Never afraid to speak his mind (and certainly not afraid of swapping paint with his opponents' race cars at high speed), Tony Stewart is as entertaining away from the racetrack as he is on it. On the track, he is the real deal, winning the series championship at NASCAR's premier level three times.
Being one of only 15 drivers who have ever been crowned champion at least twice in NASCAR, which is America's top-tier stock-car race series and among the four most popular sports in America (the others being football, baseball and basketball), Stewart also has a major open-wheel championship title under his belt in the 1997 Indy Racing League (IRL). In the year prior to winning the IRL title, the Indiana native was named Rookie of the Year for both the 1996 Indy Racing League season and that year's Indianapolis 500.
Stewart made the move from the sleek and ultra-fast Indy cars to the challenge of the thunderous stock cars of NASCAR in 1999 and was named Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. He was named Sprint Cup champion in both the 2002 (Winston Cup) and 2005 (Nextel Cup) seasons and won the prestigious Allstate Brickyard 400 races in 2005 and 2007, held at his favorite venue, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2009, Stewart became an owner/driver when he started a NASCAR team together with Haas Racing and in 2010 finished 7th in the Sprint Cup championship thanks to finishing in the top five in 9 races that year. Although his driving style may not be as aggressive as it was before, his signature bad boy attitude is still intact. It's had not to notice Tony Stewart, who backs up his bravado with rock solid driving performances.