Tony Stewart Racing Photo
NASCAR Wire Reports – Tony Stewart, three-time Cup Series champion and motorsports icon, is officially returning to the NASCAR stage at Daytona in 2026. Stewart will team up with Ram Trucks and Kaulig Racing as the first competitor in Ram’s groundbreaking Free Agent program within the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
Kaulig Racing is kicking off its Free Agent Driver Program in style in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series by naming three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart as the first driver in the No. 25 Ram Trucks entry for the Feb. 13 season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
The announcement was made on Tuesday and came as season preparations were well underway for Kaulig Racing, which is partnering with RAM to field five Truck Series entries this season. Daniel Dye (No. 10), Brenden “Butterbean” Queen (No. 12) and Justin Haley (No. 16) are driving full-time for the team, with a fourth truck (the No. 25) going to a rotation of free-agent drivers like Stewart and the fifth (No. 14) being driven by the winner of the “Race for the Seat” reality TV series.
The Hall of Famer Stewart hasn’t driven in a NASCAR national series race since 2016 in the Cup Series with Stewart-Haas Racing. His participation comes on the heels of NASCAR revealing that The Chase championship format is back, a system in which Stewart won two of his three championships.
“I’ve raced just about everything with four wheels at Daytona, but never a truck. So when a seat in the new Ram was offered up for their first race back in NASCAR, I didn’t hesitate,” Stewart said in a team release. “Ram’s Free Agent program is another great way for me to stay sharp and have a little fun.”
Stewart has started six times in the Truck Series across five seasons from 1996-2005 and won twice, in 2002 and 2003 at Richmond Raceway, in the No. 33 Chevrolet for Andy Petree Racing. Daytona has been home to plenty of success for Stewart, including four points-paying Cup wins, seven O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victories, three exhibition Clash wins and three Duel at Daytona qualifying races for the Daytona 500.
Kaulig’s entrance to the Truck Series delivers Ram back to the series for the first time in over a decade, last winning with Ryan Blaney in 2012. To return with Stewart, who won the 2025 Top Fuel regular-season championship driving for Dodge in NHRA drag racing, Ram brings back a familiar winner to NASCAR competition to start 2026 with a splash.
“We’re not just returning to the track; we’re rewriting the playbook,” Tim Kuniskis, Head of American Brands, SRT Performance, NA Marketing and Retail Strategy at Stellantis, said in a release. “Bringing Tony in as the first Free Agent will generate a crazy amount of excitement, which is exactly why we created the program — allowing fans to watch an all-time favorite driver get back into the seat, but this time, it’s a Ram truck. This is about honoring a legacy. Tony represents grit, determination, and the spirit of racing — pure adrenaline for the fans.”
The Truck Series gets underway this season with the Fresh From Florida 250 at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway (FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).