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Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart takes lap with Jeff Gordon after final Brickyard 400

Brant James
USA TODAY Sports
Tony Stewart (14) and Jeff Gordon (88) take a celebratory lap around Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the conclusion of Sunday's Brickyard 400. The drivers have a combined seven wins at Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS — Tony Stewart was circling Indianapolis Motor Speedway for what felt to most like an interminable number of laps under caution.

A series of late-race accidents would extend the Brickyard 400 by 10 laps in stifling heat. But these were the retiring three-time Sprint Cup champion’s final turns around a storied old speedway that was the backdrop of his youthful infatuation with racing and the scene of professional triumph and frustration. So this last caution period was just a little extra time to savor, and sweat, and to think.

Stewart isn’t one for ceremony, especially when he’s the focus of it, but he possesses a keen sense of history. And he sensed a moment in the offing. Just a few cars back was Jeff Gordon, a fellow Indiana native, who retired last season as a four-time champion but returned this week (and next) to replace the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet.

“I had my spotter go down to his spotter and say ‘When this thing is over, we need to take a lap together around here’. The message I got was, ‘Well, let’s see how this restart works out’ because we were restarting around each other,” Stewart said, bursting into uproarious laughter. “That’s a moment that is never going to happen again. We’re never going to get that chance to do that again and Jeff and I have a pretty unique friendship now and to be able to share that moment with him was pretty cool.”

Stewart, who finished 11, and Gordon, 13th, negotiated the restart just fine and circled at slow speed after Kyle Busch took the checkered flag, waving and forging a moment that is certain to be immortalized in some prominent vista of the 107-year-old track. Gordon pulled his race car behind Stewart’s on a mobbed pit road, shared a hug and a personal exchange.

Kyle Busch wins Brickyard 400 for second year in a row

Gordon and Stewart had their differences contesting the same prizes during the careers, but the personal relationship between the hallmarks of their racing generation has blossomed as each approached retirement. Stewart quips about how it endured even though Gordon orchestrated the dune buggy excursion where he suffered a fractured vertebrae in January, costing him the first eight races of the season. Stewart’s business team consulted with Gordon and his team this offseason on how to manage a farewell tour while remaining competitive.

Gordon led an impromptu recognition in the pre-race driver’s meeting for Stewart, who won at Sonoma Raceway to end an 84-race winless streak and put him in strong position to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Jeff Gordon pays tribute to Tony Stewart before Brickyard 400: 'Thank you'

“I’ve gained so much admiration and respect for Tony. I love this guy,” Gordon said. “I’ve always respected his talent and appreciated what he does for others and off the track, but I was with him when he got hurt earlier this year and I learned a lot about Tony Stewart. He’s tough. He is driven, he’s tough.

“To see him in that pain I saw him in, for him to come back and win Sonoma and see him battle like this and have a chance to maybe win the championship, that’s impressive. I know he wants to downplay a lot of things, but he deserves so much. I think everybody should be going over the top for Tony Stewart for what he’s given this sport.”

Jeff Gordon humbled in return to car at Brickyard

The afternoon began with moments, also. Stewart agreed to lead the field on three ceremonial pace laps, accepting the applause from crowd in a slow revolution of the 2.5-mile track. After posing for photographs he requested with family, including his mother, Pam Boas, and father, Nelson Stewart, Chevrolet officials and team members before the race, Stewart eased off the apron to uproarious applause. It was a respectful if not raucous moment that could only have been improved had yards of sparsely filled, shimmering grandstands not back-dropped most of his journey.

“I didn’t care what happened the rest of the day,” Stewart said. “That was a cool moment and a memory that will last a lifetime.”

Stewart seemed determined to keep the view, starting third making a dive bomb move by Carl Edwards on the first lap to take second place and focus his attention of pole-sitter Busch.

Gluck: Kyle Busch seizes spotlight from Stewart, Gordon at Brickyard

Stewart soon experienced handling problems, however, and said he was concerned and slumped to eighth by the time he pitted under green on Lap 25.

Stewart restarted 11th on Lap 59 but vaulted to sixth three laps later. Stewart and crew chief Mike Bugarewicz had spent much of the previous caution period dissecting how “sketchy” his tires looked following a pit stop. Apparently, appeased, Stewart raced hard on the restart to recoup positions but like the rest of the field, could make no challenge on Busch.

Stewart was eighth when told there were 79 laps left and responded, “piece of cake.”

Stewart was caught speeding while exiting pit road during a Lap 119 stop as a caution flew and was and forced to restart 23rd. He called the mistake “100-percent my fault.”

Stewart appeared frustrated for the first time on a restart with 26 laps left asking if “somebody in NASCAR would tell us where the (expletive) we’re supposed to be. It was ultimately 24th and one lap down, but late race accidents helped him recover spots late in the race.

Stewart will leave IMS with a few other parting gifts, although it might take a little time to collect them. According to track president Doug Boles, Stewart will be given a full roll of catch fencing taken front the front stretch after a 2015 renovation. Boles had presented Stewart with a frame square of the fence — he’d climbed it after his first Brickyard 400 win in 200 — in a Friday media event.

This major event in his season and career complete, Stewart now sets about attempting to joining Gordon again in advancing to the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a chance to win a fourth championship.

“We’re having fun with it,” he said. “That’s what we said we wanted to do at the beginning of the year. We wanted to have fun and win a race and we’ve done all that. I don’t think we’re quite done yet, so we’re just going to keep having fun and going for it.”

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