RICHMOND, Va. — Tony Stewart is many things from being a three-time Cup champion to a team owner, NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee and a sprint car driver, but for all the things Stewart has done and can do in a car he’s known as much for something else.
His honesty and bluntness.
When Stewart talks about the issues with Cup qualifying, he’s frank in saying of NASCAR: “They make one bad decision and then they compound it by having to make three more bad decisions to try to make up for the first bad decision they made.”
While he’s been a critic of NASCAR, Stewart also isn’t afraid to applaud series officials but admits what NASCAR does things right it often gets overlooked.
“You make one bad decision and it takes 10 good decision to overcome that one,” he said.
Stewart discussed a variety of topics this weekend at Richmond Raceway. Here’s what he said:
Q: You’ve been outspoken about young drivers with money coming into the sport, but hasn’t that always been the case in racing? Haven’t some people missed moving up because they didn’t have the look or the money?
Tony Stewart: I didn’t have the right look. I still don’t have the right look. I never had paid a dime. … That whole Generational Next thing, you look at the criteria for that, is that how we really want to set our fields? Is that how we want to do this? I think they’ve got to relook at how they do it. I honestly think that’s part of why we’re losing so many people. I heard people (Thursday night) at the dirt races, say ‘I like coming here because there’s not as many rules.’ That’s literally what people were saying. It was that simple to them. It’s hard to argue with that.
I understand why we have the rules we have. The fans are saying there are too many rules. If they can’t follow along, how are they going to follow along?
Q: Too many rules. Is that the issue with Cup qualifying?
Stewart: You already line the cars up on pit road in an organized manner. You have a maximum speed. Have a minimum speed (on pit road). Once that car pulls out of its spot, it has to keep going, plain and simple. You can go anywhere in that speed range you want but once you take off, you’ve got to keep going. How much more simple is it than that?
All NASCAR has to do at that point is look at the screen to make sure you’re not going too fast or too slow. They’re already doing the too fast part, so how hard is it to just add the too slow part? If you go too slow, your lap is not allowed. If you go too fast, your lap is not allowed. It’s pretty damn simple I think. But they keep adding things that make them have to make judgment calls. Why do you constantly keep putting yourself in position to have to make a ball-and-strike call? Put it in the drivers’ and crew chiefs’ and spotters’ hands, not your hands.
Quit making it about it you. Make them have to make the decision. They make one bad decision and then they compound it by having to make three more bad decisions to try to make up for the first bad decision they made.
They just … somebody needs to just grab them by the collar and say, ‘Stop, take a breath and sit down and start over and think about this and rework it.’ Their head is 6 inches forward of their feet and they can’t get their feet to keep catching up to what their heads are doing all the time.”
Q: Is NASCAR doing anything well?
Stewart: There’s a ton of things they’re doing well. It’s like a negative comment takes 10 positive comments to overcome one negative comment. You make one bad decision and it takes 10 good decision to overcome that one. There’s a ton of things they’re doing right. There’s a ton of things they’re working on for the future that they’re also doing things right. There’s so much low-hanging fruit that they could fix.
Q: Such as?
Stewart: There’s a whole list. I’m not going to get through the list. I’ve got to make sure I get my cars through tech.
Q: Car owners talk about containing costs but if I’m a car owner and I have to decide between a driver with money and one maybe more talented but doesn’t have the money, I’ll likely take the one with money.
Stewart: That’s my whole point. That’s the direction our sport is going. That’s screwed up. If that’s where we’re going, we’re in bad shape.
Q: Do you feel like things are being done to help owners contain costs?
Stewart: There’s a lot of things that they’re working on to try to do that. It’s a constant battle, you’re constantly battling technology. Technology is the biggest root of the problem, but you can’t stop technology. You look at these cars, they’ve kept the simple basic car, the basics of the car hasn’t changed for how many years. Things that have changed are safety improvements, which are definitely justified and appreciated. It’s not a linear progression with technology, … it’s virtually impossible for NASCAR and Goodyear and everybody involved, it’s hard for them to get in front of it because you don’t know what’s coming next. … It’s hard to get your arms around all of it. They do a really good job of trying to contain it, trying to get in front of it, but it’s a hard process.
Q: How do you feel Stewart-Haas Racing is doing this year?
Stewart: We’ve been solid. There’s just a couple of things missing that we need to be where we want to be. To come out with a new car this year and be this close out of the box, I feel like we’re pretty happy about that. Obviously, we set our standards pretty high on what we expect. We’re obviously thrashing at the shop to find what is going to make these cars happy and it’s just no different than what happened last year with those guys. We’re working on it. Like I say, it’s a constant evolution. What you did last year isn’t good enough, you’ve got to push it forward and keep fighting. New trick of the week.
Q: How is your sprint car racing going?
Stewart: Better actually. We should have run fourth (Thursday) not sixth. Had a motor problem at the end and got paying attention to the oil pressure gauge, which was on zero instead of watching where I was going. We’re running a lot better. Before last weekend, we had a 4.0 average I think for the 15 races we had run. I’m not sure with a 13th and a sixth how that changes it, but we’re running a lot better and it’s because we’re racing a lot.
You’re running all the time and that’s the only way you’re going to get better with these guys. I’ve actually ran more than a lot of the guys out there. That’s the only way you’re going to get better is running as many shows as they run. They’re good teams and they’re on their game already, so if you’re going to catch up, physically you’re going to have to run that many races to catch up.