by Dena White

Created on: August 05, 2008   Last Updated: November 24, 2008

Name a race, pick a car, choose a venue and Tony Stewart has won them all. From the first time he put his go-kart on the track at Westport, Indiana in 1978, to becoming the driver of the #20 Home Depot Camry, owned by Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he has won eleven championships.

A two-time champion in the Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart's best known titles are the two wins in the pinnacle series of NASCAR. He beat veteran Mark Martin in 2002 by thirty-eight points to win his first championship. His second championship came in 2005 when he beat out Greg Biffle by thirty-five points.

The Columbus, Indiana native has won championship after championship. Tony Stewart first came to NASCAR nine years ago via IRL IndyCar Series, where he held the championship in 1997. Before Indy cars, there was the United States Auto Club. Stewart left his mark on the USAC world by winning four championships, including the then unheard of "Triple Crown" win.

There are three national touring divisions in the United States Auto Club Silver Crown, Sprint and Midget. In 1994, Stewart won the title in the Midget division, finished tenth in the Sprint division and sixth in Silver Crown. He came back the next year and won the title in all three divisions. The USAC top-three national divisions run very different types of cars, competing on both dirt and asphalt. Before Tony Stewart, no driver had ever won all three championships in one season.

It became apparent at a very young age that Tony Stewart would be successful. When he was only eight-years-old, he claimed his first championship at the Columbus Fairgrounds in a 4-cycle rookie junior class race. He won two national karting championships as well, the International Karting Federation Grand National Championship in 1983 and the World Karting Association National Championship five years later. With the addition of the International Race of Champions title in 2006, Tony Stewart is clearly in his own league.

Tony Stewart is the only driver to ever win championships in open-wheel Silver Crown, Sprint and Midget cars, Indy cars and stock cars. His championship wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series make him one of only fifteen drivers to hold multiple titles in the series.

In his rise to fame, Tony Stewart has won some of motorsports' biggest races. He won the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard twice, once in 2005 then again in 2007. In 2005, 2006 and 2008, Stewart won the NASCAR Nationwide Series season opener race at Daytona. He

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