Three Cup titles and 49 Cup wins. But Tony Stewart just couldn’t add the Daytona 500 to that feat. In fact, he won 19 races across different series at the Daytona International Speedway, but he just couldn’t cross the finish line first at The Great American Race in his 17 attempts. Naturally, if anyone reminds him of this, they can’t expect a sweet response in return from the veteran who’s already known for his blunt responses. An example of that was seen at a recent press conference when a reporter tried to dig into that Daytona wound.

Tony Stewart’s cold response for Daytona 500

During a recent press conference with Tony Stewart, a reporter kicked off the conversation with a blunt challenge, ripping the “band-aid” off Stewart’s infamous Daytona 500 drought to test him. The reporter asked Stewart, referencing the open exemption rules that could have created an opportunity for Stewart. To which Tony replied,

“We can lead every lap tomorrow night, and I’ll still not be back here for the Daytona 500. I’m pretty good from these many years; you’ll not see me here for the Daytona 500.”

17 attempts isn’t a small number. Given that he’s slipped so often in that one race, Stewart seems to be at peace now with that chapter closed.

Tony Stewart is all set to make his return in NASCAR through the Daytona Craftsman Truck Series. He will race for the Kaulig Racing team. In a conversation, when Tim Kuniskis asked Tony whether he would ever be interested in going and running a truck race next year, Tony replied,

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“I think everybody on this call understands I didn’t have the best relationship with NASCAR and surely over the last 12 months have had more reasons to not have the best relationships, but still at the end of the day, parts of racing and people there made it worthwhile,” Stewart said.

Stewart has 19 wins across a variety of series at the Daytona track. “And this will be his first time driving a truck at Daytona. Tony Stewart is occupying the free-agent seat at Kaulig Racing for Daytona; the spot will be open after that.”

Tony Stewart has not announced any other comeback in NASCAR as of now, apart from the truck series. And after that cold reply, one thing’s pretty clear: a Daytona 500 return looks unlikely.

But amid his bittersweet phase with the sport, there was a rare appreciation from him about what’s going on.

Stewart’s rare praise for NASCAR

When Tim Kuniskis asked Tony Stewart about his perspective on what NASCAR is doing right now, Stewart poured his heart out.

“A situation where, when you came in, you came in not with the idea of just bringing a truck back into the series; you came into it with outside thinking and really thinking outside the box, like nobody I’ve seen, in quite a while, so NASCAR would have been foolish to not embrace that, and I think that’s kind of the mentality that NASCAR has right now,” Stewart said.

NASCAR’s adaptation to some changes is a step toward positive development, which was the need of the hour. “If you look at some of the projects that they have going on, they’re trying to think outside the box nonstop.”

Tony Stewart’s sincere concern and admiration for NASCAR demonstrated how much the sport means to him and how he hasn’t entirely abandoned it.

This rare moment of praise is a testament to Tony’s readiness to return to NASCAR with a fresh approach and to drive change to make the sport great again.