Tony Stewart is a three-time Cup Series champion who is highly respected in the motorsports community. There aren’t many accolades that he hasn’t won or fame that he hasn’t experienced. But some of his most incredible possessions lie inside his garage and very few can match the icon’s car collection.
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Back in 2020, Jeff Gordon interviewed Stewart about his collection for an Around The Track segment. The duo walked around the garage looking over the cars that Stewart has acquired over his long career.
Most of these cars were retired dirt cars and racecars that he won championships with in IROC, NASCAR, and IndyCar. A notable one among them was the No. 20 car that he used when at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Stewart won multiple road course races while with the team and he has the chassis that helped him do it all. He noted that the chassis number of the car was 048. “That was a very early car in the Gibbs system,” he said. Gordon responded by mentioning that he remembered a race in which he got beat by that exact chassis, and evoked laughter from Stewart.
The duo then moved on to the car with which he won the 2005 championship and others. One of the cars that he doesn’t believe to be cool is the Cup Series car that he used during the 2001 Daytona 500. 25 laps before the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt Sr., Stewart crashed on the track’s back stretch. His car hit the wall, went up in the air, and landed on his teammate Bobby Labonte’s ride.
The integrity of the cage’s tubing had been compromised and very nearly hurt him fatally. When Labonte had asked him if he wanted the top of the car cut off so that he could get out, Stewart refused since he didn’t want to “hurt the car.” And so, it sits in his garage in a mangled form.
Filled with awe, Gordon said that it was moments like that which show what a race car driver truly goes through. Stewart was one of the drivers to get a signature series version of the Monte Carlo. When he transitioned to the No. 14 car, he brought home the 14th 5th generation Camaro and the 14th C7 Corvette that were manufactured.
Race cars aren’t the only speedsters under his roof. He has multiple motorbikes but isn’t allowed to hop on them for a ride due to insurance compliances. Not many other drivers can flex their car collections as hard as Stewart. But Dale Earnhardt Jr. comes dangerously close to doing that. It is quite amazing that the icons have found a way to battle off the track and after retirement.
