Despite being a three-time Cup Series champion, returning to NASCAR is pretty much off the list for Tony Stewart. The former driver now competes in the NHRA and seems to be enjoying himself there as well. Just last year, he started his own nitro-class team along with his wife, Leah Pruett. While speaking with Autoweek, Stewart took a jibe at NASCAR while explaining why he enjoyed racing in the NHRA over the stock car racing series.
Advertisement
His reasoning had been pretty simple as to why he enjoyed drag racing and most of it dialed down to the on-track race ambiance and the overall community.
Tony Stewart on why he prefers NHRA over NASCAR
Smoke had made himself clear about his newfound love for the sport of drag racing. He boiled his argument down to how the sport had been more friendly towards the fans who came down to witness it themselves, over those who watch the same on the television.
Stewart revealed, “I’m definitely having more fun than I’ve had in a long time, definitely not anywhere that has fenders on it. So I’m lovin’ this sport. I love this community. I tell everybody that NASCAR Racing, I feel like it’s 10 times better to watch on TV than it is to be in person on race day. NHRA is 10 times better to be at the track than it is to watch on TV.”
Stewart’s comments may have been justified from his point of view. But even more so after looking at the problems he has been facing currently as a team co-owner back in the Cup Series.
NASCAR’s penalties and his team’s underperformance have upset Stewart
Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing team in the Cup Series is suffering from inconsistency with its performances this season. Moreover, ever since the Next Gen cars came into play last year, NASCAR has been hammering down on the teams with heavy penalties.
SHR’s #14 car received one of the sport’s harshest penalties, losing 120 points in both drivers’ and owners’ standings. In addition to this, they incurred a $250,000 fine and their crew chief, John Klausmeier, faced a suspension for the upcoming six-point scoring races. The L3 penalty was issued for the use of counterfeit parts found on Chase Briscoe’s car.
An aggravated Stewart later told NBC Sports, “I’m beyond mad; I’m p.o.’d at NASCAR about it, to be honest. For all the work and everything, all the bulletins and all the new stuff we have to do to superspeedway cars and all these other things they want us to do for safety, we can’t even make sure we put five lug nuts on the wheel.”
Stewart had also recently mentioned how NASCAR had been clamping down on criticism, explaining how he could have voiced his opinions in the way the organization has been handing out penalties, but knew well enough that doing so would only end up hurting his own team in the Cup Series. Looking at all of this, it makes sense why Stewart would prefer to race in a series like the NHRA.
