Stewart doesn't rule out Sprint Cup or XFINITY cars on dirt at Eldora
After hosting yet another successful Camping World Truck Series race at his Eldora Speedway, Tony Stewart admitted Friday that he wouldn't mind someday doing the same for NASCAR's other top national touring series.
A Sprint Cup or XFINITY Series race on the half-mile dirt track at Eldora? Is he serious?
"I've not really lobbied for it, but I mean I'm more than willing to," Stewart said Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Stewart said the way he and his Eldora staff prepared the track for last Wednesday's Truck Series race was perfect, but admitted it might present challenges for the other series.
"We basically had it like a pavement track the first year (for the Trucks in 2013)," said Stewart, who is retiring as a Sprint Cup driver at the end of this season. "It was hard as a rock all the way across and it still got that way at the end of the night (last Wednesday), but it started the race more like a dirt track is supposed to start.
"The biggest challenge with that obviously is the windshields -- and because of safety NASCAR can't take those windshields out like you would want to do for a dirt track. It makes it limited on what we can and can't do with the surface."
Still, Stewart cautioned to never say never when it comes to possibly getting Sprint Cup or XFINITY cars to run at Eldora.
"I'm definitely open to it," Stewart said. "It may not be this year that I try lobbying for it. I mean I want to focus on what I'm doing with the Cup car the rest of this season."
He also said he was thrilled with how Wednesday's Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby, which was won by fellow Sprint Cup driver Kyle Larson, came off.
"I was proud of our (Eldora) staff," Stewart said. "We had some turnover employee-wise there and some guys really stepped up big for that event. I was really proud of our group there. I thought they did a great job."