Tony Stewart comments on rumors of historic dirt oval Eldora Speedway sale

Rumors have been revolving around in the NASCAR community about the alleged sale of Eldora Speedway. Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner, Tony Stewart also owns the Eldora Speedway. After SHR announced its closure at the end of the season, rumors suggested that Tony Stewart was looking to sell the historic dirt oval.

The three-time Cup Series champion has owned the "Big E" since 2004 when he bought it from Earl Baltes, the founder and then owner of Eldora Speedway. The clay dirt oval track is 0.5 miles in length, with high banking, and is currently located in New Weston, Ohio. Stewart has been observed to be directly involved in the handling of the speedway since he retired from Cup Series racing, back in 2016

In a recent interview with FloRacing, Tony Stewart made a statement clearing the air about these rumors. He said:

"I don't know who was really bored at home and thought they were going to play a nice practical joke, but this track is not sold and it is not for sale. This is a tradition with Earl and Berneice, that they started back in'54 and we're proud to be owners of this race track." [at 00:29]

Stewart further talks about the personal relationship and passion that he shares with Earl Baltes for the track, and how selling it was never in the books. The Cup Series owner added how this rumor almost had financial ramifications as the sponsors for Eldora heard about it, and thought that he might not have been honest with them. Stewart said:

"I had to spend three hours sending text messages to people saying this is not true, and it does, it affects everybody involved. It affects the fans, it affects our partners, our sponsors. It created a lot of problems yesterday that we didn't need." [01:28]

Tony Stewart then applauded the handling of this situation by his team and the staff that works on this historic speedway.

Eldora Speedway has hosted the Crown Jewels for Dirt Late-Mode Racing and the World 100. It has witnessed the likes of Kyle Larson and the legendary Jack Hewitt, along with Tony Stewart himself.

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Tony Stewart grieves the loss of Jerry Gappens

Eldora Speedway's GM Jerry Gappens passed away at the age of 63 last week. In the time that Jerry Gappens was GM at Eldora, he continued the tradition of holding the biggest dirt-track events including Eldora's Million, the first winged sprint car race that paid a whopping $1 million.

Tony Stewart expressed his feelings on his demise and shed light on the impact that Jerry Gappens had on and off the track. In a recent post on X, Stewart said:

"He was a mentor, a friend and he was great with our employees, race teams and race fans. He was one of a kind and will be greatly missed."

A billboard has been hung on the main building at Eldora Speedway, in memory of Jerry Gappens.