“We’re in This Show”: Why Tony Stewart Was Excited About His Role in Netflix Show ‘Tiger King’

What do NASCAR veterans do in their pastimes? While some like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson go golfing, Stewart-Haas Racing owner Tony Stewart prefers to Netflix and chill. In a conversation with eminent media personality Lindsay Czarniak a few years back, Smoke opened up on what he had been doing during his free time. Like many others, the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion too, like watching Netflix. However, it’s not like he would watch anything and everything.

Czarniak was curious about what Stewart likes to watch, to which the NASCAR icon replied, “Well it (show of choice) started with Tiger King, which is the biggest train wreck I’ve ever seen in my life and I got excited about (it) because I’m a big animal lover and I love tigers.”

Interestingly, there’s a reason why Tony Stewart was into this show, starring zoo operator Joseph Maldonado-Passage. Toward the end of the series, one of the workers at the zoo had an Eldora Speedway shirt on.

As the owner of the 0.5 mile, high-banked, clay dirt oval racetrack in Ohio, Stewart exclaimed, “Yeah, we’re in this show! I felt like I was represented in the show and feel like I’m a part of it.”

Fast forward to 2023; Tony Stewart revealed his new favorite Netflix show during the post-race interview on the Stafford Speedway SRX event weekend. And this time it was a popular American sitcom.

Tony Stewart illuminated his new favorite Netflix show

In an interview with Ken Schrader and Marco Andretti, the interviewer asked the SRX godfather about that one show that he would binge-watch. To the surprise of many, Stewart said, “The Big Bang Theory.”

“I’ve been binge-watching it for about three straight years. I watched Big Bang Theory. I’ve seen every episode over and over and it’s still better than anything else on TV, in my opinion,” said Stewart.

On one hand, we have Tony Stewart, a man who was known to have blazing-fast reflexes back in his driving days. And on the other, we have a group of four socially awkward Caltech scientists who struggle with day-to-day interactions!

Isn’t it amazing how Stewart could find TBBT addictive?