Three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart has revealed why he chose Daytona for his NASCAR comeback.

Stewart has been inactive as a driver in NASCAR since the end of the 2016 season, but will race in the Truck Series at Daytona International Speedway next month ahead of the Daytona 500.

You have to go back even further for the last time that the 54-year-old raced in a truck, with his most recent Truck Series outing having been at Richmond in 2005 with Kevin Harvick Inc., where he failed to qualify.

Stewart now returns with Kaulig Racing and Ram as part of the latter's free agent driver program and will drive the No. 25 Ram 1500.

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Why Stewart chose Daytona for comeback

Whilst Daytona is undoubtedly the biggest race weekend of the season, there is plenty of scope for things to go wrong for a driver through no fault of their own when it comes to superspeedway racing.

That makes Stewart's decision to return at the World Center of Racing all the more fascinating, but while he accepts there is a risk he could get wrecked, he believes choosing a superspeedway race for his comeback also has its benefits.

“I remember when we figured out exactly what race we were going to run, and I told my wife Leah that it was going to be Daytona, she looked at me and she’s like, ‘Why would you do that?’, and she goes, ‘You’ve always told me it’s about a 70% chance you’re going to get wrecked in any race at Daytona', and I told her, ‘This is how much the Dodge brand and Stellantis and Ram mean to me’," Stewart told Oval Insider and other media.

“Is it the most ideal race for me to run as a driver? Probably not in all reality, but the biggest reason was, it’s Ram’s coming out party. It’s the debut race, it’s at the biggest event of the season at Daytona, why not be a part of that, and why not help kick off the season for Ram and get this off on the right foot?

“Hopefully it brings the excitement. Hopefully it's the right event to kick everything off and get everybody who's a Ram fan excited about it."

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Stewart: Running Daytona puts us more on an even playing field

This decision is not all about hype, however. There was also another reason that Stewart wanted to run at Daytona - he feels it will be a leveller amongst a Truck Series field that is far more familiar than he is with the current trucks and the technology within them.

"The second part of it was I kind of thought through it [and] as much as I realised that there's a lot of potential that we were going to get wrecked, I haven't been in a NASCAR anything for 10 years," Stewart continued.

“So as much as technology's changed, and all these different variables have changed, all these drivers, and all these guys that are running the Truck Series, they know the handling characteristics of these trucks, but when you go to a place like Daytona and Talladega, they aren't necessarily the same handling characteristics. What you truly need to know about is the draft.

“It doesn't matter how much technology changes, the one thing that doesn't change at Daytona is the air. I think our record book shows that we had a pretty good success rate at Daytona, and at least that we understood that part of it.”

Stewart concluded: “I feel like making that decision to run Daytona was more out of the things that I already know about restrictor plate racing and the variables that are the same variables that these kids are going to have to learn.

“So I feel like it puts us more on an even playing field as far as what they know versus what I know right now.

“So that was really ultimately the decision for why I decided to do the truck race at Daytona.”

When is Tony Stewart's comeback NASCAR race?

Stewart's highly anticipated NASCAR return is scheduled for February 13 at Daytona International Speedway.

The race, titled the Fresh From Florida 250, is set to start at 7:30pm ET and will be broadcast live on FS1, with radio coverage also available on SiriusXM and NASCAR Racing Network.

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