Stewart, Hamilton Swap Cars at Watkins Glen

Just the Facts:

• Champion drivers Tony Stewart of NASCAR and Lewis Hamilton of Formula 1 took turns driving each other's car on Tuesday.
• The exhibition took place at Watkins Glen International in New York.
• A similar event in 2003 involved NASCAR's Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya, then an F1 regular.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton, championship-winning drivers in NASCAR and Formula 1, respectively, took turns driving each other's racecar on Tuesday at Watkins Glen International.

The event was reminiscent of a 2003 swap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course by stock-car ace Jeff Gordon and F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who now is a full-time NASCAR competitor.

Tuesday's event came about largely thanks to Mobil 1, which sponsors both drivers.

A wet course mandated the use of treaded rain tires on both the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet Impala and the McLaren-Mercedes. But neither driver was fazed by that.

"I never in a million years thought I'd have the opportunity to drive a NASCAR (racecar)," Hamilton said. He entertained a crowd estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 — admission was free — with burnouts in both his McLaren and in Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet.

"That was truly the experience of a lifetime," Stewart said after his ride in the F1 machine.

Stewart is also a former champion of IndyCar racing and has three top-five finishes in the Indianapolis 500. He had not driven such an open-wheel machine in a decade, but quickly adapted.

He was amazed by the McLaren's capabilities.

"I told the guys on pit road that it's probably going to make my crew chief a little more stressed during the weekends now because I'm going to want (the NASCAR ride) to handle like that all the time," Stewart said.

"I just feel like a kid," Hamilton said. "It's good to feel like a kid again. It's one of the coolest things I've done outside of racing Formula 1."

Inside Line says: The event provided a distraction for both drivers. Stewart has not won since October 2010 and Hamilton, who crashed out of Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, is having a problem-filled year. — David Green, Correspondent