Tony Stewart will make a demonstration run Thursday in a NASCAR Cup car at the 3.426-mile, 20-turn Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, ahead of this weekend’s Formula One U.S. Grand Prix there.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s been three years since I last drove a stock car, but seeing some of these road-course races – especially the Roval at Charlotte – have piqued my interest a bit, so this is a good way to sort of satisfy that hunger,” stated Stewart, who will have a passenger seat in his stock car to drive Haas F1 drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen around the course. “I’ve never been to COTA. All I know about it is what I’ve seen on TV and on my iRacing simulator. I kind of like that. Even after two decades in NASCAR, there’s still new stuff to experience. I haven’t driven that racetrack and Kevin and Romain haven’t ever driven a stock car. We’ll figure it out together.”
Stewart, who retired from Cup racing after the 2016 and will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2020 in January, continues to race sprint cars.
“People sometimes say, ‘We miss seeing you behind the wheel,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, you’re going to the wrong places now,’ ” said Stewart in a statement from the team. “I’m racing 100 times a year. You’ve just got to come watch me in a different car.”
After driving at COTA, Stewart will compete in his sprint car at the Texas Sprint Car Nationals at the Dirt Track at Texas Motor Speedway on Thursday and Friday night.
“It’s the best of both worlds for me,” Stewart said in a statement from the team. “I get to be with our NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series teams during the day, but each night I get to go over to the Dirt Track. It’s fun for our crew guys too. They’re racers who have dirt-track blood in their veins. They come over and watch the race. It just makes for a perfect weekend.”