INDYCAR: Indy's 'not like it was 20 years ago' - Stewart

Tony Stewart may be a retired NASCAR driver, but that doesn't mean his racing days are over by any stretch. At the Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis, Stewart told RACER's Robin Miller that he's now free to race what he wants. Will that include some kind of role at the Indianapolis 500?

"I get to run cars that I want to run, when I want to run em – that's the nice part," Stewart said. "Here at PRI we're gathering all the racetrack schedules and now we get to go home and pick which races we're gonna go to. For 18 years in the Cup series and three more years off and on in the Xfinity series, we were under a pretty strict schedule; now the schedule opens up and we get to pick and choose where we want to be."

One race he won't be doing, at least this time around, is January's popular Chili Bowl midget car race in Tulsa, Okla., since "I've already committed to running the tractor and taking care of the racetrack for them. If I did both (track prep and run the race) and I won, they'd say I groomed the track to suit my style!" Stewart quipped.

Asked whether Stewart would consider forming an IndyCar team, if only for the Indianapolis 500, the 1997 IRL IndyCar champ (pictured that year at the 500, top) suggested his plate was full for the moment with the changes and expansion of Stewart-Haas Racing's NASCAR operation for next season.

"We're switching bodies next year [from Chevy to Ford], adding an Xfinity team, we're starting to build our own chassis next year – we're pretty covered up on expansion right now. But I've learned to never say never with anything."

Stewart emphasized, however, that the prospects for "cherry picking" at Indy are now minimal.

"The hard part about doing the 500 is it's not like it was 20 years ago where you could put together a deal and have a really good Indy program," he said. "You look at the teams that win at Indy and run competitively the whole month of May, and they're the teams that run competitive all year. So the IndyCar deal's probably as tough as it's ever been and you're not just gonna waltz in there on a one-off deal and make it work. That era's long gone. There's too many engineers and wind tunnels and engine dynos and everything else that have taken that opportunity away."