Tony Stewart

Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = Anthony Wayne Stewart


Birthdate = birth date and age|1971|5|20
Birthplace = Columbus, Indiana
Siblings = One brother Kyle Michael Keener
Height = 5'4
Weight = 215 lbs.
Cup_Car_Team = 20 - Joe Gibbs Racing
Future_Cup_Car_Team = Stewart Haas Racing
Previous_Year = 2007
Prev_Cup_Pos = 6th
Best_Cup_Pos = 1st - 2002, 2005
Cup_Wins = 34
Cup_Top_Tens = 204| Cup_Poles = 10
First_Cup_Race = 1999 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
First_Cup_Win = 1999 Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 (Richmond)
Last_Cup_Win = 2008 AMP Energy 500 (Talladega)
Busch_Car_Team = 20 - Joe Gibbs Racing
First_Busch_Race = 1996 Goody's Headache Powder 300 (Daytona)
First_Busch_Win = 2005 Hershey's Take 5 300 (Daytona)
Last_Busch_Win = 2008 Camping World RV Sales 200 (New Hampshire)
Busch_Wins = 7
Busch_Top_Tens = 35
Busch_Poles = 6
First_Truck_Race = 1996 Cummins 200 (IRP)
First_Truck_Win = 2002 Virginia Is For Lovers 200 (Richmond)
Last_Truck_Win = 2003 Virginia Is For Lovers 200 (Richmond)
Last_Truck_Race = 2005 MBNA RacePoints 200 (Dover)
Truck_Wins = 2
Truck_Top_Tens = 5
Achievements = 1995 USAC Triple Crown Champion

1997 IRL Champion

2002 / 2005 Sprint Cup Series Champion

2005 / 2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Winner

2006 IROC XXX Champion
Awards = 1991 USAC Rookie of the Year

1996 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year

1996 IRL Rookie of the Year

1999 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year

Inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
Updated_On = September 7, 2008

Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971 in Columbus, Indiana) is an American race car driver/car owner/entrepreneur, in NASCAR's Sprint Cup. During his career he has won championships in the Winston Cup, Nextel Cup and IndyCar Series. He has also won championships in USAC and the IROC series.

He currently drives the #20 Home Depot Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, under crew chief Greg Zipadelli.

Open wheel career

Stewart grew up racing go karts and was successful very early, winning a World Karting Assoc. championship in 1987. He raced three-quarter midgets with the [UMRA] until 1991, when he moved up to the United States Auto Club (USAC) series with help from one of his karting sponsors and friend Mark Dismore. Stewart was the USAC Rookie of the Year in 1991, fifth in 1993 after winning the Hut Hundred, [http://worthyofhonor.com/Inductees/Tony_Stewart.htm Biography] at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame] and was the National Midget series champion in 1994.

In 1995, Stewart became the hottest driver to win USAC's version of the Triple Crown, earning championships in all three of USAC's major divisions, National Midget, Sprint, and Silver Crown. The highlights of the year were winning the Hut Hundred and 4-Crown Nationals.

When he wasn't racing IndyCars, he raced stock cars. In 1996, Tony made his NASCAR Busch Series debut, driving for car owner Harry Rainer. In nine races, however, he had only a best finish of 16th place. He had more success in a one-time ride in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he finished 10th.

Tony was poised to improve his Indy Racing League (IRL) standing in 1997, but struggled with finishing at times. He failed to finish the first three races of a ten race schedule, but recovered to finish second at Phoenix. At that year's Indy 500, Stewart had a good enough car to win his first IRL race, leading 64 laps. However, he trailed off near the end of the race and settled for 5th. Tony finally got his first career win at Pikes Peak, where he led all but seven laps of a 200 lap race. He became the leading contender for the series' championship after a bad slump knocked points leader Davey Hamilton out of first place. Despite an average end to his season, finishing 7th, 14th, ffand 11th, and five DNFs, Stewart did just enough to beat Hamilton for the IRL title. He also raced in a few midget events, finishing thirteenth and eleventh in the 1997 and 1998 USAC national points, and winning the Copper Classic both years. Between his time in USAC and the IRL, Stewart earned the nickname of Smoke, first for slipping the right rear tire during dirt races, and for blowing his engine often during his '97 championship run. Most NASCAR fans and analysts today refer to Stewart by his nickname.

As he had done the previous year, he raced a handful of Busch Series races. This time, he was racing for Joe Gibbs, NFL Hall of Fame head coach of the Washington Redskins who was having a lot of success with driver Bobby Labonte in Winston Cup. When Stewart was able to finish races, he finished in the top 10, and had a 3rd place finish at Charlotte. Stewart so impressed Gibbs that he was signed to drive the majority of the Busch schedule in 1998 to go along with a full-time IRL schedule.The double duty did not affect his performance in either series. In the IRL, he won twice and finished 3rd in the championship. His season was something of a disappointment, especially as he finished last in the Indy 500 because of an engine failure.

On the Busch side, he finished in the top-five five times in 22 starts. He came extremely close to winning his first Busch Series race at Rockingham, but was beaten on a last lap pass by Matt Kenseth. Stewart finished a solid 2nd place in 2 (of 31) starts, ahead of six drivers with more starts, and had an average finish that was comparable to some of the series' top 10 finishers. Gibbs had enough confidence in Tony that he was moved into Cup for the 1999 season. With that move, Stewart ended his three year career as a full time IRL driver.

Indy 500 results

Career NASCAR Statistics

Data as of September 7, 2008 [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/sprint/drivers/87/career Yahoo! Sports ] ]

Three Active Race Tracks Tony Stewart has never won a Cup race at:

California 0 for 15 with a best finish of 4th in 1999 & 2001

Las Vegas 0 for 10 with a best finish of 2nd in 2000

Darlington 0 for 16 with a best finish of 4th in 2001 & 2002

Stewart has won at 19 of 23 tracks he has raced on, didn't win at Rockingham which is no longer active for Cup racing.(8-31-2008)

Racecar owner

Stewart is the owner of various open-wheel short track racing cars, most of them being sponsored by Chevrolet since 2007, which has drawn the ire of some Toyota racing executives in NASCAR, especially since Toyota began extensive USAC midget and sprint sponsorship in 2007.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (2009)

In 2009 Tony will own half of Stewart Haas Racing, which fields the #66 and #70 cars now, parting ways with long-time crew chief Greg Zipadelli, sponsor The Home Depot, car number 20, and owner Joe Gibbs, all for ten years. He will drive the number 14 racecar. Ryan Newman is also joining him at Stewart Haas Racing.

World Of Outlaws

In 2003, Stewart entered the World of Outlaws, winning the World of Outlaws championship with Danny Lasoski driving his cars, but Lasoski was let go after the 2005 season during the major split in winged sprint car racing, after which he rejoined the Roth Brothers' Beef Packers car.

Paul McMahan drove the #20 for the 2006 National Sprint Tour and 2007 World of Outlaws Sprint Series seasons.

For 2008, Kraig Kinser will drive the #20 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet sprint car, joined by Donny Schatz, the two-time Super Clean Knoxville National champion in the #15 Armor All Chevrolet sprint car.

United States Auto Club

Stewart has won USAC car owner titles in the Silver Crown division in 2002 and 2003 with J. J. Yeley, and in 2004 with Dave Steele. He also collected owner titles in USAC's National Sprint Car Series with Yeley in 2003 and Jay Drake in 2004.

Stewart's USAC midget and sprint cars carry #20 and #21, while his Silver Crown car carries #22.

Other Entities

Stewart also owns a dirt late model Chevrolet Impala that carries #20 he races frequently, including the Sprint Prelude to the Dream contest at Eldora Speedway. During its debut in 2007, Carl Edwards won, however, a year later in 2008 Stewart won the race himself. The money won is given to Victory Junction Gang Camp.

He is also the owner of Custom Works, a company that manufactures radio controlled oval track cars, and has had a degree of success as a r/c racer himself.

Racetrack owner

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart purchased Eldora Speedway speedway located near Rossburg, Ohio in late 2004 from Earl Baltes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldora_Speedway] . Tony Stewart is currently a co-owner of Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY. He also co-owns Macon Speedway in Macon, IL along with Kenny Schrader, Kenny Wallace and Bob Sargent. [http://www.doublej.us/Macon/new_owners.htm Macon Speedway press release]

Tony Stewart Foundation

Founded in 2003 by Tony Stewart, the principal purposes of the Tony Stewart Foundation are to raise and donate funds to help care for chronically ill children, drivers injured in motorsports activities and to support other charitable organizations in the protection of various animal species. The Tony Stewart Foundation will raise and donate funds to charitable interests, specifically those that support the aforementioned groups. [http://tonystewartfoundation.org/the-tony-stewart-foundation-mission-statement.html]

TV & Radio

* Beginning in January 2007, Stewart now hosts a two hour weekly radio show, titled Tony Stewart Live, broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio. [http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/columns/story?seriesId=2&columnist=newton_david&id=2688753] Stewart co-hosts the show with Matt Yocum, and takes listener calls.
* In 2007 Stewart appeared in commercials for Subway with their spokesman, Jared Fogle.
*Appeared in the Music Video for 3 Doors Down - The Road I'm on - Along with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Video Games

* He appeared on the cover of NASCAR Thunder 2004 where he appears with a scowl to represent the new Grudges and Alliances feature. He also appears on the cover of NASCAR 08. A special edition of the game, available only at Wal-Mart stores was also available.
* Tony Stewart has won his two championships the season after being on the cover of EA's NASCAR video game. Appearing on NASCAR 2001, he won the 2002 Winston Cup Championship. Appearing on NASCAR Thunder 2004, he won the 2005 NEXTEL Cup Championship.

Races Won

Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup (33 career wins plus 2 championships)

*2008 (1 win) AMP Energy 500 (Talladega))
*2007 (3 wins) USG Sheetrock 400 (Joliet), Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (Indianapolis), Centurion Boats at the Glen (Watkins Glen)
*2006 (5 wins) DirecTV 500 (Martinsville), Pepsi 400 (Daytona), Banquet 400 (Kansas), Bass Pro Shops 500 (Atlanta), Dickies 500 (Texas)
*2005 (5 wins) Dodge/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma), Pepsi 400 (Daytona), New England 300 (Loudon), Allstate 400 at The Brickyard (Indianapolis), Sirius at The Glen (Watkins Glen), Nextel Cup Championship
*2004 (2 wins) Tropicana 400 (Chicago), Sirius at The Glen (Watkins Glen)
*2003 (2 wins) Pocono 500 (Pocono), UAW-GM Quality 500 (Charlotte)
*2002 (3 wins) MBNA America 500 (Atlanta), Chevy American Revolution 400 (Richmond), Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen (Watkins Glen), Winston Cup Championship
*2001 (3 wins) Pontiac Excitement 400(Richmond), Dodge/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma), Sharpie 500 (Bristol)
*2000 (6 wins) MBNA Platinum 400 (Dover), Kmart 400 (Michigan), thatlook.com 300 (Loudon), MBNA.com 400 (Dover), NAPA AutoCare 500 (Martinsville), Pennzoil 400 presented by Discount Auto Parts (Homestead)
*1999 (3 wins) Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 (Richmond), Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500 (Phoenix), Pennzoil 400 presented by Kmart (Homestead)

Busch/Nationwide Series (7 career wins)

*2008 (5 wins ) Camping World 300 (Daytona) Stater Brothers 300 (Auto Club Speedway), Aaron's 312 (Talladega), Diamond Hill Plywood 200 (Darlington), Camping World RV Sales 200 (New Hampshire)
*2006 (1 win ) Hershey's Kissables 300 (Daytona)
*2005 (1 win ) Hershey's Take 5 300 (Daytona)

Craftsman Truck Series (2 career wins)

*2003 (1 win ) Virginia Is For Lovers 200 (Richmond)
*2002 (1 win ) Richmond Is For Lovers 200 (Richmond)

International Race of Champions (4 career wins plus championship)

*2006 Crown Royal IROC XXX (2 wins) Race 2 (Texas), Race 3 (Daytona Road Course), Crown Royal IROC XXX Championship
*2002 True Value IROC XXVI (1 win ) Race 1 (Daytona)
*2001 True Value IROC XXV (1 win ) Race 3 (Michigan)

IRL IndyCar Series (3 career wins plus championship)

*1998 (2 wins) Indy 200 (Walt Disney World Speedway), New England 200 (Loudon)
*1997 (1 win) Samsonite 200 (Pikes Peak), Indy Racing League Championship

References

External links

* [http://www.tonystewart.com Official Website]
* [http://tonystewartfoundation.org/index.html Tony Stewart Foundation]
* [http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=stewato01 Racing Reference stats]
* [http://msn.foxsports.com/name/public/NASCAR/TonyStewart/Index Biography]
* [http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/tstewart00/cup/ NASCAR.com: Tony Stewart]
* [http://www.cocacolaracingfamily.com/stewart.html Coca-Cola Racing Family's Tony Stewart profile]
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/driver?series=wc&driverId=149 ESPN Bio Page]
* [http://www.homedepotracing.com/ Home Depot Racing]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktyKgTuBn4g Tony having fun with pace car driver Brett Bodine]