Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR
“My dream of running Indy and winning Indy is still there,” said Stewart, who’s still looking for his first victory during Memorial Day weekend. “It’s never going away.”
Although the two-time NASCAR champion and former open-wheel star hopes to race at Indy again, he believes getting there will take a bigger commitment than he has time for these days.
Stewart drove both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day in 2001, a grueling 1,100-mile odyssey that included a plane ride, intravenous fluids, an early spin and two top-10 finishes. He hasn’t entered the 500 since - it’s impossible to race both now because Indy’s start time has changed - and isn’t sure when it will happen again.
“Even if they switched (the 500 to Monday), I don’t know if it’s feasible to do it,” he said. “It’s not just the logistics of making the two races. It’s everything that leads into the preparation and testing and the time behind the wheel of getting acclimated to the cars again. That’s more important than just the sheer logistics of race day.”
Stewart would gladly settle for a win in the 600, NASCAR’s longest race and one of the sport’s crown jewels.
Stewart, second in the Sprint Cup standings, is coming off his first win as an owner/driver with Stewart-Haas Racing. He won last week’s All-Star race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in front of Haas, who was at the track for the first time since completing a 16-month federal prison term for tax fraud.
