He announced the decision at his race team’s headquarters in North Carolina.
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Gordon is feted at nearly every track with gifts to commemorate his career, and he visits with reporters almost weekly to answer questions about this farewell season. “I felt like it was the right time for me to make a change and had the flawless driver for us”. “You can save your gifts”. “It’s a quick break from all the activity here and I get to squeeze in six races”.
– In 2006, Stewart won a championship in the now-defunct IROC Series. “I can’t think of a better way to go out than to go out on top”.
He became an owner/driver in 2008 when he left Joe Gibbs Racing for Stewart-Haas Racing. In 2014, Stewart was involved in a sprint auto crash that claimed the life of driver Kevin Ward. Jr.
Bowyer, who has eight career wins and was runner-up for the Cup title in 2012, wouldn’t talk Wednesday about his 2016 plans. Stewart will be 45 next season, he hasn’t won a race in over two years and has been privately working on finding a successor for the No. 14 Chevrolet all year.
Clint Bowyer, who was released from his contract with Michael Waltrip Racing because the team is folding, will replace Stewart in the No. 14 in 2017. In 2017, Bowyer will join Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick on a four-car team that won Cup championships in 2011 (Stewart) and 2014 (Harvick). Although a New York grand jury did not indict Stewart on any charges related to the incident, Ward’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
His closest friends and co-workers, the ones who lined the walls of the auditorium for Wednesday’s announcement, have spent so much of the past two years telling tales of dark days behind closed doors.
The three time champ said in a press conference that next year will be his last year in the Sprint Cup Series. “I couldn’t have asked for more out of this life”.
Three time Sprint Cup Champion Anthony Wayne “Tony” Stewart announced that he will be retiring as an active driver following the 2016 NASCAR season. I love what I do with NASCAR and what I do as a driver. “It was a choice that was 100 percent mine…”
Stewart has 48 Cup victories and is a lock for NASCAR’s Hall of Fame.
Stewart missed the following three Cup races, and since that accident, he has posted only one top-five finish in NASCAR’s foremost series.
While Stewart won’t be in the driver’s seat, he’ll still be at the track.
Those racing ventures already fill up a few of Stewart’s time, and he can devote more time to racing projects – and more purely fun events – after his retirement.
The only racing he’s retiring from is NASCAR Sprint Cup racing.
He said Wednesday that none of that had a bearing on his decision. One of those was the Indianapolis 500, where he qualified first and led 44 laps before an engine failure took him out of the running before the race was even halfway over.
“The last year is not just the “ride it out” year”, he insists. His last win came at Dover in June of 2013, Yahoo!
“When I think of Tony Stewart, unmatched passion and a pure love of the sport come to mind”, said France in a statement. Everything happened for a reason.
– In 1997, before coming to NASCAR, Stewart won a title in what is now known as the Verizon IndyCar Series.
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“The reality of it is that Tony brought the talent and I had the foundation here”, said Haas.
