...probably because he had red lights blinking on his steering wheel the whole time. Probably needed an oil change or something
He did it more than once, but the bad thing was, he would usually have to drop out of the 500 early in order to make the start of the 600. Understandable; he was full-time NASCAR and that race was the priority. I think there was one year early in his career when the 500 ran fairly clean and he was able to make it the distance. Tony was always my favorite, @COTiger , so now I've just adopted Stewart/Haas in general as my group favorites. Harvick, Bowyer (who picked up Tony's former ride), Almarola and Suarez have been a strong group.
Did the 500 on iRacing last week, and some idiot wrecked me on about lap 10 while contending for 8th place. Indy in the Dallara is a very easy track in open air, just mash the pedal and hit your marks. Gets a lot more difficult in traffic, though. You pick up 5-7 mph on the straights in the draft, but the lead car takes the air off the front car, so if you don't lift entering turns 1 and 3, you go straight into the wall. The trick becomes learning how to lift just enough so that you maintain control but don't lose too much speed.
online race simulation. Incredibly realistic. Junior used to be a regular on there, and Stewart is on there often as well. Most famous use was when Denny Hamlin won Pocono as a rookie. The entire practice schedule got rained out, and he never ran a lap on the track before going out and winning. Afterward, he said he learned the track on iRacing. Here's a sample from a guy who posts some of his races on youtube with commentary.
