Stewart Let's It fly on Radio Show

[Josh42]

Story from yahoo sports:

 

Stewart likens NASCAR to wrestling

 

 

April 25, 2007

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Two-time champion Tony Stewart likened NASCAR to professional wrestling and accused it of using bogus caution flags to shape races in biting comments made on his weekly radio show.

 

Stewart's appearance on his Tuesday night show was his first since skipping a post-race press conference in Phoenix. He dominated Saturday night's race but lost after a late exchange of leads with winner Jeff Gordon. Stewart said he refused interviews to avoid bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.

 

 

 

 

``It's like playing God,'' he said on his Sirius Satellite Radio program. ``They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It's happened too many times this year.''

 

Stewart, who said he was fighting a fever and left the two-hour show early, went on to say fans are complaining about debris cautions and NASCAR isn't listening.

 

``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,''' he said. ``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.''

 

NASCAR officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

 

Stewart led a race-high 132 laps at Phoenix but lost the lead while pitting under the final caution, which came for an accident. He used an impressive three-wide pass to re-claim the lead, only to swap it right back to Gordon, who drove away to victory.

 

Stewart called it the only legitimate caution of the day.

 

``To me, it's not all about the money, it's about the integrity of the sport,'' he said on his radio program. ``When I feel our own sanctioning body isn't taking care of that, it's hard to support them and feel proud about being a driver in the Nextel Cup Series when they're throwing debris cautions.''

 

He has had a frustrating start to the season, dominating several races but failing to find his way to Victory Lane. He was the class of the field at Daytona and Bristol, only to lose those races because of a wreck and mechanical failure.

 

He also lost a race in Atlanta when a debris caution came out while he was leading with 25 laps to go and the field pitted. Jimmie Johnson passed him for the victory with three laps to go.

 

Stewart was so frustrated after wrecking in Texas two weeks ago -- an accident caused by hard racing with Juan Pablo Montoya and criticized because Stewart ultimately wrecked Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- he threatened retirement.

 

The 35-year-old Stewart had calmed by the time he hosted last week's radio show, when he said he talked of retiring out of frustration.

 

 

 

Updated on Wednesday, Apr 25, 2007 2:18 pm EDT

 

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[rebelracewriter]

LMAOOOOOOOOO Love him or hate him, you gotta admire his KMA attitude towards NA$CAR. Sad thing is, he's probably more right than anyone will ever admit. It's all about the chosen few......Jimmy, Jeffy and JR. Been saying that for a looooooooooong time now!!!!!

[Truck38]

I'm not going to go as far as saying they're playing favorites but starting last year I noticed there seemed to be cautions for debris more frequently.

[rebelracewriter]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6738348?MSNHPHMA

 

Link to another story on MSN.

[HiTech]

tony is speeking what alot of poeple think and say ...i dont really care for tony .but he.s got my respect ..

[dano36]

One thing for sure, Tony Stewart is a pure race driver. He would have fit in perfectly back in the days when A J Foyt was king. NASCAR like CART did years ago changed their image by getting drivers from the international set and pushing the good ole boys that came up through the bull ring ranks back to the bull rings. My hat is off to Tony. Him and Ken Schrader are true racers. Tony could be very well right in what he says because if you watched last Saturday nights race on TV, towards the end there was a yellow for a piece of rubber and some duct tape on the track. I know that its possible it could have looked like something else to spotters but since the TV view looked like duct tape, then it must have been duct tape. Was that yellow necessary?

[landlord]

Dave Despain comments on it every week on his show and challenges them to show the fans the debris on TV.Most of the time its not there,thats why the TV cameras can't find it.Give Smoke the credit for having the kohonas to step up and say something.The only other driver I have heard complain about it is Kurt Busch.Wonder how big the fine will be?????

[Crazyhorse]

tony stewart wrecks alot of people to get where he wants to be. if somebody even touches tony stewart though , he is whining and crying. his sponsor gives him the golden ticket to nascars golden child throne.

he plays the rebel to make himself seem a different criteria than the on slot of newcomers. but he's not , he's a spoiled ego maniac . he just looks like the guy that installed your direct TV so you like him ?

he wouldn't and hasnt cryed foul when that debris caution has helped him........but i agree it is goofy that they exspect us to buy this on a weekly basis now.

i have seen tony stewart called the next earnhardt , and now i've seen him compared to AJ ? AJ would have pimped him in the parking lot just to say he did.......two things, there will never be another race driver like earnhardt and when God made AJ he broke the mold.

[Brad]

Tony makes races intresting...best driver in the league in my opinion. I agree with the stuff he said above but, who cares. The debris cautions help you stay awake...without them the races seem to get even more boring than they already are.

[STAGGER77]

From what I was told a couple of weeks ago his contract with Gibbs ends @ the end of 08' (I have no clue if this is true or not) and will retire and go back to running dirt latemodels and Eldora for fun. They said he was tired with all the na$car B.S. Could be a lie but kind of goes along with what's going on now.

 

Jason Ray

[RodneyRodriguez]

I like Smoke and NASCAR does to some pretty idiotic things but I think these debris cautions are not so much to play favorites but to tighten up the field. At TMS, Gordo took off and was leaving the field, Phoenix had Hamlin rolling out and taking off. If you aren't there, watching a guy blow the field away is boring TV, even if it's your guy doing it!

Tony is a racer and a frusterated one at that right now but I do somewhat like the debris caution, I promise you that this week in Alabama we won't see those yellows, only for carnage. And hey, M. Waltrip may get to race this weekend!!!!

[Dawn]

Think back to Daytona folks when he cried about bump drafting. Who was the first to get in trouble for it? Yep, Jared#2. I will talk about this in detail on air Saturday and would love feedback on it. I have other issues with what he said, not so much with the cautions. Stay tuned!!!

[HiTech]

DAWN WHAT A GOOD PLACE TOGET STORY LINES AND IDEALS . JUST VISIT SPEEDZONE ..LOL ..

[landlord]

tony stewart wrecks alot of people to get where he wants to be. if somebody even touches tony stewart though , he is whining and crying. his sponsor gives him the golden ticket to nascars golden child throne.

he plays the rebel to make himself seem a different criteria than the on slot of newcomers. but he's not , he's a spoiled ego maniac . he just looks like the guy that installed your direct TV so you like him ?

he wouldn't and hasnt cryed foul when that debris caution has helped him........but i agree it is goofy that they exspect us to buy this on a weekly basis now.

i have seen tony stewart called the next earnhardt , and now i've seen him compared to AJ ? AJ would have pimped him in the parking lot just to say he did.......two things, there will never be another race driver like earnhardt and when God made AJ he broke the mold.

A.J. was a tuff old bird in his day(probably still is) i'll give you that,but I can guarantee you Smoke would go out in the parking lot and take his pimpin like a man which is a whole lot more than you can say for all the other ladies driving cup these days.I think the comparisons come from Smoke saying what he thinks and not being intimidated by big brother NASCAR.Like him or hate him.he can drive the wheels off any kind of a car and I don't see anyone pushing him around just like noone pushed around Big E or AJ!!!!!!

Edited April 27, 2007 by landlord

[Crazyhorse]

robby did. the shocked look on his face when he not only found somebody that wouldn't back down to him let alone slap his little cheese puff --s back to yesterday leaving him running for cover behind zippy or whomever would jump in was priceless.

 

-it's all in fun , i just can't stand him.........and think he has ALOT more to do in his time other than run his mouth and show the talent he has with his bumper in order to even be mentioned with earnhardt or AJ