Up And Down All Star Ohio Speedweek For Tony Stewart

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / TONY STEWART RACING – BROWNSBURG, IN – Tony Stewart’s Ohio Sprint Speedweek campaign with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 was an up and down venture for the Columbus, Ind., native, highlighting his six-race stretch with one top-ten finish; an impressive charge from 16th to finish eighth during the Ohio Sprint Speedweek opener at Attica Raceway Park on Friday evening, June 15. There were 56 entries on hand at the Attica highbanks.

Although some results were frustrating, Smoke managed to qualify for main event action during all six of the events he entered, facing upwards of 50 entries, in some cases more, during each night of competition.

“The level of competition out here with the All Stars this season is pretty incredible. Ohio Sprint Speedweek is no easy task. Racing head-to-head with that level of competition every night can be grueling, and sometimes frustrating, but when things go your way, it is very rewarding,” Tony Stewart explained. “I’m proud of my team and what we were able to accomplish. I think our potential was cut short a few nights, but we’ll put this all behind us and move forward. We have a lot of racing left on our schedule.”

Stewart, driver of the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing/Rush Truck Centers/Textron Off Road/Ford Performance/Curb Records/Sage Fruit/No. 14 sprint car, was on pace for his best performance of Speedweek on Wednesday at Atomic Speedway when Mother Nature stepped-in and interfered, unleashing a downpour just as feature cars were set to fire. Stewart was scheduled to start second on the feature grid, locking the outside-pole position by way of dash victory. Unfortunately, prior NASCAR commitments in California left Stewart with no choice but to miss the postponed main event that was later held on Saturday, June 23.

Up next on the schedule, Tony Stewart will rejoin the All Star Circuit of Champions this Friday and Saturday for a pair of starts in the Midwest, first visiting Plymouth Speedway in Plymouth, Ind., on Friday evening, June 29, followed by a stop at the Dirt Oval at Route 66 in Joliet, Ill., on Saturday, June 30. Thus far in 2018, Smoke has earned eight top-ten finishes in 15 feature starts during All Star Circuit of Champions competition, four of which accomplished inside the top-five.