NASCAR co-owner comments following a long list of inspection drama
Tony Stewart is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion driver. He’s also an Indycar Series champion, USAC triple crown champion, Chili Bowl winner, IROC champion, more recently an NHRA winner and we’re only halfway through.
Stewart hasn’t raced in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2016. However, he remains actively engaged in the sport as a co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.
NASCAR has entered a new era of the sport. The Next Gen car is a shock to the garage era as the cars are identical from team to team.
To keep things in check, NASCAR has drastically increased the penalties for stepping outside of the rule book. At the same time, a laser inspection line makes sure cars are within the rules, to the thousands of an inch.
Yet, NASCAR is coming off a string of controversies regarding illegal parts.
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Tony Stewart comments on NASCAR inspection
“The bad thing is, I have an opinion about it. I have a very strong opinion about it,” Tony Stewart stated via the Kenny Wallace Show.
“This is the part I really hate about the sport right now. I have a very strong opinion about how they’re doing things. But, If I say something, then it’s going to cost me money, it’s going to cost me points, it’s going to hurt my drivers and my organization.”
“As much as I have an opinion, I’m scared to voice it. NASCAR has shown now, you can’t have an opinion. You can have an opinion but keep your mouth shut, is basically the moral to the story.”
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The old way of policing NASCAR
“When I started, there were two guys in the tower that had a stop watch in each hand. A total of four stop watches, to time 43 cars on pit road for pit road speed. If you or I pissed off NASCAR a week before, guess what happened the very next week? You got a pit road speeding penalty.”
“That’s how NASCAR kept the etiquette and kept control. We all understood that.”
“I don’t want this to sound like a bash session against NASCAR. They have the hardest job in motorsports, to control all this.”
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“Now, we’re in an era where they’ve backed themselves in a corner a little bit. Now, you got all this gambling and betting. They can’t give you a pit road speeding penalty if it’s not warranted, like they used to.”
“Kevin Harvick’s mad and he’s talking about these cars are unsafe. How does NASCAR keep these guys under control? They take these cars back to the shop, they tear it down until they find something they don’t like. And, every car’s going to have something they can find.”
“I think they are making mistakes. But, it’s their playground, it’s their rules and we all play by them.”
“You pull into a dirt track and people come over to me and go, ‘What the hell is NASCAR thinking?’ I listen to it, nonstop. If my cars end up at tech next week because I said that, they’re penalizing the wrong guy. They’re making the mistakes and they got to get themselves somewhat back in check.”
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The Next Gen Car
Yet, a spec car is what the teams asked for. The car was designed to level the playing field and drastically reduce costs in development and staff.
“It had to happen. The spending, per team was getting astronomical,” Stewart stated.
“For the health of the sport, we needed to find a way to cut costs. I think Gibbs at one point had over 600 employees.”
“I have opinions about the new car. But, I don’t think I would have asked a sports car manufacture to design a stock car.”
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