Two-time champion NASCAR champion Tony Stewart went off on NASCAR officials on his Sirius show, likening the sport to wrestling.
Stewart dominated Saturday night's race, but eventually lost to Jeff Gordon. Stewart said he was avoid ing bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.
"It's like playing God," he said on his Sirius program, which airs from 6-8 pm ET, on NASCAR Radio (ch 128). "They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It's happened too many times this year.
"I guess NASCAR thinks, 'Hey, wrestling worked, and it was, for the most part staged, so I guess it's going to work in racing too.' I can't understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they're stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.
"I don't know that they've run a fair race all year."
Listen to the audio (MP3) of Tony Stewart criticizing NASCAR.
NASCAR called Stewart's comments "very, very disappointing."
So Stewart is the only leader to ever have a caution flag come out? What a poor sport. He was beaten on the last lap. No one touched him, rubbed him or nudged him, his car just didn't have the power to hold off Gordon for another lap. He should make good on his "threat" & retire. Boo fucking hoo.
I can remember a multitude of races where the leader was way way out in front and due to the beatin and bangin goin on in the rest of the feid, caution after caution packed em all together again. Sux if you were the leader, but , thats racin'. Now Tony needs to shut up.. this is not the first time Tony's mouth has caused waves and it wont be the last.
What a fucking crybaby. Boo hoo I lost! We all feel SO BAD FOR YOU. Poor champ can't win every race and think he's the only one thats ever gotten screwed by cautions.
I'm the last person who would defend Tony Stewart but in this case HE IS RIGHT. There have been 20 "mystery" debris cautions already this year and MANY people believe that Nascar is using them to manipulate the outcome of the races. What about all of the "speeding on pit road" violations in the last two years? Many drivers SWEAR they were not speeding and as is typical of Nascar the teams don't have access to the data. They have to take Nascar's word or not race stock-cars on a large National circuit, because Nascar is the only game in town.
Nascar loves to talk about improving "competition" between the (phony) makes, but has no competition itself. Kentucky Speedway has a lawsuit pending about the very subject right now. The Frances own the series AND half the tracks through a holding company, ISC. I'd personally like to see a few big owners start-up a new series, something using built-up current V8 RWD production models. You know, STOCK CAR racing?
Bottom line, Nascar TV ratings are in a THREE YEAR decline. We are talking about MILLIONS less people watching these races. Not to mention some of the lowest attendance in years, and merch sales are down. People are sick of the favoritism, the common-template car BS (essentially removing the need for manufacturer input), and of course the boring, follow-the-leader racing going on at many of these races.
There are alot of Nascar people (drivers and owners) who I've never liked moving up on my list as of late because they are increasingly taking on the giant. Good for them.
"Stewart dominated Saturday night's race,..."
LOL...you evidently did not see the race! He was there towards the end...but Hamlin and Gordon "dominated" the race!
Tony is spitting out bull! I consider myself an expert in NASCAR, and no, I'm not a redneck, I'm on the higher spectrum in terms of class. But anyways, Tony has been having a bad start to the season, he missed out on winning so many races, including the big one, so he's angry.
Now, since Tony is such an achiever, he HATES it when he loses. And since he's lost a lot lately, he's FURIOUS. Last week, he was talking retirement, this week he's comparing NASCAR to the WWE, which is BULL! NASCAR throws a "Debris Caution" to help the driver, so they don't run over any tail pipes, or engines. So, if Tony had run over it, he would be mad that a caution wasn't thrown. So, hypocrisy runs crazy in the mind of Tony Stewart.
Oh, the comment that NASCAR is throwing these things out more then usual is BULL! The last two years there were more cautions, debris or otherwise. So, LESS cautions are being thrown, not more.
You want cheating in a sport, feast your eyes on the NBA of 1985, or MLB before five years ago. A Youtube video is out now CLEARLY showing that the NBA rigged the draft, causing the Knicks to receive the best player. Barry Bonds is mired in steroid controversy, he isn't taking any now, but what about five years ago? More and more facts are being revealed to show that Barry Bonds cheated his way to records.
As for the other stuff, like the speeding (Denny Hamlin says that he was heavy on the petal during that pit run, and NASCAR released the data, and clearly showed him going past the 5mph leeway NASCAR gives.) As for TV ratings, Nielson only takes ratings from the first five minutes of the show, so there might be twice as many watching at the end, then at the beginning.
But, I must admit NASCAR is doing some bad things. ISC is a family owned company, and if you're not with them, then you have a 1-percent shot of getting your track on the circuit. Also, when Richard Petty won his 200th race, he did it with big time cheating, and the evidence CLEARLY showed it, but he bullied NASCAR into letting him go.
The point is that NASCAR has come a long way, and their goal is to make this the biggest sport in America. Yes, there will be growing pains, and mistakes, but anybody that wants to go back to the old way, needs to go back up into the hills, and stop drinking your beer. Tony Stewart is just running his mouth, and we won't hear the end of it, till he wins.
Oh, for future reference, watch 'NASCAR Now' on ESPN, Monday at 6, Tuesday-Friday 6:30, for all your facts, they got them.
I'd personally like to see a few big owners start-up a new series, something using built-up current V8 RWD production models. You know, STOCK CAR racing?
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Not for anything but a Unibody stock car hitting even a "safer Barrier" at 200 MPH would not be a good Idea.
Street Stocks at your local saturday night track only do about 45-50 MPH and they are tore up bad after 25 laps.
As for Stewart, He is a whiner. Not a winner. listen to any of the teams though, they want more spoiler, less spoiler, complain about the COT, not enough practice, wrong tires, Bottom line is that Everyone has the same rules, sometimes it works for you and sometimes it works against you. Thats Racing. if Tony were really the fastest car he would have won. fact is at the end he was not the fastest car.
I hope Montoya takes Stewart out and I don't mean on a date!
All you who love to Tony Bash need a reality check. And as for you self proclaimed "Nascar Experts" PLEASE!!!!! The drivers ARE the experts. They know what they are talking about and Tony isn't the only driver to say the cautions are fixed. The other racers may not have a show on Sirius radio but plenty have voiced their opinions. Such as Prince Gordon and Dale Jr. Tony is entitled to his opinion and his point of view, too bad all you loud mouths don't have personal websites so we can all type crap about you!!!!!
Please Tony not make comments like that. It just shows that you don't know want you are talking about. Nascar has seconds to make to see if the debris is real & put out the yellow or to keep racing. They are people to they make mistakes just like the next person,but for the most part they get it right. Mr. Tony is mad that he don't get the win. Well I hope that he gets it.