Tony Stewart winning the Brickyard 400 was great to watch. Excuse me, I should say the All-State 400 at the Brickyard. Indiana boy making good on a dream he’s had for a long time. It was a special moment in American motorsports, one of those rare occasions when something means so much to a driver, something that has eluded him throughout his career and something he’s worked for his entire life. It was very emotional when he took that checkered flag.

Many fans of the IRL are talking about the comments his father said following his win, something to the effect of Tony winning the second biggest race at the brickyard and needing only the 500. something like that. Fans of the IRL are speculating as to whether Tony should do the double next year. Some even suggested he drop NASCAR and return to the IRL. Although that expose would certainly outshine anything Danica has accomplished, I doubt it would ever happen. Although Tony grew up dreaming of an open-wheel win at the Indy 500, he’s never accomplished it. He’s tried, running there a few times and was even the IRL champion back in the early days of that league. But whether it was fate or what, Tony Stewart is a stockcar driver and will always be known as a stockcar driver. There’s no point in going back. Naturally he makes 27 times more money in NASCAR, but this isn’t what this is all about. Its about who Tony Stewart is as a person. Whether Tony still wants to chase that boyhood dream of winning the Indy 500 or not, he will forever be known and remembered as a stockcar driver and a pretty darn good one at that. It would astound me if he returned to open-wheel for the chance to drink the milk. But, it wouldn’t be the first time that Tony surprised us all, would it?

Last year, the highlight of the season probably took place in Denver when Bourdais was forced all the way to the back of the pack, but came back in spectacular fashion to win the event. Bourdais went from 15th to 9th by lap 7. 7!! And it wasn’t even with an overpowered IRL Honda engine! Here’s the breakdown, cause I love this:
13th on lap 2 after passing Mazzacane and Jourdain
11th on lap 5 after passing Gonzalez and Smith (remember him?)
10th on lap 6 after passing Vasser
9th on lap 7 after passing Haberfeld
then…
8th on lap 9 after passing Wilson
7th on lap 19 after passing Hunter-Reay
6th on lap 23 after passing Carpentier (remember him?)
5th on lap 32 after passing AJ
4th on lap 41 after beating Servia out of the pits (team sport baby!)
3rd on lap 55 after passing Junquiera
2nd on lap 79 while passing (and nudging) Dominguez
1st on lap 80 after passing Tracy.
It’s the kind of race you wish Desdain and all the other people who are ignorant of Champ Car and skeptical of these city tracks would have watched. It should eliminate all doubters that you can’t pass on street tracks. The good news is that these naysayers are getting far and few between. There are still a couple of old stubborn journalists who will never change their opinions, but they hardly matter anymore anyway. The media and more importantly the fans are finding out that the show that Champ Cars put on the streets of wherever is a damn good show and a damn good exhibition of motor-racing. This weekend will be no different.