Tony Stewart 'not sentimental' over Indianapolis NASCAR farewell

The local hero and lifelong Indiana resident won the Brickyard 400 in 2005 and '07, and has also contested the Indianapolis 500 five times, dominating on his debut in 1996 until an engine failure.

Despite the media attention on him this weekend, Stewart insisted it was business as usual for him.

"You guys are going to make a lot more out of this than what I'm going to make out of it this weekend," he said.

"I am literally just coming here in my mind like it is just another race, and it's another weekend here at Indy.

"I'm not doing all the sentimental crying stuff that you guys think I'm going to be doing.

"I'm probably more prepared for a Brickyard than I have been any other year."

Stewart missed the first eight races this season because of a broken back suffered in a desert dune buggy accident at the end of January.

He ended a three-year win drought at Sonoma last month and has now advanced into the top 30 in the championship, making him eligible to be part of the Chase.

Fifth and second places in the last two events at Kentucky and New Hampshire continued an upsurge from Stewart after a long period of struggling.

That time also included severe leg injuries from a sprint car crash in 2013 and the death of sprint car rival Kevin Ward Jr when struck by Stewart's car the following summer.

Stewart said he hoped people now understood that his run of poor Cup results had been due to struggling with the latest generation cars rather than any emotional difficulty.

"Anytime you get hurt like I did with my leg injury and everything that happened after that, there is always speculation over why you are not running good," he said.

"You guys had asked the same question: has that been a factor in it?

"It's been nice to kind of get it all put behind us and show everybody that is not what this is all about and that was not the factor.

"It just was getting cars to feel right.

"I think that was the biggest thing, just trying to get through the speculation of 'can he do this anymore?' and 'why is he not competitive?'

"When you finally get going and you start running up front with guys that you are used to running with again, then you are getting text messages after the race saying 'hey it was glad to see you up there with us again'.

"That is the stuff that makes you feel like 'hey, we are back where we belong now.'"

One concession to the occasion Stewart is making this weekend is a special helmet honouring his racing hero AJ Foyt, the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.

"I'm keeping this one because it is my last race here," Stewart said.