Stewart’s Knoxville Nationals throwback honors Gordon

KNOXVILLE - Throwbacks have long been popular in sports. Jerseys in stick-and-ball sports and paint schemes in motorsports jog memories and spark endless stories.

For the 2015 Knoxville Nationals, one car carried a throwback to honor a racing legend in his final year of competition. Larson-Marks Racing driver Shane Stewart wore a throwback racing suit and shed his normal white No. 2 for a yellow No. 16 for the Nationals - a paint scheme ran by four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and future Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon when he was starting out in Sprint Cars.

Stewart got to unveil the car to Gordon earlier this week, and took it to Victory Lane on the opening night of Knoxville Nationals qualifiers on Wednesday while Gordon was in attendance. It's a scheme that means a lot to everyone involved.

'The Kick-It Foundation wanted to commemorate Jeff Gordon's career since he's retiring from full-time racing,” Stewart said. 'Jeff had no idea - which was really cool too. It's been a really special week so far. Winning Wednesday with those guys here was really special.

'He was really surprised. He had no idea about the suit either. He was ecstatic about it and even got a little emotional, they said, when they showed him the car. Just what the guy's done inside the racecar, let alone outside it, makes it really special to be a part of.”

The Kick-It Foundation is a charity benefiting children that Gordon is a major part of, and with the help of Stewart and his paint scheme raising awareness the group raised $112,000 so far this year.

Stewart's summer has involved victories many racers wait an entire career to achieve. On July 18 (actually the wee hours of July 19), he won the King's Royal at Eldora Speedway. Last Saturday he won the Ironman 55 at I-55 Speedway in Missouri. Then he and his team drove through the night to get to Knoxville for the Captaini Classic on Sunday - in which he got another win.

This is his first season running the World of Outlaws tour full-time with Larson-Marks Racing, and needless to say it's gone pretty well.

'It's a lot of hard work and endless hours to keep the car fast,” Stewart said. 'We've been the most consistent (on the World of Outlaws tour) minus Donny (Schatz). It being our first year out here full-time says a lot about our program.

'Justin Marks and Kyle Larson give us the tools to do our job right, which is huge.”

Having the crew he does behind him has resulted in the most confidence headed into a Knoxville Nationals he's ever had. Saturday night marked the 15th straight A-main he'd qualified for, and started the A-main from 12th position.

Even with that extra confidence, those wins don't relate directly to the Knoxville Nationals due to its unique and long qualifying format. His work was cut out for him with the best Sprint Car racers in the country around him.

'Riding the wave coming into this week does help,” Stewart said. 'We (had) a good enough car to get up there and compete, but a lot of things have to go your way.

'I felt coming into the Nationals this was going to be our best shot to get a win.”

For full race coverage from the Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway, go to thegazette.com/sports.

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