Tony Stewart Officially Makes Chase For Sprint Cup In Final Year

Tony Stewart has officially qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in his final year, securing the spot with his 21st-place finish at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

Tony Stewart Officially Makes Chase For Sprint Cup In Final Year

His victory at Sonoma (California) Raceway in June meant he needed to reach the top 30 in points and stay there, after missing the first eight races while recovering from a broken back.

The 45-year-old, three-time Cup champion is racing in his final season in NASCAR’s top-tier series.  Stewart began his Cup career in 1999 and has won at least one race a year every season except for 2014 and 2015.

His win at Sonoma on June 26 ended an 84-race winless streak. The following week, he finished 26th at Daytona International Speedway, thus reaching the top 30 in points.

Stewart is also one of the many sports stars who weighed in on the controversy surrounding the San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit in protest during the national anthem during an NFL preseason game. The quarterback, who is mixed-race, stated he refused to stand for the flag of a country “that oppresses black people and people of color.”

Stewart took to Twitter Monday to call the QB an ‘idiot’ in the form of a hashtag, all while defending police for their work.

“I’m sorry but (Kaepernick) needs to learn the fact about police before running his (expletive) mouth! He has no clue what they go thru!” the driver tweeted.

However, sports fans on Twitter fired back at Stewart, calling him out for striking and killing 20-year-old Sprint Cup driver Kevin Ward, Jr. during a dirt track race in Canandaigua, New York in 2014. The Ontario County (New York) District Attorney later announced that a grand jury found no reason to charge Stewart in connection with Ward’s death.

Stewart then retorted, calling one user an ‘idiot’ as well.

Who knows how long this feud will go on, but clearly, not everyone thinks Kaepernick’s form of protest was appropriate.

Stewart’s results by track are listed in order of the remaining 2016 schedule (through Homestead-Miami Speedway), followed by the tracks where he has run his last Cup event. He has won at every current Cup track except Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway, the site of next week’s race.

*-Stewart raced at Rockingham Speedway from 1999-2004. The series no longer races there.

Source: Racing-reference.com

SONOMA, CA – JUNE 26: Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Code 3 Assoc/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, leads Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Cares Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 26, 2016 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)