Tony Stewart Lashes Out At NASCAR On Sirius Radio Show

Tony Stewart Compares NASCAR To Pro Wrestling

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, Tuesday night on his Sirius Satellite Radio show, “likened NASCAR to professional wrestling and accused it of using bogus caution flags to shape races,” according to Jenna Fryer of the AP. Stewart said on the show, “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.” Fryer wrote that after losing Saturday night’s Nextel Cup race after a late exchange of leads with Jeff Gordon, Stewart indicated that he refused post-race interviews “to avoid bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.” Stewart: “It’s like playing God. They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It’s happened too many times this year” (AP, 4/25).

REAX: USA TODAY’s Nate Ryan writes under the header, “Stewart Questions NASCAR’s Integrity.” NASCAR VP/Corporate Communications Jim Hunter in a statement called Stewart’s remarks “very, very disappointing.” He added that NASCAR’s “first priority is driver safety.” Fox’ Darrell Waltrip “stopped short of agreeing NASCAR was manipulating its finishes but said there were too many debris cautions.” Waltrip: “I don’t think there’s any intentions of fixing a race. NASCAR, in their defense, will always say, ‘We have to err on the side of safety.’ I think (they’ve) become obsessed with that to the point that it can affect the racing” (USA TODAY, 4/26). In Charlotte, David Poole writes under the subhead, “Cup Driver Likens Sport To ‘Staged’ Professional Wrestling” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/26). ESPN’s Marty Smith reported NASCAR execs “are still weighing whether or not they’re going to penalize” Stewart for his comments. Smith: “They did say they believe in free speech, they’re all for guys saying what they want to say. But they do feel that sometimes blame is placed on them that is undue” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 4/25).

NO SHOW: In a separate piece, Poole writes Stewart was “wrong to skip his postrace media obligations” on Saturday. Poole: “If a two-time Cup champion says NASCAR hasn’t run a ‘fair’ race all year, that’s news. He put himself right in the middle of a jackpot he says he was trying to avoid, and now he doesn’t have the media to blame for that” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/26).