| | | | | | RACING TO WIN | Stewart not racing for gas money this weekend | |
| | SceneDaily Staff Tony Stewart, who first made his mark in racing by traveling the Midwest looking for big-money United States Auto Club races to make a living, is now headed for NASCAR's big-money race this weekend.
A minimum of $1 million will be awarded to the winner of Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and Stewart clearly would like to win.
But the all-star race is nothing like a USAC race, Stewart said.
“The all-star race is a totally different deal,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. “When I was running in USAC, it was how I made a living and paid my rent. Sometimes it was my gas money to get home. I don’t think if I crash out of the all-star race on the first lap that I’m going to have trouble getting gas money for the ride home.
“The mindset going into it is that you don’t have to worry about points and you know that everybody is going to be on the edge a little more. I’m not going to say it’s acceptable to crash cars, but I think a lot of people go into that race knowing that there’s a good possibility that you can get wrecked because guys are going to take more chances than they normally would.”
Stewart has a best finish of second in the race in 1999, his rookie season. He’s crashed out of four of his 10 starts and has only two segment victories. Stewart was fifth last year when the race was run in four 20-lap segments.
This year, it’s four 25-lap segments, but Stewart’s strategy doesn’t change.
“Not really. You still go out and try to win each segment,” Stewart said. “Obviously, the last one is the one that pays the big money. But if you can win any of those segments, it pays a little bit. If you can get up front in the first one, you’ve got a better shot at staying up front for the last three.”
| | Posted May 16, 2008 , 3:58 am EST
Last Updated May 18, 2008 , 7:06 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
