Tony Stewart News

Tony Stewart, three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and three-time World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series A-Feature winner, has teamed up with Kick-It, a partner of the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, to host the second annual Kick-It kickball game at the Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals, sprint car racing’s most prestigious event. The 2013 event will feature four teams – two teams consisting solely of the world’s greatest sprint car drivers, a third team of their wives and girlfriends, and the fourth team featuring fans that donate to the cause.  

The fourth team of fans will be chosen by a first-ever go-karting race against Stewart at Slideways Karting Center. The first 50 donors to contribute $200 or more will be entered in the five heat race, and 20-lap featureevent against Stewart on Wednesday of Knoxville Nationals week. The top-two finishers in each heat race will qualify for the feature event and comprise the fourth team in Friday’s kickball event. 

With 10 laps remaining in the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Tony Stewart was in third place and lined up for his best finish of the young 2013 Sprint Cup season.

But when the green flag waved on the lap 190 restart, second-place Joey Logano dropped low to the inside of the track, forcing Stewart to wheel his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS to the frontstretch apron. The unorthodox line Stewart had to travel significantly thwarted his momentum into turns one and two, allowing a freight train of cars to pass him in the closing laps. When the checkered flag dropped, Stewart finished a disappointing 22nd.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, led the three-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials Friday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., by qualifying eighth for the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday. Stewart turned a lap of 38.738 seconds at 185.864 mph around the 2-mile oval. 

“We improved by about half a second from practice to qualifying,” said Stewart, who is a two-time winner at Fontana, including last year’s Auto Club 400. “The biggest thing we have to work on is the balance of our racecar. We’ve fought the same thing since we unloaded and if we can fix that then we could be in really good shape Sunday.”

KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (March 20, 2013) – Multiple-meaning words – terms that can have different meanings depending on how they are used in a sentence – can be tricky for students of the English language. “Light,” “crash,” and “oil” are just a few that appear on a very long list of words that can be used as verbs, nouns and even adjectives depending upon the context and conjugation. 

Take the word “rush”. While it is typically used in reference to the notions of haste or urgency, rush can be used as a verb, adjective or noun. The word commonly appears in the English language when referencing heavy traffic patterns such as the morning or evening rush hours. As a verb, it appears when explaining that someone has to hurry to an intended designation. The ways in which the word is used as a noun are numerous, from its appearance in historical anecdotes about the California Gold Rush to the “rush” that is achieved through a surge of adrenaline.

It was St. Patrick’s Day, but there was no luck to be found by Tony Stewart in the Food City 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, as he finished 31st.

Just nine laps into the 500-lap race around the .533-mile oval, the left-rear tire on Stewart’s No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) deflated. Stewart spun and impacted the SAFER Barrier on the outside of turn one with the left side of his racecar. Stewart was OK, but his racecar was not.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, led the three-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials Friday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway by qualifying eighth for Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Stewart turned a lap of 14.990 seconds at 128.005 mph on the .533-mile oval.

“It just shows how good these cars are,” said Stewart, who won at Bristol in August 2001. “To come out with a new car and have them drive this nice, that’s a pretty good deal. Our Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy is good, and with two more practice sessions tomorrow, we can make it better for Sunday.”

KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (March 13, 2013) – Tony Stewart and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway go way back. It’s an association that touches three decades from Stewart’s rookie season in 1999 through the 2000s to the current 2010s. And like most relationships, things were pretty good in the beginning. Actually, things were great. 

After earning a respectable 15th-place finish in his very first Sprint Cup race at Bristol in April 1999, Stewart returned to the .533-mile oval in August for its notorious night race where he sat on the pole and led a race-high 225 laps en route to scoring a fifth-place finish. Two years later Stewart raced to his very first win in Thunder Valley, capturing the 2001 night race. Other than a 42nd-place finish that was the result of an overheating issue during the spring race of 2000, Stewart and Bristol had a pretty good run during those early years. 

Tony Stewart used the last 100 laps of the Kobalt Tools 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to rally to an 11th-place finish.

It was Stewart’s 11th top-12 result in 15 career Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas, and it gained Stewart valuable spots in the championship point standings. He stands 18th after a crash in the season-opening Daytona 500 three races ago left him 37th in points.

Rain canceled today’s qualifying session for the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. As a result, the 43-car field for Sunday’s 267-lap race around the 1.5-mile oval was set per the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rule book, 

Because teams did not practice Friday, the lineup has been determined primarily by 2012 owners’ points. With the race being the third of the 2013 season, the top-36 teams from 2012 owner points will start in positions 1-36. With no past champions and no 2012 or 2013 race winners among those not already in the field, the next spots went to teams in the top-36 in 2013 owner points. 

KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (March 6, 2013) – Elvis. Singer, dancer, actor and the undisputed king of rock-and-roll. A pop-culture icon transcending time and place, and one of only a handful of historic figures recognized by a single name. Although Elvis has been gone for more than three decades, his legacy casts a long shadow, and it remains visible today. And while Memphis, Tenn., was his home, Las Vegas was recognized as his home away from home. To say that Elvis has not left the building in Las Vegas may be an understatement. There is likely no place on Earth where his presence not only lives on, but thrives.

For nearly 20 years, Elvis and the city of Las Vegas enjoyed a relationship full of mutual admiration. From the first time he performed in the city in 1956 to his wedding to Priscilla in 1967 to a series of shows throughout the 1970s, Elvis seemingly owned the Entertainment Capital of the World. The city even served as the setting for what many critics considered one of his best films with the 1964 hit “Viva Las Vegas.” It’s a period of time affectionately referred to as “The Vegas Years.” 

The best way to get over a bad race is to go out and have a good one. Tony Stewart did just that with his eighth-place finish in the Subway Fresh Fit 500k on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. 

Putting aside last week’s heartbreaking finish in the Daytona 500, the driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) performed solidly at Phoenix while earning his 12th top-10 in 23 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1-mile oval. And he also learned a few things on which the team hopes to capitalize as the season progresses.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS, led the three-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials Friday at Phoenix International Raceway by qualifying sixth for Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. 

Stewart turned a lap of 26.250 seconds at 137.143 mph around the 1-mile oval. 

“It wasn’t bad,” said Stewart, who won at Phoenix in November 1999. “We had a pretty reasonable run there with the Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy. I thought we were a little bit tight, but the track seems pretty fast right now. So, we felt pretty good about our lap.”