Tony Stewart said he retired from the Cup Series partly for this reason


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While Tony Stewart is technically retired, he's been no stranger to dirt and short track races since he "retired."

Stewart recently announced he might race in some Xfinity Series road course races next season, but he still doesn't seem to have any interest in returning to the Cup Series.

Why? Well, according to AutoWeek, Stewart believes driver talent is now less important than engineering, and he said the sport's aerodynamics problem partly led him to retire.

"That's one of the reasons why I decided to do something different this year," Stewart said. "I wanted to race cars where I felt like I could make a difference.

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"So that's why I'm looking at the road courses for next year. They make you feel like you matter as a driver. I didn't always feel that way on ovals as a driver last year because of the aerodynamics."

Related: Tony Stewart admits some strange hobbies

Stewart reiterated that if he comes back, it won't be in the Cup Series. He said there are road courses in the Xfinity Series he'd like to race at in the future. Stewart believes driver talent still comes into play at road courses.

"If I come back, it won't be in a Cup car," Stewart said. "You know, everyone has talked about me running a Truck at Eldora. And you know, there are some road course races. I loved road course racing during my time as a Cup driver, so there are some road courses that Xfinity races on that I've never been to and I would like to try.

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"I've explored doing that somewhere down the road."

The 46-year-old three-time Cup Series champion stays busy as the part-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and he still enjoys racing when he can. Don't expect to see him return full-time at any level, but he likely will be racing again in the near future.

 

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