Getty
Tony Stewart praised Kaulig Racing in their efforts for Friday night’s CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Daytona.
Tony Stewart’s return to NASCAR racing on Friday night didn’t pan out how he hoped. The three-time Cup Series champion posted a 36th-place finish after getting involved in a crash with ThorSport Racing driver Jake Garcia.
Despite the disappointing result, Stewart was pleased with the effort put in by his team, Kaulig Racing, ahead of his first NASCAR race since 2016. Although he has no plans to race again in 2026, Stewart praised Kaulig Racing for the work put into his return.
Tony Stewart on Kaulig Racing’s Truck debut: ‘They didn’t even have body panels’
Following the incident that took him out of the race, Stewart spoke to racing insider Toby Christie about how the team reached this point. Prior to Daytona, the 54-year-old described how the team was essentially starting from scratch.
Yet, they managed to make it to Daytona with five competitive trucks, which Stewart believes is a testament to Kaulig Racing’s dedication to perform.
“I thought the effort that Kaulig Racing made coming down here was unbelievable. I mean I remember when we did the first seat fit, they didn’t even have body panels to put on the truck and they were 3-D printing body panels so they could go to the tunnel just to get a baseline of where they needed to be,” Stewart said.
On the 36th lap of Friday night’s race, Garcia’s #98 truck collided with Stewart’s #25 machine. The damage was too significant for Stewart to continue, causing him to retire from the race and finish 36th.
Prior to that, Stewart said he was getting a feel for his truck. While he was trying to settle in, Stewart could tell his competitors around him were feeling confident about their trucks.
“Beginning of the race, we were behind [Travis] Pastrana and we were just kinda content to be on the bottom until we got a couple of laps in and kinda let everybody settle in, but it didn’t seem like anybody was in the mood to be very patient or cautious. Guys that were aggressive, you could tell they were confident with their trucks,” Stewart said.
Chandler Smith went on to win the race in a four-wide battle at the finish line. It was his eighth career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win and his first at Daytona.
Tony Stewart doesn’t rule out another NASCAR return
Stewart is keeping his appearance in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series to a one-off in 2026. However, the 49-time Cup Series winner said he knows better to not rule out a return in the future.
“I didn’t think I was going to be here 10 years after I retired, so I think we have to learn to never say never. It’s a great opportunity. … Just finally getting in a spot where I felt like I could start hustling and being in the mix there a little bit,” Stewart said via FOX Sports.
Stewart competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series from 1999-2016. He won three championships, coming in 2002, 2005, and 2011. In 2019, Stewart was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
John Breeden John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden
More Heavy on NASCAR
Loading more stories
