Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Sunday at Richmond International Raceway marked the return of Tony Stewart to his race car for the final season of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career after missing the first eight races of the season due to an off-season injury. While there were some ups and downs, Smoke was able to put in a solid effort.
The Columbus, Indiana native had announced at the end of the 2015 season that he would retire after the 2016 NASCAR season. Even with missing part of the season, Stewart is not changing his plans on his retirement.
Cup qualifying on Friday was cancelled due to rain, so the starting order was set by first practice speeds, putting Stewart in 18th position for the race.
The start of the race it was an uneventful race for Stewart, but on Lap 268, he would have a flat tire, resulting in the caution; he was running 21st one lap down. The flat tire was a result of contact that happened on the restart as result of three-wide racing when Joey Logano jumped between Stewart and another car. Notably, the group was battling for the lucky dog, which Logano got due to the caution.
Stewart would make it to pit road without causing much damage to his Chevrolet, allowing him to easily rejoin the race. Restarting outside of the top-25, Stewart quickly began battling his way back up through the lap cars, and on a restart with 75 laps to go when Ryan Ellis spun, he would get the lucky dog and get back on the lead lap. He was able to make some ground, passing a couple cars to finish the race in 19th place.
“We got the lap down there,” he said. “I got a lap down and almost drove back by and got my lap back. But Carl (Edwards) was strong. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hang on long, but I could hold on as long as I could and hope we got a caution.
“It just seemed like we would get really close to being able to get that lucky dog spot back, and something would happen and we’d miss it by one. So, magic cautions coming out at wrong at times for us.”
It’s also worth noting that this was the first race that Stewart worked with his new crew chief Michael Bugarewicz.
“It didn’t feel like our first race together, mainly because just the races that we have been through together this year,” he said. “I mean I’ve been to seven of the right races I’ve missed. Being on the radio with him and being on the pit box and communicating with him, really shortened that learning curve up.
“I don’t think we really missed anything. I feel like we got off to a really good start together. I don’t think there is a communication gap that we have to worry about.”
Despite not achieving the comeback finish that he would have loved to have, Stewart seem to be enjoying himself back out there in the car and on the track.
“This is Richmond,” he said. “This is part of racing at your favorite race track and running a day race here where it get slippery and you have to use all of the track. This is what made it fun and that’s what I miss, that is the stuff I dearly miss with this series having days like today where you get on the track and you are sliding around and the drivers get to make the difference.”
Next up for Stewart is the Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis Motors Speedway on April 26-27. He will then head to Talladega Superspeedway where he will qualify and start the race, but will have Ty Dillon take over the reigns behind the wheel at the first caution.
