It was close to midnight, and Charlotte Motor Speedway was nearly deserted.
It’s light towers, serving as sentinels in the dark, still lit up the racing surface, but the grandstands had emptied and there was no sound, the roar of the race cars in the 1999 Coca-Cola 600 having long since reverberated into the night.
In the infield, the last spectators, headlights flashing as they left, were winding their way toward the tunnel which would take them out of the track and home.
Back in the garage, which was almost empty, down the aisle that led past all the tools and parts and pieces needed to put the finishing touches on a competitive stock car, Tony Stewart sat in the front of his hauler and rested on a couch. He was exhausted.
He had just run the Memorial Day double, the Indy 500, where he finished 9th, and then the Coca-Cola 600, where he was fourth. He had not completed every lap of both races, falling four short at Indy, but his performance was the best anyone had ever done to that point.
And he had put on a show at Charlotte, gutting out all 400 laps although it had been an ordeal that left Stewart completely drained. After climbing from his car, Stewart sank to his knees. He talked to no one. The only place he went afterwards was the infield care center. There, he took some ice packs and was given fluids to drink. He did not want an IV…
Running 1,100 miles on the same day requires planning. Once the checkered flag flew at Indy, Stewart was rushed to an airport where a private jet was waiting to take him to Concord, N.C., a Charlotte suburb and a 55 minute flight.
There, he boarded a helicopter for a quick trip to CMS, descending from the sky in front of a cheering throng and immediately changing into his driver’s uniform and getting ready to race – again.
For a very tired Stewart, the Coca-Cola 600 had been a test of will. He spun on the second lap, apparently for no reason. He managed to pull himself together, but as the miles went by, he started to lose focus.
It became harder and harder to run the correct line through the corners, harder and harder to keep the car from wobbling in the straights, harder and harder to pass although Stewart had really done an amazing job of that.
Forced to start dead last, 43rd, because he missed the mandatory drivers meeting, Stewart began a steady march forward. And with 90 laps to go, he was leading the race. But he couldn’t keep the lead. He was too tired, two worn out.
Now, in his hauler, everything was quiet. Only Stewart’s voice broke the silence. He had, he said, almost nothing to eat all day, and that, he thought, might have contributed to his problems. He had, he said, two mini-bagels before Indy and two power bars on the plane.
“They tried to give me another power bar during the (Charlotte) race, but did you ever try to open one of those things wearing driving gloves?” Stewart asked. “I got most of it all over me.”
In the pits, Stewart’s crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, spent almost as much time working on Stewart as he did the car. “Whenever we came in, they threw ice packs in the car and gave me a bottle to drink,” Stewart continued, still slumped on his couch.
“I kept drinking and drinking and drinking, but the bottle would get hot and I don’t think it helped much. Toward the end, I got light-headed and I was nauseous twice.
“I never use the head rest in cars, and I used the head rest the last 60, 70 laps,” Stewart went on. “I felt like I was 90 percent and leaving 10 percent on the table.”
There was a pause in the conversation as Stewart collected his thoughts. And then came the question that had to be asked.
Stewart, who had grown up in open wheel cars, was running his first season in NASCAR, teamed with Bobby Labonte at Joe Gibbs Racing, a relatively new organization that was quickly establishing itself as one of the sport’s best. Had running the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 cost him the race?
“It might have,” Stewart admitted. “Running both races wasn’t fair to these guys (his crew). They work seven days a week on my car and they deserve more. Next year, I won’t run Indy. I’m going to concentrate on the 600.
“I’m here for the long haul and much as I’d love to go back, I’m going to stick it out with these guys. These guys have been great to me. They’re my family now.”
Of course Stewart did go back, in 2001. And this time, he was ready. Gibbs, his team owner, made sure of that. He told Stewart if he was going to do the double again, he was going to do it right.
Gibbs got him a personal trainer, Stewart learned from his mistakes and this time, he finished sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte. And he ran every lap.
That’s the standard if you want to give it a go, and it’s a pretty high hurdle to get over.
NASCAR’s Kyle Larson, generally regarded as the most talented driver in American motorsports, gave it a shot last year but couldn’t pull it off, in part because of bad weather at Charlotte.
His effort paled in comparison to Stewart’s, though. At Indy, Larson ran all 200 laps and finished 18th, but that was well behind Stewart’s sixth place finish in 2001. Larson then flew back to Charlotte where the race was in a rain delay.
Justin Allgeier had started his car and was still in it when the rain came. Had the race continued, Larson was scheduled to get in after the end of the third stage, which means he would only have run 100 of the 400 laps.
Anyway, he’ll do it again this year and hope for better results. Larson has an emotionless, almost robotic approach to racing, never over reacting to anything, good or bad, and maybe that’s what it takes.
But, for whatever it’s worth, here’s a tip. When you start your day, try eating something besides mini-bagels and power bars.
NASCAR NOTES – Three most likely winners at Charlotte: 1-Ryan Blaney, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-Kyle Larson. Last year’s winner at Charlotte: Bell. Top five at Charlotte last year: 1-Bell, 2-Brad Keselowski, 3-William Byron, 4-Tyler Reddick, 5-Denny Hamlin.
Old Guy Sport’s pick last week: No pick, All-Star race.
OGS competition index top 10: 1-Larson 287 points, 2-Bell 227, 3-Hamlin 218, 4-Byron 139, 5-Blaney 107, 6-Josh Berry 83, 7-Bubba Wallace 73, 8-Joey Logano 70, 9-Reddick 67, 10-Alex Bowman 62.
OGS competition index top 10 on intermediate tracks: 1-Larson 172, 2-Blaney 92, 3-Byron 88, 4-Bell 70, 5-Hamlin 63, 6-Berry 59, 7-Logano 58, Bowman 58; 9-Ross Chastain 51, 10-Daniel Suarez 41, Wallace 41.
INDY NOTES – Three most likely winners at Indy: 1-Alex Palou, 2-Scott Dixon, 3-Pato O’Ward. Last year’s winner at Indy: Josef Newgarden. Top five at Indy last year: 1-Newgarden, 2-O’Ward, 3-Dixon, 4-Alexander Rossi, 5-Palou.
IRL point standings going into Indy: 1-Palou, 248 points, 2-Kyle Kirkwood 151, 3-Christian Lundgaard 150, 4-O’Ward 148, 5-Scott McLaughlin 137, 6-Dixon 134, 7-Will Power 128, 8-Felix Rosenqvist 125, 9-Colton Herta 104, 10-Rinus Veekay 100.
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