Tony Stewart’s Truck Series Return Ends in a Chaotic Wreck at Talladega  

55-year-old Tony Stewart marked his NASCAR Truck Series return this week at Talladega Motor Speedway and everything that could go wrong did. The champion driver’s first start in the third division since 2005, ended in lap 17 wreck that ruined the race of many midfield drivers on the day.

The veteran found himself in a three-wide battle for P18 on stage one, when Stewart Friesen spun ahead of him owing to a cut tire. Corey LaJoie, Cole Butcher, Daniel Hemric, Andres Perez, and Kris Wright, were the other drivers got caught in the mess.

Talking on team radio soon after the incident, the Hall of Famer admitted that the wreck “knocked the wind out” of him. On his post-race media session, the veteran highlighted how he just didn’t get the space escape the mess, when the Trucks ahead of his wrecked.

I just saw Stewart Friesen in the middle and had an issue and I was — there were two trucks in front of us that got in the wall on the outside and I started down the hill to get past those guys and didn’t see the cars coming from the left.

Tony Stewart said after Talladega race.

Later in the same conversation, Tony Stewrat admitted that the cant blames anyone for the incident and asserted that such chaos is part of restrictor plate racing. Stewart Friesen was stuck in the middle after he lost the tires, and he couldn’t do anything in the moment.

But yeah, it’s just a racing deal. That’s part of it at restrictor plate racing. Stewart didn’t have anything — he couldn’t go anywhere. I mean, he had an issue, he said, he’s stuck in the middle. He can’t go anywhere. So, he’s doing best he can. He can’t hang on to it. Just everybody around him, you know, got caught up in him.

Tony Stewart added via motorsport.com.

Cleetus McFarland bemoans getting caught in the Tony Stewart wreck

One racer that was collected in the chaos was Cleetus McFarland, as the YouTube turned racer couldn’t finish stage one of a Truck race. His debut in the series this year at Daytona was also ended in an early race crash. He was collected despite the fact that the Truck was running P27 and was starting to learn more about the track.

It just ****, you know. I just honestly saw the wreck, slowing down heavily, I was getting called down…I felt like my truck was really tight.  So, I got out of the way. And I was riding, having a great race. I was learning phenomenal.  I saw the wreck, got on the brakes. I was totally good. And then I just got spun and my truck’s wrecked … ****.

Cleetus McFarland said.

The youngster must wait for his next start to end the unfortunate record of not finishing a race in the third division. It would be interesting to see how long it would take him to make a comeback and prove that he is more than a pay-driver.

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