By David Morgan, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race will feature a star-studded field, with several big names and drivers from the Cup Series making an appearance, but none bigger than three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart.
Stewart returns to NASCAR for the first time since stepping away from full-time competition in 2016 and first Truck Series start since 2005. After Stewart-Haas Racing closed up shop, not many would have expected a return from Stewart, himself included, but all these years later, the stars aligned to make it happen.
With Kaulig Racing making a splash in the Truck Series with its switch to the RAM Brand, RAM CEO Tim Kuniskis reached out to Stewart through their relationship with Stewart’s drag racing involvement and lo and behold, a Truck Series ride was Stewart’s if he wanted it.
“Trust me, I’m as surprised as all of you are, but it is a unique opportunity to do this with Ram and through our partnership with Dodge and Stellantis,” said Stewart. “And Tim Kuniskis literally asked me last year if I would be interested in running a truck race and thought, you know, that kind of sounds fun.
“So, I didn’t think I would hear much more out of him from it, but got another phone call and that was the one that I knew was the confirmation that, yep, we’re going to be driving a truck race somewhere and here we are.
“The next question everybody asked was why did we pick here? And literally, I mean this is Ram’s coming out party, so what better way to support Ram and Dodge and Stellantis than to do it at the biggest showcase of the year at the first race of the year at Daytona?”
Stewart explained that since his ride was announced, he’s had an up-close view at the Kaulig operation with the switchover to Ram and has been impressed with how they have gotten everything up and running and the enthusiasm throughout the company for 2026.
Which in turn has only made him more ready to get to Daytona and get back behind the wheel.
“It’s fun to do it with a group I’ve never worked with before. It’s fun to do it with a brand that I’m passionate about and at a track that we’ve had some success at. So all in all it, it’s nice to be back,” said Stewart.
The nature of Truck Series racing on superspeedways has long been a lot of take and no give, which Stewart noted he was prepared to handle in his own way if the need should arise.
“I’m more than happy to give lessons [Friday] night if they’re needed,” Stewart deadpanned. “So, not encouraging it. It’s not like we want to make a habit, but I mean honestly, when I got into what was the Busch Series back in the day, that’s how I learned my lessons was when I did something wrong, I made the mistake, I paid the price for it. And normally when you’re sitting there in the infield and you’re unbuckling, you got a little bit extra time to sit there and think about how you got there.”
Stewart added that he and spotter TJ Bell have game planned the best they can to try and account for all of the variables on Friday night, but goal number one will be to make it to the end of the race with a shot at delivering RAM and Kaulig a win in their debut race together.
“All I care about is doing what I can do in that truck to get myself in the best position to be there at the end to try to win the race,” said Stewart.
“So, yeah, the goal is not to go out there and try to pick fights all night if that’s what you’re getting at. It’s literally to go out there and know that there’s guys that don’t have the experience that we have that are going to go out there and make mistakes. And it’s try to not put ourselves in a position that when they, if and when, and most likely those are going to happen to not be collateral damage in ’em.”
Despite all of the experience Stewart has in NASCAR, he didn’t deny that he could be the one to slip up on Friday night given that he’s been out of a stock car for several years now and may need to knock off the rust getting back into it this weekend.
“The reality of it is too, I could be somebody that makes a mistake in it. I got the same opportunity as all those other guys that haven’t been here as much as I have to make the same mistake that they may or may not make. So, I’ve got to do my part too,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to do something wrong out there, but nobody does anything intentionally out there to cause problems. It’s just trial and error and that’s how you learn from your mistakes and that’s just how you become a better race car driver.
“So, after being out of them for 10 years, there’s good possibility I’ll make a mistake just like anybody else in the field and I just hope that that mistake doesn’t cost me or a bunch of other race teams and drivers an opportunity to win the race tomorrow night.”
The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same
While it may have been a while since Stewart raced at Daytona, some things never change when it comes to superspeedway racing, no matter the vehicle.
“There’s a lot of technology that’s changed in 10 years and that’s where you got to rely on your buddies. I mean, I’ve already made some phone calls in the Cup garage to the guys that have run trucks and they’re absolutely right,” Stewart said.
“I mean I guarantee if this was anywhere but Daytona or Talladega, there’s even more variables that are in play. But there’s one thing when you come to Daytona and Talladega that hasn’t changed and that’s the air. The air’s the same.
“No matter how much technology’s changed, that air hasn’t changed. So, it’s literally learning the truck, it’s learning how it sucks up or doesn’t suck up. It’s what happens when you pull out of the draft, how much does it fall on its face and what happens when somebody tucks down on the door.
“I feel like a smaller list of variables that I have to relearn and a variable that really hasn’t changed at all with the air. But I guarantee if we went anywhere but here there’s a lot of variables we would have to relearn and we would be way further off base than what we might be here.
“And I might be surprised, we might start the race [Friday] night and I may go, wow, there’s a lot more that’s changed than I realize. But you don’t know what you don’t know until you get in there. But I still feel like it’s still Daytona and it’s still learning the draft and all that.
“I feel like even the guys that we’re racing against all these years, even though we haven’t ran a truck here, we know what this air does here and it’s just a matter of learning how the truck reacts to that.”
Qualifying for Friday night’s Truck Series opener kicks off at 3:00 pm ET, leading into the main event, the Fresh from Florida 250 – a no holds barred, 100 lap shootout at 7:30 pm ET on FOX Sports 1.
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