Stewart would consider substitute role in ’17 – Nascar

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Tony Stewart said Friday that he’s completely content with Jeff Gordon ‘s return taking away some of the spotlight on his final scheduled start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In fact, he said if the situation arose, he’d be open to a similar substitute role for his Stewart-Haas Racing team after his full-time career ends.

Stewart, 45, is set for what should be his last race on the historic 2.5-mile track in Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents The Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The event dovetails with Gordon emerging from retirement this weekend to substitute for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he recovers from concussion-like symptoms.

When Stewart was asked whether he and co-owner Gene Haas had discussed a similar contingency plan after his full-time driving days end this season, the three-time NASCAR champion said he was open to the idea.

“We never thought of that, but actually it’s something that I’ve thought about since the talk came about Jeff getting back in the car,” said Stewart, a two-time Indy winner in NASCAR competition. “We don’t have a feeder system, we don’t have an XFINITY team, we don’t have anybody who’s in our system to bring up if that is the case. We’ll talk about it, I’m sure, at some point. I’m definitely open to this scenario if it were to happen down the road and we needed somebody. I definitely would be open to what Jeff’s doing this weekend.”