Stewart not afraid to speak mind
Love him or hate him, Tony Stewart is keeping this NASCAR season interesting.
Two races ago in Las Vegas, Stewart had a blown tire that caused him to finish last. Jeff Gordon knew Stewart was mad before last week’s race in Atlanta, but even he was surprised at the comments made by Stewart following his second-place finish.
Stewart is one of the most hot-headed drivers in the Sprint Cup Series, and his actions definitely keep everyone wondering what he will do next. He is not shy about using his fists to emphasize a point, use his car to even things up, or use his mouth to vocalize his thoughts. Just put a microphone in front of him and wait.
In the 1999 Martinsville race, Stewart and Kenny Irwin Jr. had their differences on the track with Irwin getting in the last shot by putting Stewart into the wall. Stewart waited outside his wrecked car for Irwin to come around and threw his heel pads at him.
During a practice session for the 2000 Daytona 500, Stewart and Robby Gordon made contact with each other on the race track. In the garage area they exchanged ideas over who was at fault for the wreck. During the pleasantries, Stewart shoved Gordon. Now Robby has also been known as a hot head, and he grabbed Stewart by the collar and slowly walked him backwards until they were separated.
In 2002, Stewart almost lost his ride with the Home Depot team. Following the Brickyard 400, Stewart hit freelance photographer Gary Mook. Stewart felt that the photographer was sticking his camera in his face at the wrong time. Home Depot fined Tony $10,000 and had him make a public apology to the photographer.
Team owner Joe Gibbs made a special trip to see Stewart and give him a few pointers on how to be a team player. Gibbs was extremely successful in promoting team play in the NFL and his guidance for Stewart paid dividends that year when Stewart won his first Cup Championship.
At the awards ceremony, Stewart displayed his amusing side when he reached under the podium and took out a camera he had placed there earlier. He went down to the media section and started taking pictures of them as they were supposedly working.
At the start of this season, Stewart tangled with Kurt Busch during a practice session for the Bud Shootout. On the way to the pits, Busch decided Stewart’s car wasn’t as badly damaged as his, so he drove into Stewart’s car. This was not the first time the two have had their differences, and they were summoned to the NASCAR hauler. This was when it was reported that Stewart took a swing at Busch, but the story was never corroborated.
Stewart has a talk show on satellite radio and he used this venue last year to complain about ‘phantom cautions’ for debris on the race track. NASCAR reprimanded Tony for his comments but it suddenly seemed to stop the cautions in which safety trucks were not sent out to pick up the unseen debris. Chalk one up for Tony.
After Stewart’s tirade about Goodyear’s tires this past week, many other drivers also complained about the tire compound that was used for the race, but some also said that Tony went a little too far with his comments.
Veteran Driver Dale Jarrett says he has no problem with Stewart’s comments and that it’s time for NASCAR to start listening to the drivers. Cup cars have about 400 pounds less downforce than the Nationwide cars so Goodyear must bring different tire compounds for the two series, something that is not being done at the present time. Drivers must feel comfortable in their race cars and they are the only ones who can tell NASCAR how the tires feel.
As of this writing, Stewart has not been fined for his comments.
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