Crew chief Alex Yontz's will call shots for Tony Stewart at Daytona

Tony Stewart will make his first NASCAR start in nearly a decade, and his first Craftsman Truck Series start since 2005 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 13. 

Stewart will pilot the No. 25 RAM for Kaulig Racing in the team's "free agent" truck, one of five trucks that will contest the entire 2026 Truck Series campaign in RAM's return to NASCAR and Kaulig's first foray into the Truck Series. 

Calling the shots for Stewart on the pit box will be Alex Yontz, who ran four Truck Series races himself in 2005 and has been a crew chief in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series with Kaulig since 2019. 

Crew chiefing for Tony Stewart a big deal for Alex Yontz

"To have Tony come back and drive a RAM truck for Kaulig, it's like, who could've ever even imagined that, right?" Yontz said in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday. 

"For myself and everyone in the shop to have the opportunity to work on something like that, first race right out of the gate in a new series for us with a new manufacturer - it's wild to sit in bed at night and think about, to be honest with you."

It may seem like a dream for Yontz and the rest of the No. 25 Kaulig Racing team to work with a NASCAR Hall of Famer in Stewart, but it will be a reality in less than two weeks' time.

Quotes provided by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.