Tony Stewart finds humor in Rico Abreu’s latest post after signing with TSR 

After ending his long and successful run with Donny Schatz, former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart has chosen Rico Abreu to carry his Sprint Car program forward. The two have already built a good rapport, with Abreu joking about having to “look up” to Stewart, literally, drawing a laugh from the team owner.

For context, Abreu is a professional racecar driver of short stature, making the remark both lighthearted and respectful. It also underscored the admiration he holds for Stewart, whose decorated career spans from winning the 1997 IndyCar championship to capturing three NASCAR Cup Series titles.

In a post on X, Rico Abreu shared a short skit with the caption:

“I have always looked up to you (Tony Stewart)… literally.”

Team owner Tony Stewart reposted it with a simple reply:

“😂.”

Their new partnership will see Tony Stewart Racing lease Abreu’s team to compete in the 2026 Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series, a 410-winged division co-owned by NASCAR star Kyle Larson. With this setup, the 32-year-old gets to keep his core crew, including crew chief Ricky Warner, car chief Zack Middlebrooks, and tire specialist Brady Forbrook.

Abreu currently leads the 2025 season with a 25-point edge in the standings. Overall, he is the winningest driver in the series’ history, with 21 victories in 98 starts.

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“He always treated me with respect”: Rico Abreu on misconceptions about Tony Stewart

Rico Abreu shed light on what Tony Stewart is really like behind the scenes. He praised Stewart, noting that the 49-time NASCAR Cup race winner has always treated him with respect—even though many racing fans view him as intimidating and aggressive on the track.

In an interview with Motorsports.com, Abreu, who will drive the #24 Tony Stewart Racing sprint car next year, said:

“People see the other side of Tony Stewart. The part of him that is a gruff, hard a**, but all I’ve ever seen from Tony is kindness. Someone kept breaking into our shop, and Tony told me to come over and work out of his place, and I was reluctant to at first.”

He added:

“He always treated me with respect. He respected me as a racer. I haven’t always had confidence. As a little person, believing that I fit in here, but he always made me feel like I belonged. I learned a lot about leadership from Tony. And above all else, when we got done doing (Dale Jr. Download), I just sent him a thank you text for all of that because I don’t know that I would have made it without people like him who made me feel welcome here in the first place.”

During his NASCAR days, Stewart was infamous for fiery run-ins with drivers like Joey Logano and Kurt Busch, and even threw his helmet at Matt Kenseth’s car at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2012. These days, though, the 54-year-old has embraced a different side of life—as a family man with his wife, drag racer Leah Pruett, and their son Dominic James, born in November 2024 during the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) season finale at Pomona Dragstrip.

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Edited by Zarec Sanchez