question will become, when will one of racing’s greatest men hang it up?
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