Tony Stewart ‘definitely planning on coming back to NASCAR races’

Tony Stewart exited NASCAR after the 2024 Cup Series season, with Stewart-Haas Racing shutting down operations after 15 years. The three-time Cup champion has since become a father and primarily focuses on his NHRA career.

But the 53-year-old does plan on coming back to NASCAR. Stewart said Tuesday he misses “a lot of things about NASCAR” and as a Hall of Famer, owns a hard card to hang out in the garage area during races.

“I’m definitely planning on coming back to NASCAR races,” Stewart said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “As a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, I get a hard card. I don’t know if NASCAR has the ability to revoke that or not but until they do revoke it, I’m going to take advantage of having a hard card and I definitely want to come back and see everybody. I miss a lot of things about NASCAR and most of all the people. The people are what I enjoyed about it and the relationships I had there. Definitely looking forward to coming back and seeing everybody.”

Stewart didn’t necessarily have the best things to say about NASCAR upon his exit as a team owner. He appeared on “Cars and Culture with Jason Stein” late last year and said he wasn’t a fan of the direction the sport was headed. Stewart expressed frustration over the charter agreement saga which resulted in 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filing an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR.

Tony Stewart didn’t like direction NASCAR was going

“At the end of the day, if you enjoy what you see [in NASCAR], that’s okay. But for someone like myself who has been in the sport for over 20 years, what it was when I started and where it’s at now and the direction it’s going, I don’t necessarily agree with it, I don’t necessarily like it,” Stewart said. “There’s elements of it that I’m very disappointed in. But that’s OK. Not everybody has to agree on it. But for me, that’s why it’s the right time to make a change. You know, that’s not why we’re making the change. But that’s OK with me that it’s happening now because of things that have happened as years progressed.

“The charter agreements are a joke. … When someone like Rick Hendrick says, ‘I just got tired of arguing with them.’ Do you think Rick Hendrick runs his business and negotiations and just says, ‘I’m going to just sign this agreement because I’m tired of arguing with you.’ Rick Hendrick’s never done that a day in his life. So, if people aren’t smart enough to read between the lines and figuring out what that means, then you’re all missing the whole big picture all by itself. So, it’s just an area I don’t want to be a part of anymore. I’m a purist, I’m an old-school guy when it comes to racing.”

But Stewart’s days of dealing with that side of the business are over. Now, when he comes back, he does so as a NASCAR legend. On top of that, a first-time NHRA Top Fuel winner. Smoke just earned his first career win in NHRA Top Fuel during 4-Wide Nationals at Las Vegas on Sunday.

“It’s unreal,” Tony Stewart said. “I haven’t been around an NHRA that long and I realize it takes a long time to win a race in this series. But everything in my career, I never had to wait over a year to win a race. I always figured it out in the first year, and multiple ones normally. So, I’m just very appreciative of this win.”