MORE: Always a racer, forever a champion

There are two weeks remaining in Tony Stewart‘s full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, and NASCAR.com will help fans honor the man called “Smoke” through the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

We’ll celebrate with a daily look at some of Stewart’s career highlights over the next 13 days, leading up to the Nov. 20 race. You can bet his conquests at Homestead and Indianapolis are in the mix, and so are many more indelible moments.

Even better, fans can join the dialogue by tweeting their favorite memories using the #AlwaysRac14g hashtag, and the top tweets will be displayed at nascar.com/smoke — also where the video tributes will live.

Check back daily to see another of Stewart’s career highlights.

MOORESVILLE, NC (November 7, 2016) — Team Penske and Discount Tire, the world’s largest tire and wheel retailer, announced today that the two companies will continue their partnership into the 2017 season. Discount Tire will return as the primary sponsor of Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford Mustang in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) next season. Discount Tire will also continue as an associate sponsor on both the No. 2 and No. 22 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford Fusions and — new for next season — the company will join Team Penske’s Verizon IndyCar Series program as an associate sponsor.

A long-time supporter of NASCAR, Discount Tire joined the Team Penske family just prior to the start of the 2010 NASCAR XFINITY Series season. That year, the No. 22 Discount Tire team and driver Brad Keselowski earned a series-record 26 top-five finishes en route to the first NASCAR championship for owner Roger Penske.

“Discount Tire is proud of its winning relationship with Roger and Team Penske. We have a shared desire of being the best at what we do, by caring for our wonderful people, teamwork and the pursuit of getting better every day.” said Michael Zuieback, President of Discount Tire. “We look forward to sharing more success together.”

Since joining Team Penske’s XFINITY Series program, Discount Tire has been a key part of four championships for the No. 22 team, following up Keselowski’s 2010 driver title with back-to-back-to-back NXS Owners’ Championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015.  In all, four different drivers have won races for Discount Tire at Team Penske, including Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and AJ Allmendinger.

Discount Tire has made the most of its partnership with Team Penske and continues to leverage its sponsorship as one of the company’s key marketing platforms. Discount Tire engages its employees and customers at the race track and the company features all Team Penske drivers in exclusive autograph sessions at its stores across the country. In addition to an extensive showcar program that tours key markets, Discount Tire and Team Penske will continue to work on various cross promotions, including the creation of point of sale and collateral materials and the production of television commercials featuring Team Penske and its drivers.

“When you think about companies that have made a commitment and helped the grow the sport, especially in the XFINITY Series, there is no question that Discount Tire is one of the first ones that comes first to mind,” said Roger Penske. “Team Penske has developed a great relationship with Bruce Halle and the entire group at Discount Tire. They enjoy all of the success we have had together in racing, but they also maximize their partnership with our team away from the track. We are pleased to have Discount Tire back with us in 2017 and we look forward to winning more races and championships with them.”

Keselowski, Logano and Blaney are all scheduled to race the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in 2017.

The 2017 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season begins in February with the running of the non-points Unlimited and Daytona 500 on February 26. The NASCAR XFINITY Series also begins at Daytona on February 25. 

RELATED: DiBenedetto in concussion protocol | NASCAR explains protocol

FORT WORTH, Texas — A day after crashing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, driver Matt DiBenedetto met with the media shortly before the start of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 just as his fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers were gathering at the pre-race drivers meeting inside the garage nearby.

DiBenedetto was not medically cleared to compete in Sunday’s race following the single-car accident on Saturday. The driver is in concussion protocol, sidelining the 25-year-old for safety precautions, according to BK Racing.

Visibly disappointed not to race in Fort Worth, DiBenedetto said he will follow the protocol and visit doctors Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina, so he can get medical clearance to compete next week at Phoenix.

At Texas, Jeffrey Earnhardt will drive DiBenedetto’s No. 83 ZAK Backs the Blue Toyota, which is honoring fallen Dallas police officers.

“I’m a racer, a die-hard racer and (BK Racing owner) Ron (Devine) knows this,” DiBenedetto said. “It’s in my blood and I probably handle these kind of situations of not being cleared to drive the car worse than any guy in the field. I’ve really been struggling with it.

“I feel perfectly fine so it’s really going to be very difficult for me watching my car go around the race track. But Jeffrey Earnhardt will do a good job. He’s one of my best friends and I’m glad and appreciative of him for stepping in for us in this situation. I know it’s not great. No practice and he’ll have to fire off. But we trust him.

“I’m definitely discouraged, but we’ll go through this, go through their protocol. I have to, even though I feel fine, but they have a protocol and things set in place that I have to follow, whether I like it or not. I will do it, get it done and look forward to Phoenix.”

Devine offered his support in making sure DiBenedetto goes through all the proper protocol to make a start at Phoenix. 

“It’s OK to err on the side of caution, but we’ll get through it and I think at the end of the day, they’ve done the right thing,” Devine said. “They felt it was best he go through the process and be sure. That’s as simple as it is. It’s about making sure he’s OK. We’ll meet with them to understand the process better and see what they saw. In the meantime, it’s better not to have him in the car.”

In hindsight, DiBenedetto smiled slightly and wondered if perhaps he should have handled things differently immediately after the accident. He insists he didn’t feel any medical repercussions from the impact.

“Not the slightest bit, not even two seconds after the crash,” DiBenedetto said. “If I could redo the situation knowing now how it turned out I would have sprinted down (the banking), maybe done jumping jacks. But everything happens for a reason.

“At this time I need to remain calm and remember they are doing their jobs.”