Just because Tony Stewart will be done with NASCAR at the end of 2016, doesn't mean he'll be done with racing.
But the three-time Sprint Cup champion did make a surprising announcement about where he will race, according to Sporting News.
Tony Stewart Announces He's Done After 2016
"I plan on running a lot of dirt races after the end of the season when I retire from the Cup stuff, so I would say this is on the radar," Stewart said during a press conference Monday at dirt racing's Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla.
Stewart has not competed in dirt-track races since Aug. 2014, when Kevin Ward Jr. was killed in an incident involving the NASCAR team owner/driver.
Legal Expert: Tony Stewart Has No Reason To Settle With Kevin Ward's Family
Ward got out of his car after a crash and approached Stewart's car to confront him when Stewart's right rear tire caught Ward, hurdling him some 25 feet forward in the air. Ward died from the injuries.
A grand jury cleared Stewart of any wrongdoing in the tragedy, but Ward's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him. Many race analysts have theorized the incident affected his driving, taking away the aggression he drove with on stock car racing's highest circuit. Stewart hasn't won a Sprint Cup race since June 2013.
The 44-year-old Stewart said that winning the Chili Bowl, a one-race, dirt-track event, is a bigger accomplishment than winning a series championship.
"The first time I won the Chili Bowl, we had already won the Triple Crown (USAC titles for sprints, midgets and Silver Crown) and won an IndyCar championship," Stewart said. "Winning the Chili Bowl, a one-race event, was bigger than winning the IndyCar championship to me. It was much harder to win the Chili Bowl. Everybody wants this trophy. It's just a special deal."
Speculation had surfaced that Stewart couldn't bring himself to race on dirt tracks again. But in retirement, what else is there for Stewart to do?
"There's great racing across the country and there's neat marquee events that you look at in the paper, and you're like, 'Man, it would be really cool to try that,'" Stewart said last year, according to Sporting News. "We're now going to have that opportunity in a couple years to do that."
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