Smoke’s Swan Song at The Brickyard (#nascar)

A third win at the Brickyard
would further solidify Stewart's Chase Spot**

Tony Stewart, from Columbus, Indiana, will take his final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ride around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at The Brickyard.

In his seventeen starts at Indy, Stewart boasts two wins, seven top-fives, eleven top-tens and 227 laps led. He also owns the second-best average finish (9.6) and third-highest average running position (11.6)

Stewart heads to the 2.5-mile track with plenty of momentum. He has three top-five finishes in his last four starts, including a runner-up showing last Sunday at New Hampshire and a win at Sonoma.

For his career, the No. 14 Chevrolet driver claims three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, 49 wins, 105 top-five, 305 top-tens, and 12,818 laps led.

A 50th win would tie Stewart with NASCAR Hall of Famers Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett for 11th on the all-time list. Every eligible driver with as many wins as Stewart is in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

“It’s a big deal to us to win here (at Indianapolis),” Stewart said. “This is an event that I definitely circle on the schedule and emotionally have a lot invested in it. To us, it’s definitely not just another stop that’s on the calendar and on the schedule. You don’t just pull in and say, ‘we’re going to go in, try to win the race and then pull out of here.’ When you’re here, you’re amped up because you’re at Indianapolis.”

 

Smoke qualified third for today's ‪#‎Brickyard400

NASCAR Release

Note: Because Tony missed the first eight races of the season after sustaining a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra in a last day of January all-terrain-vehicle accident, Stewart’s first race in 2016 didn’t occur until April 24 at Richmond International Raceway. 

NASCAR granted Stewart a medical waiver that made him eligible for the 2016 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs. After the Sonoma victory, Stewart now must race his way in by ending NASCAR’s 26-race regular season in the top-30 in driver points. 

Heading into this weekend, Smoke is 28th in points and leads 31st-place Brian Scott by 67 points.