INDIANAPOLIS — A day after being inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Tony Stewart received the news that he was on the ballot for the 2020 Class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. This is the first year he was eligible to even be on the ballot as it’s likely a sure thing that the Indiana native will be a first ballot inductee next winter.

That could make the second straight year that an Indiana native was elected to this prestigious honor. Just this past year, Pittsboro’s own Jeff Gordon landed himself into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a first ballot inductee as well.

Granted, Gordon isn’t originally from the Hoosier State as he moved there as a teenager, but it’s a place that Gordon and the state in general call as his home.

Now, Columbus’ own Stewart will likely join his counterpart among NASCAR’s best.

Between them, they’ve won seven Cup champions as drivers and 152 races. Among those 152 races are some of the most prestigious of them all including seven Brickyard 400 victories.

See, these two cared about the Brickyard as much, if not more, than the Daytona 500. Gordon, won the inaugural race in 1994. He followed that up with four more trips to victory lane at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway of the course of his storied career. Stewart, finally won his home race in 2005 and did so again in 2007. Those two wins are likely still two of the top moments of his career behind his Cup titles.

The only two things that Stewart hasn’t won was the Daytona 500 and Indy 500. He’s 0-for-17 for the Daytona 500 and 0-for-5 at Indy. It’s not like he wasn’t close though as he was competitive in both races over the years. He’s even won a ton of times in his career at Daytona in fact, its just that he’s never won the ‘500.

On top of all of that though, Stewart has an IndyCar championship to his credit too. Not many drivers can say that they have both IndyCar and NASCAR championships to their credit.

Stewart also has a championship as a car owner with Kevin Harvick as well as a Daytona 500 triumph with Kurt Busch as his car owner too.

This nomination is big for him as it just goes to show you how big of an influence they had on Indiana.