Remembering Tony Stewart's first career Cup Series win at Richmond
This weekend at Richmond International Raceway, Tony Stewart continues to race with a heavy heart after returning to the track last weekend for the first time since his involvement in the Aug. 9 sprint-car incident that claimed the life of 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr.
While Stewart -- who skipped three races immediately following Ward's tragic death -- continues to work through his grief, there's still a race to be run on Saturday night and the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion actually has a lot at stake.
With a victory in the Federated Auto Parts 400, Stewart would claim a spot in the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup as one of the last two drivers in the 16-driver championship field.
While Stewart has yet to win a race this season, Richmond offers a terrific chance for the driver nicknamed "Smoke" to close the deal -- which would certainly make for an emotional and bittersweet celebration after all the last few weeks have held.
It was at Richmond, NASCAR history buffs will remember, where a young, clean-shaven Stewart scored his first career win in NASCAR's top series back in September 1999.
Driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car he would ultimately pilot to two of his three championships, Stewart won in his 25th career start and became the first rookie to capture a Sprint Cup Series race since the late Davey Allison in 1987.
"Oh, man. I wish I knew what to say," Stewart, then just 28 years old, said in RIR's Victory Lane. "I mean, you plan all your life for something like this, and I don't know. This is the first time I've been speechless. Everybody knows I know how to talk enough. This is for Davey Allison. This is the mark I had to shoot for all year, and Donnie Allison and his family have been great to me this year. I'm out of breath. That's a lot of stuff to talk about after winning a race."
This weekend marks the 15-year anniversary of that milestone victory, which turned out to be the first of many notable achievements Stewart would go on to attain in NASCAR.
Richmond, a .75-mile track that is a fan-favorite, has been particularly kind to Stewart through the years. Since that first win -- which came on Sept. 11, 1999 -- Stewart has been to Victory Lane twice more at the Virginia venue, which is not surprisingly right at the top of his list of places to race.
"It's not one of my favorite tracks; it is my favorite track," Stewart says. "It is literally the favorite track of mine on the circuit."
Can Stewart win at his favorite track again on Saturday night? He looked really racy in his return last Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, moving up into the top five from his 12th-place starting spot before two wrecks not of his own making ultimately sent him out of the race.
While a Stewart win at Richmond certainly wouldn't erase the pain that he, the Ward family and so many others have felt as a result of last month's tragedy in Upstate New York, it would be fitting for Stewart to deliver a standout performance at a track where he has so many fond memories - none more memorable than the one he made 15 years ago.
