dewalt tools : Stewart to race at Oregon

It won't be a match race, but you can be sure that the 10,000 fans that are expected to pack Madison International Speedway on Tuesday night will have their eyes glued to two drivers.

Tony Stewart and Cambridge's Matt Kenseth, both former Cup champions, will be the marquee names for the 100-lap First Supply All-Star Challenge.

How big is tomorrow night's event?

About 7,500 advance tickets have already been snapped up. The remaining 2,500 will go on sale at the MIS ticket office at noon tomorrow.

Madison radio station WTSO (1070 AM) plans to broadcast the race live.

Roy Kenseth, Matt's father, is the official promoter for the race. His company, RK Race Promotions, has rented MIS for the night.

It's obvious why Matt Kenseth, who won the 2003 Winston Cup title, is coming to the track. But how did Roy Kenseth land Stewart, a two-time Cup champion?

"Tony's doing me a favor," Roy Kenseth said.

Stewart's appearance is sort of payback for a similar appearance by Matt Kenseth at Eldora Speedway, the legendary Ohio half-mile dirt oval Stewart purchased in 2004.

There was a time in early June when Stewart's actual participation in Tuesday night's race might have been in jeopardy.

Stewart suffered grinding crashes on consecutive days at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Stewart's crash in the Coca-Cola 600 fractured the tip of his right shoulder blade. The following week at Dover, Del., Stewart raced just 38 laps before giving up his seat to relief driver Ricky Rudd.

But Stewart has been cleared to compete in tomorrow night's race.

"It ran across my mind that Tony might not be able to race," MIS promoter Steve Einhaus said.

A pair of Nextel Cup incidents between Stewart and Kenseth helped spike ticket sales. At the season-opening Daytona 500, Stewart threw his Home Depot Chevrolet wildly to the left as a pack of cars screamed toward Turn 3. Kenseth dove toward the grass to avoid the contact, lost control and plowed into the wall, killing his chance of winning the race.

Then, during the Nextel All-Star Challenge in May, Stewart and Kenseth hooked up again, slamming the Turn 2 wall at Lowe's Motor Speedway during the final 20-lap segment of that $1 million race,

Kenseth blamed Stewart for the accident. Stewart responded by calling Kenseth an idiot.

Both drivers claim they've patched things up.

One thing is certain. Neither driver plans to come to MIS and be a non-factor in the 50-mile race.

"They're here to win," Einhaus said. "No one is going to come here to drive around in circles."

Kenseth will drive a 2006 Ford Fusion sponsored by DeWalt Tools, his primary Nextel Cup sponsor. Stewart will drive a Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned and sponsored by Whitewater's Star Packaging.

"There's a ton of interest in this race," Einhaus said.

Now it's up to Stewart and Kenseth to hold up their end of the bargain.

By John McPoland