Tony Stewart: Ferrucci the 'only IndyCar driver with balls or passion to do Chili Bowl'

There are plenty of drivers in the IndyCar Series that Tony Stewart believes could find success at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, but he hailed Santino Ferrucci as the only one with enough courage to do it.

Stewart, a two-time Chili Bowl winner (2002, 2007) and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who also hoisted an IndyCar title 1997, is back at the Tulsa Expo Center for the 40th edition famous event for the first time in five years after being named as the grand marshal. 

Following the traditional press conference on Monday morning to kick off the week’s festivities, Stewart was asked by Motorsport.com which drivers currently in North America’s premier open-wheel championship he would love to see attempt the Chili Bowl. 

“On the IndyCar side, I just don’t know,” Stewart said. “Outside of Santino, I think Santino is the only one that has the balls to do it, or the passion to do it, at least. 

“I think IndyCar has a lot of guys that if you gave them the opportunity, they can do it and do it well. There’s a reason that they’ve made it to their level of motorsports in Indy cars because they are fantastic drivers.”

Beyond Ferrucci, the last full-time IndyCar driver to attempt the Chili Bowl was Conor Daly in 2022. Daly made two additional appearances previously in the famed midget race (2019-20), with his best-ever finish being a ninth in the H-Main in 2020. Katherine Legge, a four-time starter of the Indianapolis 500, made her Chili Bowl debut last year (as Ferrucci’s teammate at Abacus Racing).

Prior to Daly, there was the late Bryan Clauson, a three-time Indy 500 starter (2012, 2015-16) who won the Chili Bowl in 2014. And prior to claiming his three IndyCar wins or three Indy 500 poles, Ed Carpenter’s rise included two appearances in the midget classic from 2000-01, which included a heat race win. 

Although Stewart touted Ferrucci, driver of the No. 14 for AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet in IndyCar and Abacus Racing’s No. 16 entry at this year’s Chili Bowl, he recognizes challenges that come with trying to compete outside of a primary discipline.

“I think the hardest part about that is, you know, when I came back and ran here, Joe Gibbs hated it,” said Stewart, noting his former team owner for 10 of his 17 Cup seasons. “He did not want me running anything outside of the Cup car.”

Stewart noted how now Ty Gibbs, grandson to the legendary NASCAR team owner, is now running in a variety of sprint cars and midgets beyond his Cup schedule, which included his Chili Bowl debut last year. 

“That’s one thing from my history on the NASCAR side that I’m proud of is I feel like I took walls that were built and teams didn’t really want their drivers doing anything outside of the Cup stuff, NASCAR side at least.” 

NASCAR has been represented well at the Chili Bowl for the last several years, headlined by the likes of respective three-time winners Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson. In addition to Ty Gibbs, the respectable list also features 2025 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love, along with the event debut of 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Sheldon Creed. Other drivers to recently star in the event include Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar.

Another element that Stewart admitted, though, is how motorsports has changed. 

“I think in this era, it’s not like it used to be in the early days where you had guys that participated in all disciplines,” Stewart said. 

“Guys that get to IndyCar, they’re very structured, disciplined on the path to get there and what their goals are. Dirt racing does not fit into that path, unfortunately. I’m not sure it really does for NASCAR anymore either. 

“We’ve had the pattern of (Ken) Schrader and myself, and guys that have come back and done it enough to at least break the barriers down so these guys can step into it.”