Tony Stewart Puts Together Back-To-Back Podium Finishes In Louisiana

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / TONY STEWART RACING – BROWNSBURG, IN – Tony Stewart’s trip to Louisiana resulted in success from start to finish, not only maintaining his command atop the United Sprint Car Series (USCS) championship standings, but also securing back-to-back podium finishes during his two-day visit to Chatham Speedway.

Although his weekend stats were impressive, Smoke, driver of the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing/Rush Truck Centers/Ford Performance/Curb Records/Sage Fruit/Absolute Automation & Security/No. 14 sprint car, was forced to do a few things the hard way against the national-level 360 sprint car series. In fact, Stewart’s third place finish on Saturday was the product of a rally from last, forced to restart at the tail of the field after being involved in an early race incident.

Saturday’s performance was impressive, but Smoke’s Friday night campaign at Chatham Speedway nearly resulted in a victory, actually taking command three times, two of which negated due to cautions, before settling for a runner-up finish after staring fourth.

A relentless battle with Cordova, Tennessee’s Morgan Turpin soon led to Smoke earning the top spot on lap eight, as well as lap 23, each eventually stripped due to cautions not allowing the lead change to be scored. Although each of the aforementioned lead changes were negated, Smoke did take command, officially, just beyond the mid-point of the 25-lapper, the product of a slider between turns three and four on lap 13. Turpin soon returned the favor and re-slid Smoke the following circuit.

“That was a lot of fun,” Tony Stewart explained. “We had to kinda do things the hard way on Saturday, but Jimmy and Marty gave me a great car both nights so I was able to capitalize on that. I thought we were going to get one on Friday, but Morgan [Turpin] proved she was the best that night.”

Tony Stewart’s upcoming plans still remain uncertain.