The 3X Cup Series champion Tony Stewart has been engrossed in many a fight over his long career. The 2012 season saw one such incident at the Bristol Motor Speedway during which he threw his helmet at Matt Kenseth without the noblest of intentions. Fast-forward to 2024 and a different age of racing, he has recreated the incident. But with little malice this time.
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Mahindra Tractors joined hands with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) once again at the beginning of the 2024 season to sponsor Chase Briscoe’s #14 Ford Mustang. Stewart’s re-enactment of the 2012 incident came as part of a promotional video for the agriculture machinery manufacturer.
In the video, Stewart can be seen guiding Briscoe on how to test the strength of the company’s tractors by throwing racing helmets at them. As Briscoe follows his boss’s instructions and asks for a review of his throw, Stewart says, “I’m telling you. A little work on your leg kick and extension, you got this down.”
The video’s timing has been strategically placed considering that the next Cup Series race will be at Bristol Motor Speedway, the venue where Stewart’s infamous throw was born. Briscoe replied to SHR’s post on social media writing, “Dialed in for @ItsBristolBaby thanks to @TonyStewart. Been working on my leg kick and extension the last few weeks.”
Why Tony Stewart threw his helmet at Matt Kenseth in the 2012 Bristol race
In the early years of the 2010s, Stewart was still one of the drivers whose anger preceded their reputation as a skilled driver. During the night race at Bristol in 2012, he was racing hard against Matt Kenseth when the two collided in lap 332. Stewart ended up losing control of himself not because of the wreck but because of Kenseth’s blocking strategy that led to it.
Walking out of his car, Stewart launched his helmet at Kenseth’s #17 car that was approaching the pit road. Though it was an unsportsmanlike move from Stewart, the Bristol crowd reacted with cheers and it became a hot topic for days after. Though NASCAR did not fine him for it, it kept the helmet and never returned it to him.
Stewart said years later, according to motorsports.com, that he knew who in the NASCAR HQ had his helmet. He’d planned to take it back but decided against it considering that the person could make his life more difficult than it already was at the time.
