(Video) Tony Stewart recalls making “NASCAR history” with Danica Patrick at Daytona 500
Ex-NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart has recalled Danica Patrick’s pole position win from the 2013 Daytona 500.
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Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart (Via IMAGO)
The 2024 NASCAR Cup season marked the end of legendary championship winning team of Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, Stewart Haas Racing. The team decided cease its operations owing to financial and performance struggles. They have sold three of their charters, with co-owner Haas taking over the last charter to field cars under the Haas Factory Team brand.
SHR has been part of many historic moments in the sport and one of it, was giving Danica Patrick a seat to race in the sport. Together they were part of some iconic moments and one of them was the 2013 Daytona 500 qualifying, where she secured the pole, becoming the first women in NASCAR history to do it.
Recently in a special video released on social media by Tony Stewart’s longtime sponsor Mobil 1 The Grid, he recalled the moment celebrating the pole with Patrick as the co-owner of the team. He really enjoyed seeing the racer happy and admitted that he was really excited to race alongside her at that day.
I actually got to go to the media center as a owner, not a driver, but I was still in my tri-first uniform. But it was really neat to see the smile on Danica’s face and to get started off on the right foot. What that means to qualify on the front row to the Daytona 500 is huge and to see the excitement on her face and know that we had made history that day. I could just tell it was going to be a lot of fun racing with her.
Tony Stewart said via X.
22 years and a lifetime of memories ? @TonyStewart talks us through some key memories of his time as a driver and owner of @stewarthaasrcng. #Mobil1TheGrid pic.twitter.com/zbyfrxOFCv
— Mobil 1 The Grid (@Mobil1TheGrid) December 4, 2024
Tony Stewart explains his feelings about announcing SHR
Stewart Haas Racing’s formation was announced, when Tony Stewart was at the peak of his career, and it was a huge move. Many thought it was probably going to fail, and he was pretty tensed about it when announcing as they didn’t even have a logo finalized at the moment. But things turned out more than great for him and helped him to build a legacy matched by a few in the sport.
Literally was just wearing a plain shirt. We didn’t have any logos yet. The logo for the team, we knew that was just temporary, we hadn’t gotten far enough to a permanent logo… What have I done? Have I made the right decision? Am I going to regret this down the road? I knew there was no turning back and we were gonna make it work. I am glad we did.
Tony Stewart said.
If Stewart had backed down on his decision and remained as a racer, his legacy and NASCAR Cup series as a whole would have been much different. Stewart Haas Racing is a huge part of NASCAR history, and the fans are going to miss them a lot from the 2024 season.
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Justin P Joy
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