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SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Fresh off a runner-up finish a week ago at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and with a win already in his pocket, it was a confident Tony Stewart that arrived at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Friday.
Twenty-eighth in points, Stewart’s recent results in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series have propelled the three-time series champion closer to locking down one of the 16 spots in this year’s championship-determining Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Those finishes have also improved his outlook for Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It will be his final scheduled start at the legendary 2.5-mile facility where he is a two-time winner and hometown favorite. Co-owner of the four-team Stewart-Haas Racing organization, Stewart is scheduled to retire from Sprint Cup competition at season’s end.
Two of his previous three seasons were abbreviated due to off-track incidents. And the ’16 season began in the same fashion, with Stewart missing the first eight races due to an off-season back injury.
But with a victory at Sonoma Raceway, and top-five finishes in his last two outings, Stewart said he arrived at IMS less stressed and more focused than ever.
“It’s been awhile, it’s been a long while,” Stewart said of the confidence. “I mean it’s a good feeling I can tell you that.
“Anytime you get hurt like we did with our leg injury and everything that happened after that there is all speculation of why you are not running good. You guys had asked the same question — ‘has that been a factor in it?’
“It’s been nice to kind of get it all put behind us and show everybody that is not what this is all about and that was not the factor. It just was getting cars to feel right. I think that was the biggest thing just trying to get through the speculation of ‘can he do this anymore?’ and ‘why is he not competitive?’
“When you finally get going and you start running up front with guys that you are used to running with again then you are getting text messages after the race saying ‘hey it was glad to see you up there with us again.’ That is the stuff that makes you feel like ‘hey we are back where we belong now.'”
Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet was eighth fastest in Friday’s opening practice and 24th in the day’s final session.
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Stewart’s Brickyard victories came in 2005 and ’07 while still competing for Joe Gibbs Racing. His best finish since joining SHR came in ’09 when he placed third.
Qualifying for Sunday’s race is scheduled for Saturday at 1:45 p.m. ET. JGR driver Carl Edwards won the pole here a year ago while eventual series champion Kyle Busch won the race.
“Everybody wants to win here,” Stewart said. “Definitely want to win here myself. It would be pretty cool.”