xsiveone

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Two-time champion Tony Stewart likened NASCAR to professional wrestling and accused it of using bogus caution flags to shape races in biting comments made on his weekly radio show.



Stewart's appearance on his Tuesday night show was his first since skipping a post-race press conference in Phoenix. He dominated Saturday night's race but lost after a late exchange of leads with winner Jeff Gordon. Stewart said he refused interviews to avoid bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.

"It's like playing God," he said on his Sirius Satellite Radio program. "They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It's happened too many times this year."

Stewart, who said he was fighting a fever and left the two-hour show early, went on to say fans are complaining about debris cautions and NASCAR isn't listening.

"I guess NASCAR thinks 'Hey, wrestling worked, and it was for the most part staged, so I guess it's going to work in racing, too,'" he said. "I can't understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they're stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.

"I don't know that they've run a fair race all year."

NASCAR called Stewart's comments "very, very disappointing."

"NASCAR has been running races since 1948, and we place the safety of the drivers at the top of the list," said spokesman Jim Hunter. "We have more people and more resources than ever officiating our races. The safety of the drivers is our first priority. It has always been that way and will continue to be that way.

"There are thousands of talented race drivers out there who would consider it an honor to compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series."

Although NASCAR has a policy that prohibits obscene language and gestures on television, the sanctioning body has no rule against criticizing its officiating. The NBA and NFL both fine its participants for criticizing the referees.

Hunter said NASCAR had no plans to punish Stewart for his remarks about officiating, which is done from a tower above the race track by a team of eight that includes NASCAR president Mike Helton and competition director Robin Pemberton.

NASCAR also does not force its drivers to meet with the media but has post-race procedures in place for the top three finishers and highest finishing rookie. The official entry blank each week lists the policy, but Stewart was adamant on his radio show that he is not required to abide by it.

"There's nothing, zero, in my contract that says I have to do that," he said. "We do that as a courtesy to NASCAR and the media. The thing with the media is they think it's our obligation to do those things. It's not our obligation. It's a privilege that they get to do that."

He said skipping the press conference was his way of getting even with NASCAR over what he considered unfair officiating.

"NASCAR is the ones that always ask us to go to the media center, so instead of doing what they wanted, they don't do what we want to do and run the race fair," he said. "So why would I go to the media center and make them happy?"

Stewart led a race-high 132 laps at Phoenix but lost the lead while pitting under the final caution, which came for an accident. He used an impressive three-wide pass to re-claim the lead, only to swap it right back to Gordon, who drove away to victory.

Stewart called it the only legitimate caution of the day.

"To me, it's not all about the money, it's about the integrity of the sport," he said on his radio program. "When I feel our own sanctioning body isn't taking care of that, it's hard to support them and feel proud about being a driver in the Nextel Cup Series when they're throwing debris cautions."

He has had a frustrating start to the season, dominating several races but failing to find his way to Victory Lane. He was the class of the field at Daytona and Bristol, only to lose those races because of a wreck and mechanical failure.

He also lost a race in Atlanta when a debris caution came out while he was leading with 25 laps to go and the field pitted. Jimmie Johnson passed him for the victory with three laps to go.

Stewart was so frustrated after wrecking in Texas two weeks ago _ an accident caused by hard racing with Juan Pablo Montoya and criticized because Stewart ultimately wrecked Dale Earnhardt Jr. _ he threatened retirement.

The 35-year-old Stewart had calmed by the time he hosted last week's radio show, when he said he talked of retiring out of frustration.

http://www.comcast.net/sports/index....qh=tis_stewart

John Shiels

guess he pissed! Not sure they could keep a coverup covered up if it was true but I don't know who really decides to flag it. There have been some reported incidents where no one has seen the debris. Like I said last year SCCA WC was kie WWF they pick the winner.

ghoffman

Dizzy Dean once said that it is really hard to argue with mothers and umpires. In this case, I think Tony is right. I have the impression that nobody is in NASCAR because they actually like it, it is because finacially speaking it is the only game in town. Kurt Vonnegut passed away a couple of weeks ago and he wrote a short story in 1961 called "Harrison Bergeron" that had a Minister of Equality. It remindes me of not only SCCA W/C and NASCAR but alot of the crap we are facing in other areas.
I encourage everyone to read it:

"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else."

It continues here:

http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

Bink

Anyone watching Nascar would assume they throw the Yellow to "bunch 'em up". Track debris is an easy call. If they didn't the long greens the racing would get boring - to the average fan. If they don't like it...get out.
Stewart is frustrated - he's finding out he's not god, and far from it. JPM adds to his frustration.

DaveL82

NASCAR has been like WWF for quite some time. It's all about the marketing and nothing else.

mwvettec5

Tony Stewart may act a bit like a "prima donna", BUT, he is a racer FIRST and a PR "pawn" second (demonstrated by his participation in MANY races that don't pay big $$$ or get a lot of press).

A lot like Dale Earnhardt Senior was for most of his career.

If NASCAR is "upset" w/ Tony, I say "way to go Tony" !!!

ZBRA

Man, I hope they don't ever do that in baseball!

Chalky

Congratulation Tony for saying so.

I personally don't care for NASCAR or wrestling. I also don't care for the excuse about sports being entertainment. Auto racing should be about cars and competition and not a media day for sponsors.

If NASCAR had a goal of keeping costs in check, they failed miserably at that as well.

Too Tall Bob

Don't know if any of you saw the Tony Stewart interview after the race in Phoenix, but Dave Despain showed it on Wind Tunnel last Sunday night when Stewart was holding his own media conference in the pits after the race, and to say he was a little pi*sed is an understatement.

He basically said the same things that he said in his radio interview, but the funny part was when his PR guy who was standing next to Stewart kept poking him in the side, trying to get him to shut up. Finally, Stweart turned to him and said, "Quit!"...and he just kept on going.

A couple of his comments included things like, "If I had enough money to retire, I'd leave Nascar and do nothing but race dirttrack", or something to that effect. He really is a racer first, and a media darling second. Good for him!

burners

Yes and yes.

AU N EGL

XPC5R

Good job Tony, speaking as a racer, not just another talking head. Great way to use his popularity to hopefully instigate some adjustments.

Bink

The France family will definitely make some adjustments. They're kind of like Mother Nature...as is Bernie E.

GuyzVette

Wrestling is fake?!?

xsiveone

That's why I prefer real racing to NASCAR and prefer the UFC to the WWE.

If you're looking to racing as "entertainment", maybe you should watch something else?

Bink

Without entertainment there will be very few fans - at least here in the States. Sad, but true.

Mikelly

Although I hate Stewart and think he's one of the biggest disappointments in professional racing, I agree with him on this point. NASCAR is all about the money, which is why you have great talents like Montoya coming into Nascar, and cutting their F1 career short... It's all about the money. I think NASCAR is hard to race and compete in. But I also think it's a lot more to do with "photogenics" and "marketing", than just raw talent.

Sad state of affairs...
Mike

Tintin

So the truth is out... I said NASCAR was fixed in another thread and got loud boos from a lot of people. I tried to watch one of their boring races and I find that I cannot. I had really good tickets to the race in Phoenix last Saturday that included a ride around with the Petty thing, parking right at the stadium and food and drinks. I gave them away because I just could not face watching the cars drive in a circle for any length of time.
NASCAR would be worth watching if it were identical to Australian V8 Supercar in format and car types, i.e. real cars on the outside. I attended the Second Creek race near Sydney last year and it was wonderful, giant sedans doing 180+ on a really nice road course... but then again, Aussies are very wise race fans and can tell when something is wrong...

John Shiels

F1 cut JPM out he had no choice he was done.

danswofford

Dont tell that to my Grandmother, she would be crushed.