NASCAR At Texas Motor Speedway: Tony Stewart Hits Wall, Needs Backup Car

Tony Stewart knew exactly where to place the blame after he hit the wall during Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway.

“I just got loose and didn’t have enough race track to get it gathered up,” he said. “So, driver error.”

The rare mistake by Stewart forced his No. 14 team to pull out the backup car it brought to Texas and load its primary car – which had just won at Las Vegas last month – back onto the transporter.

Fortunately for Stewart, the backup car isn’t too shabby, either. It’s the same car that dominated the Texas race last November and went to Victory Lane with the eventual Sprint Cup champ.

“I think we feel better with this one so far,” he said. “It’s doing everything that we were trying to get the other one to do.”

Stewart had struggled with his primary car, which was surprising given his previous performance at Texas.

The reason, he said, was because Stewart-Haas Racing was experimenting with setup elements it believed would help the car after it participated in a tire test at Texas.

“I think we thought we were better with some things that don’t seem to be better with these conditions the way they are,” said Stewart, who noted the tire test was held in cooler temperatures. “I think when we were here, the stuff we learned was definitely productive, just maybe not for 40 degrees warmer.”