Tony Stewart 'relaxed and focused' heading into final Indianapolis start

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer
Tony Stewart won the Brickyard 400 in 2005 and 2007 (Getty).
Tony Stewart won the Brickyard 400 in 2005 and 2007 (Getty).

INDIANAPOLIS – Tony Stewart doesn’t know how many family and friends will be in attendance for Sunday’s Brickyard 400. And he doesn’t want to know.

Stewart, an Indiana native and two-time winner of the Brickyard 400, is retiring at the end of the 2016 season. Since Indianapolis Motor Speedway is so special to Stewart – he’s competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times as well – it’s natural to think Stewart will be sentimental this weekend.

He’s not. Or if he is, he didn’t want to show it on Friday.

“You guys are going to make a lot more out of this than what I’m going to make out of it this weekend,” Stewart said. “I am literally just coming here in my mind like it is just another race, and it’s another weekend here at Indy. I’m not doing all the sentimental crying stuff that you guys think I’m going to be doing. I’m going to race this weekend. I’m more focused – I’m probably more prepared for a Brickyard than I have been any other year.”

Stewart said he was confident in his car after an earlier tire test at Indianapolis.

“You guys can ask me all about how I’m feeling, thinking, whatever but you are wasting my time and your time because all I care about is driving that race car right now,” he said. “It is probably the most focused I’ve been getting ready for a race. It is not amped up, or anything that. I’m just really relaxed and focused and feel good going into it. That is the way I need to do it.”

Hell, maybe this won’t be Stewart’s final Brickyard 400. Jeff Gordon’s final Brickyard 400 was all set to be in 2015 and he’s racing on Sunday in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr. With Gordon’s brief return to the Cup Series, Stewart was asked if he’d be open to returning if Stewart-Haas ever needed a fill-in driver.

“It is something that I thought about since the talk came about Jeff getting back in the car,” Stewart said. “We don’t have a feeder system. We don’t have an Xfinity team. We don’t have anybody that’s in our system to bring up if that is the case. We will talk about it at some point, but I am definitely open to that scenario if it were to happen down the road and we needed somebody, I would be open to doing what Jeff is doing this weekend.”

Stewart also added that he’d be keeping the helmet he’s wearing for the race and we can understand why. He uses the No. 14 in the Cup Series in honor of Foyt.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!