Stewart prepared to defend Chili Bowl title
By SceneDaily Staff Report
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
- TEXT SIZE: Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Reset Text Size
- No Comments. Leave a Comment
- Digg This
- Add to Del.icio.us
- RSS Feeds
SCOTT WINTROW / GETTY IMAGES /
Latest Headlines
Tony Stewart has won 32 NASCAR Cup races, led the 24 Hours of Daytona, and started from the pole position in the Indianapolis 500. Yet, it is the upcoming Chili Bowl Midget Nationals that he seems to rank on top of his list.
"Yeah, if I could run only one race a year, and I had to pick, it would definitely be the Chili Bowl," he said in a news release.
Stewart is the defending champion on the event. The 22nd annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals will be held Jan. 8-12 inside the Tulsa Expo Center. The main event, on Jan. 12, will be televised on HBO pay-per-view.
Stewart won the race in both 2002 and 2007. This season, 280-plus Midgets are expected to be in Tulsa for the event.
"When you've got [that many] guys that come to one track to try to make a 24-car starting field, and you beat those guys, that's something," Stewart said. "You just don't get lucky and do that.That's something you have to earn. I mean, the pressure is very intense to perform well - not only for myself, but for everybody there - because there's so many great champions from so many different parts of the country, and they want to prove that they're the best."
Stewart is one of several drivers with NASCAR connections scheduled to compete in this year's race. Others include Sprint Cup drivers Kasey Kahne and J.J. Yeley, Nationwide Series drivers Jason Leffler, Tim McCreadie, Bobby East, Bryan Clauson and Josh Wise, as well as part-time NASCAR driver P.J. Jones.
Leffler agrees with Stewart on the enormity of the event.
"I tell everybody they need to go there once just to see the spectacle," Leffler said. "They'll have 300 race cars with trucks and trailers and 20,000 people all under one roof. You go in this building at 9 a.m., and you don't come out until midnight. It's like its own little world in there."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- J.J. Yeley
No Comments
Be the first to comment on "Stewart prepared to defend Chili Bowl title". Login or sign up for a free account below to post your comment