Tony Stewart is returning to NASCAR.
Kaulig Racing announced Tuesday that the three-time Cup champion will drive for the team in the season-opening Truck Series race at Daytona on Feb. 13.
Kaulig is the main team in RAM’s return to NASCAR. The automaker will join the Truck Series for the 2026 season, which will have four manufacturers for the first time since Dodge last entered the series in 2016. Stewart, whose NHRA team fields the Dodge, will be one of many rotation drivers featured in one of Kauliger’s five trucks this season.
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Stewart, 54, has not competed in a NASCAR race since retiring at the end of the 2016 season. Stewart injured his back while riding a dune buggy and missed the first eight games of that year’s season, but made the playoffs with a win at Sonoma. He ranks 15th in the standings.
This will be Stewart’s first Truck Series appearance in more than 20 years. He has competed in the Truck Series six times in his career, his last appearance in 2005 when he posted top-five finishes in two starts. He won two of those starts – both at Richmond in the early 2000s.
Infamously one of the most successful drivers to never win the Daytona 500, Stewart had plenty of success on the track even though he never won NASCAR’s biggest race. He won four Summer Cup Series championships at the track, with seven of his 11 career Xfinity Series wins coming in the season opener at Daytona.
Stewart will compete with his wife in 2026 after replacing his wife, Leah Pruett, in 2025 for his Tony Stewart Racing team in the NHRA Top Fuel division. Pruitt will return to racing after the couple gave birth to their first child, while Stewart will compete full-time for Elite Motorsports.
