Tony Stewart attending Indy 500 as guest of A.J. Foyt on 60th anniversary of Foyt's first 500 win
Tony Stewart is joining Jimmie Johnson at the Indianapolis 500.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Indiana native will be a guest of legendary driver A.J. Foyt and sit with Foyt on top of one of his team's pit boxes. 2021 is the 60th anniversary of Foyt's first Indianapolis 500 win.
“A.J. is my hero and a great friend who I’ve known for a long time,” Stewart said in an IndyCar release. “It didn’t matter what it was, but if it had four wheels and went fast, A.J. would drive it. NASCAR stock cars, USAC stock cars, sprints and midgets, Indy cars, IMSA sports cars – A.J. won in all of them. We both kind of came up through the racing ranks in the same way. He just did it in a different era.
“A.J. called me after I won my first Cup championship in 2002, and I remember how much it meant to have him call that night and congratulate me. He has given a lot back to racing and has been one of the sport’s biggest supporters. Without guys like him, guys like myself wouldn’t have had a chance to succeed. Being with A.J. on the pit box this year at Indy is an honor and something I’ll cherish forever.”
Foyt, 86, is one of the greatest drivers in American history. He won 67 Champ Car and USAC races and seven Cup Series races. Foyt won four Indianapolis 500s and was most dominant in 1964. He led 146 of the race’s 200 laps after starting fifth and lapped 28 cars on his way to the win.
Stewart drove the No. 20 car throughout his Cup Series career at Joe Gibbs Racing and switched to the No. 14 in honor of Foyt when he partnered with Gene Haas to form Stewart-Haas Racing.
Stewart drove the No. 14 for the rest of his Cup Series career and got 16 of his 49 career Cup wins with that number. Stewart famously won the 2011 Cup Series title via tiebreaker in the No. 14 over Carl Edwards after Stewart won the season finale at Homestead ahead of Edwards.
While Foyt won four 500s, wins in both the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 escaped Stewart during his driving career. Stewart had fast cars in each of his three Indy 500 starts as a full-time IndyCar driver but mechanical issues ruined two of them. He then finished in the top 10 in 1999 and 2001 when he raced both the 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same day.
Stewart will be at the 500 watching from Foyt's team's pit box while Johnson will be working the May 30 race for NBC. Johnson is racing road and street courses in IndyCar in 2021 and 2022 and will work alongside Danica Patrick as an analyst for NBC's coverage.
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