Tony Stewart’s retirement is now official. News broke a couple days that the 2016 season would be Stewart’s last, but on Wednesday, he made it official with an emotional press conference.
You can watch the announcement in its entirety above.
Over a 17-year NASCAR career, Stewart has 48 career victories and three premier series titles. He won the Winston Cup Series in 2002, the Nextel Cup Series in 2005 and the Sprint Cup Series in 2011. As fellow driver Ryan Ellis noted, the sport will be much different without both Stewart and Jeff Gordon, who is retiring after the current season:
Losing @JeffGordonWeb & @TonyStewart so closely shows a generational change in our sport. 2 great guys – both, my heroes. Gonna be a change.
When Stewart walks away from the sport, Clint Bowyer will take over behind the wheel of the No. 14 car Stewart-Haas Racing. Bowyer drives for Michael Waltrip Racing, but the team announced it would not field a full team starting next season.