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Tony Stewart: NASCAR, IndyCar doubleheader would be a ‘kick ass weekend’

NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day

CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 22: 2019 Tony Stewart reacts while giving an interview after being announced as part of the 2020 class during the NASCAR 2020 Hall of Fame announcement ceremony at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 22, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jason Miczek/Getty Images)

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One NASCAR team owner believes a doubleheader race weekend between the NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar would be a “kick ass weekend.”

If you guessed the owner is Tony Stewart, congratulations.

The remark from Stewart, the three-time Cup champion and 1997 Indy Racing League champion, came during his 12th annual Smoke Show at Texas Motor Speedway, which raises money for Speedway Children’s Charities.

His comments come a few weeks after IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden made the first laps in an IndyCar around the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

“I think it would be awesome,” Stewart said. “(Texas Motor Speedway) would be a perfect place to do it, too. I think it would be really cool. It would be a weekend on my calendar that I would make sure I was at the Cup race that weekend for sure. It’s just never been done. The hardest part for both series is going to be how different the racetrack is. When you’d go to Pocono or anywhere that ARCA would run with the Cup Series and you’d have different rubber (tires), it definitely made a difference.

“I remember when we did the first demo run the night of the (NASCAR) All-Star race (at Charlotte Motor Speedway) in ’97, I remember how sketchy it was because the Goodyear rubber was down and we were on Firestone with IndyCar, and the rubbers really weren’t compatible. So that’s the only challenge they’ll have doing it. Aside from that, man, I think that’s about as big of a kick ass weekend as you could ever ask for in motorsports, is have two major series like that here at the same time.”

Support for an IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader has been building since May, with a few Cup drivers voicing their approval during the Coca-Cola 600 race weekend.

Roger Penske, who owns teams in both series, gave his approval to the idea in June.

Based on their 2020 schedules, the only tracks the Cup Series and IndyCar will both visit throughout the year (but on separate weekends) are Texas Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The earliest a doubleheader could happen is 2021 as both series’ 2020 schedules are set.

IndyCar also visits tracks the Xfinity Series or Gander Outdoors Truck Series will race at on separate weekends: Iowa Speedway, World Wide Technology Speedway at Gateway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America.

But for Stewart, holding the potential doubleheader at the 1.5-mile track north of Forth Worth, Texas is the obvious choice.

“And it’s not because we’re sitting here right now,” Stewart said. “This is the place I would pick if you were going to do that kind of a weekend.”