Tony Stewart is one of the topmost drivers in the world of NASCAR today. He has won everything that can be won and is truly one of the greats in the sport. Starting off his career in Karting, a 12 year old Tony won the International Karting Foundation’s Grand National title.
He followed it up with the World Karting Association’s national title five years later. He stayed in Karting till 1991. In ‘91, Tony joined the USAC Sprint Car series and was crowned Rookie of the Year. In 1994, he won the USAC Midget National Championships. Tony was rolling in trophies and things were just getting better and better. In 1995, he won all three championships in the USAC category - Midget Car series, the Sprint Car series and the Silver Crown championships thus becoming the first driver ever to achieve this feat.
He moved to the Indy Racing League in 1996 and got another Rookie of the Year award. In his first season, he led the Indy500, from pole position, for 44 laps. Tony also got a feeler for the NASCAR Nationwide Series with 9 races for the Ranier/Walsh Racing teams. After the ‘IRC Rookie of the Year’ trophy, he decided that the next level was the championships and so, in 1997, he won the IRC championships. Alongside his trophy winning performance, Tony also ran 5 races in the Nationwide Series for Gibbs Racing.
| Team |
Joe Gibbs Racing
|
| Born | 20 May 1971 |
| Nationality |
United States
|
| Team History | |
|
Joe Gibbs Racing
|
2008 - present |
He didn’t leave IRL racing but also took part in 22 NASCAR Nationwide Series races for Gibbs Racing where he got two pole positions and 5 top-five finishes. Joe Gibbs Racing decided that it was time for the big-time for Tony and so he was thrust into the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. In his debut season, he was astounding. He started off with numerous excellent results and turned his performance up many notches towards the second half of the season.
Tony became the first rookie to win three races in their rookie year. He finished second in the All-Star race and took part in the Indy500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day grabbing 9th and 4th place respectively. The writing was definitely on the wall and Tony was here to stay. Tony came fourth in his Rookie season.
He was sixth in 2000 after six race wins and one of his wins came on the day Labonte had gotten his hands on the title. He fired up his engines for 2001 and won three races. With some incredibly beautiful driving skills, Tony was one his way to a sure-shot second place in the standings.
In 2002, Tony Stewart had arrived. Joe Gibbs Racing was witnessing it’s second race title in 3 years (one with Labonte). Tony started of the season with a last place standing at Daytona but came back to win three races and the title. The victory margin of 31 points was created on the final race of the season. Tony was totally in line to defend his title in 2003 but unfortunately, 4 retirements and a string of poor results meant that he fell down to seventh place in the championship.
In 2004, he fought back but some bad fortune meant that Tony could do no better than sixth place. He changed all that in 2005 when he raced away to his second championship. He won five races in the middle, on a seven race stretch and that helped him draw away from the rest of the pack. In the 10 race Chase series, Tony had 7 top-ten places and three runner-up spots.
In 2006, Tony was again out of the title race but once in the chase, he posted three wins. However, that wasn’t enough to get him out of 11th place for the season. With 11 top-fives and 23 top-tens, Tony finished sixth in the overall championships. A disappointed Tony Stewart will head into 2008 knowing that he can do much better than his last two seasons. The two-time champion will be looking to complete another successful season where he dominates the world.
