At the time of his earlier wins, Tony Stewart was a driver for the Joe Gibbs racing team. Today, however, as the owner of his own team, Stewart made history as the first driver-owner to win a championship race in nearly a decade.
The last time a championship race was won by a driver who was also the team owner was in 1992 by Alan Kulwicki.
During an interview after the race, Stewart responded to questions about the historical milestone and a comparison to Kulwicki. “It’s an honor to be in the same category with Alan Kulwicki,” Stewart said. “But Alan did it all on his own. I’ve got a great co-owner with Gene Haas, and Joe Custer helped put all this together with Rick Hendrick.”
With this third victory, Stewart joins an elite club in the NASCAR racing family. He can now be listed among the names of Lee Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough as one of only nine drivers to ever win three or more championships.