Stewart tired of fighting NASCAR: "There’s a lot to be frustrated about"

Despite his status as a three-time champion, Stewart has learned his opinions about the sanctioning body’s officiating of the sport can prove costly. 

Even though NASCAR has welcomed the Drivers’ Council publicly, behind the scenes Stewart feels he’s on an island when it comes to criticizing the sport. 

I could pull up stuff off this phone that would make you guys cringe about the sport that drivers talk about.

Tony Stewart

And along with the early morning wake-up calls and frustration with the over-engineering of the sport, attempting to advocate for change is probably the aspect of stock car racing he’ll miss the least. 

“I’ve been fighting that fight forever and it’s not something I’m willing to go into depth on but it’s another reason why I’m ready to exit,” Stewart said. “You can only beat the drum for so long and have it fall on deaf ears for so long before you say, ‘The people that need to make it better, can’t make it better or will make it better.”

The fraternity of drivers is outspoken behind the scenes. But as Stewart found out after a radio interview during the media tour in January, time on the soapbox can be an expensive proposition. 

His own set of ideas

And it’s unlikely he’ll expound on his opinion over the next eight weeks before he retires — or as long as he owns a team in NASCAR.

“I have my own set of ideas,” Stewart said. “Everybody does.You talk to 10 people, you’re going to have 10 sets of ideas on what to change, make things better. It’s always a work in progress for any company, for any sport. It’s always in a constant state of change.”

Since Dale Earnhardt died in 2001, there hasn’t been that one voice that could lobby for the garage in the NASCAR trailer. Stewart, who is relentlessly honest, has unofficially adopted that mantle whether he asked for it or not.  

“I don’t know if it makes you comfortable or uncomfortable, I do what I do,” Stewart said. “I don’t care what the title is at the end of it. I don’t care if someone assigns it. I’m pretty transparent about things. I always have been. I probably always will be. I doubt at 45, they’re going to change me and make me non-transparent all of the sudden.”

In an era in NASCAR where drivers have become homogenized, Stewart believes his ability to remain genuine has endeared him to the fan base. Yet it’s exhausting at times to be a change agent particularly when Stewart feels he’s just spinning his wheels.

“I also think that’s why the fans that we have like us, that’s why the competitors that like us, like us.” Stewart said. “There’s things — I could pull up stuff off this phone that would make you guys cringe about the sport that drivers talk about. But there’s 39 of these guys that 99 out of 100 times won’t say a thing about it to you guys, to NASCAR, to anybody else. 

“And I’m the one guy that will — most of the time say this is a bad thing to talk about and I shouldn’t talk about it but I’ll get pissed off enough to talk about it because I believe that it’s worth talking about it. And it’s worth addressing. And it’s worth at times when you’re not getting their attention, that you’re like, ‘OK, I have to go a different way to get their attention and get them to do something about it.’ 

“That’s normally when I get slapped on the hand with a fine and this or that.”

Part of why he's retiring

“That’s part of the reason I’m retiring because I’m tired of being responsible for it,” Stewart said. “It’s someone else’s responsibility now. I’ve had my fill of it. I’ve had my fill of fighting the fight.”

If Stewart appears to be more pontifical than normal in his final season, maybe it’s because he has nothing left lose. 

“Suspend me, fine me. Suspend me for eight weeks,” Stewart said. “It’s not that I’m looking to get suspended. I’m excited about running the next eight weeks — provided I don’t get suspended after today. You guys are around the sport every week. There’s a lot of stuff to be frustrated about right now. I’ve got eight more weeks to deal with it as a driver.”