Before Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, there was Tony Stewart. When the Stewart-Haas Racing topman began his Cup Series career in 1999 he became largely known for his abrasive nature on and off the track. Though “Smoke”, as he is fondly called by his fans, has been involved in numerous media outbursts during his career, very few come close to his 2004 rivalry with the icon Darrell Waltrip.
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Back then, Waltrip was part of Fox’s broadcasting team along with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds. It was this team’s on-air comments about Stewart causing wrecks that did not sit well with the driver. Using the pre-race interview at the Richmond International Raceway to go after them, Waltrip in particular, Stewart threw a tantrum that would be spoken about for years.
Though Waltrip defended himself by saying that he told viewers only what he saw from the booth, Stewart said, “Darryl’s memory kind of gets a little screwed up sometimes.”
He added, “I guess he forgets that with all the real changes he wants NASCAR to make, you forget if they changed the rules and took the champions provisional way, he wouldn’t been able to race the last two years.”
He also mentioned in the interview that the wrecks were not a result of his frustrations in the season and that nobody else except those in the broadcast booth was complaining about them. Waltrip is a true NASCAR icon who won the Cup championship thrice in addition to his long list of notable feats. But his standing did little to pry Stewart away from his anger.
The wrecks that led to the altercation between Tony Stewart and Darrell Waltrip
The Spring of 2004 was a tough one for Stewart. Not managing to find the victory lane until almost midseason, he got mixed up in one too many wrecks in pursuit of the same. One of the biggest ones that he was involved was in Aaron’s 499 at Talladega. Stewart clipped the rear of Kurt Busch’s car during the 84th lap and caused a pile-up of 10 cars. Though none were injured, an angry Busch had accused him of “wild driving”.
The very next weekend after the Talladega crash, Stewart crashed against Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon at the Auto Club Speedway. Frustrated at Stewart, Wallace said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with that guy. I wanted to get out of the car and whip his rear end. The kid needs to calm down a little bit.”
Through the rest of the year, Stewart went on to pick fights with many including Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers. He finished the season 6th in the standings without any notable achievements.
