Those character lessons came to a head in October of 2004.

Tony’s then crew chief (now current Competition Director at Stewart-Haas Racing), Greg Zipadelli, organized a meeting with Tony and his team. They all told Tony that they were tired of having to respond to the “bad boy” image Tony had created for himself. He asked if they wanted him to resign, but they all responded with a resounding “no!” All they wanted was to see Tony change a little.

Tony committed himself to change, and the results of his work came on display in full during the summer of 2005. During a seven-race stretch that season, Tony won five races and finished no worse than seventh in any of them.

There were many milestone moments of his career that occurred in this time span (his first points race win at Daytona came in this stretch, at the Pepsi 400), but there is one that stands out above the rest, and one that may well be the single greatest moment of his career: his first victory at Indianapolis, in the 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

That day, Tony’s car came to life in the second half of the race. As he passed Kasey Kahne for the lead with 11 laps to go, the cheer from the crowd was so loud that it could be heard through the TV broadcast. That roar was repeated as Stewart took the white flag and crossed the finish line underneath what will likely go down as Bill Weber’s most famous call: “Tony Stewart, a native Hoosier, his dream comes true!”

The ensuing celebration was about as Tony Stewart as they come: a full Polish Victory Lap (with a small pit stop by his suite of friends and family, outside of Turn 2), followed by a fence climb at the start/ finish line as the crowd chanted “To-ny! To-ny! To-ny!” (copying what his team and crew had done some ten minutes prior), and one of the better post-race interviews in NASCAR history, as Allen Bestwick talked to Tony as Tony was lying on the top of the wall underneath the flagstand, towel wrapped around his head.

It was a fitting finish for a day that Stewart described as “his entire life”.

Stewart won the series championship that year as well. That was a run that was doubtlessly propelled by the victory in Indianapolis.

There was also the 2007 win for Stewart in Indy, and while it wasn’t as much of a career milestone like the 2005 win was, it was still notable: first, for the legendary “here, kitty, kitty, kitty!” call that Stewart gave over the team radio as he was running down Kevin Harvick for the lead, and for the dedication he gave post-race: “This one’s for every one of those fans in the stands that pull for me every week and take all the b******* from everybody else.”

Since 2007, Tony is winless at Indianapolis, though there have been many finishes in the top five and top 10. He will be searching for his third win at Indy come Sunday.