Friday 5: Tony Stewart discusses NASCAR, penalties, charter system and more

Cup owner Tony Stewart has had a blast drag racing and is getting ready for the SRX season, but that doesn’t mean he’s overlooked what is happening in NASCAR.

Shortly after Stewart-Haas Racing announced this week that Josh Berry would drive the No. 4 car when Kevin Harvick retires at the end of this season, Stewart talked to reporters.

Stewart discussed his frustration with NASCAR for not agreeing to make the charter system permanent, his feelings on the stiff penalties issued in Cup this year, and his drag racing pursuit.

As is typical of Stewart, he didn’t hold back on his opinions and shares what other vehicle he might race in the future.

Here’s what he had to say to questions from NBC Sports:

Q: Joe Gibbs Racing announced this week that it had sold a minority equity stake in the team to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Arctos Partners. How important is it to have multiple partners in team ownership and would SHR consider adding any?

TONY STEWART: You think about what happens if Joe Gibbs goes away. What happens if Rick Hendrick goes away? Jack Roush goes away … Richard Childress. So you think about key people and owners in this series, what does the future hold? … It’s inevitable. We all start. We all finish at some point in this journey, but you want to see these great, iconic organizations continue, and I think it is a great opportunity.

I think it’s foolish to sit there and say, no that’s not something you would consider at some point. I mean, if you have the ability and the confidence that your program can continue down the road, I don’t think you look (at it) that way. I think for some of these owners that are getting up there in age, they have plans and they’re making plans on when they’re gone, (so that) these organizations can maintain and stay a part of the sport.”

Q: You became a car owner before the charter system. How important is the charter system?

TONY STEWART: I think NASCAR is going to play a big role in that. (Team owners) are spending millions of dollars to put on the product for NASCAR. The idea that they (NASCAR) don’t want to give permanent charters, I think, is ludicrous. For somebody that wants to invest in the sport, why would you invest in something and not have security of knowing that your investment is somewhat secure?

We (team owners) all hold all the risks. We’re the ones that have to go out and secure sponsorship to put these cars on the racetrack and to sit there and have a sanctioning body not support that and want to support us from the charter standpoint, I just think it’s asinine. I’m sure they’ve got their reasons, and I’ll respect their reasons but may not agree with them at all times.

Q: You feel like a permanent charter system will get worked out?

TONY STEWART: I hope so. I think it’s extremely critical for the sport and the longevity of the sport. There’s going to be a lot of eyes on that decision (by) people that make decisions on whether they want to invest in the sport or not.

Q: Looking back, wasn’t that quite a risk you took in joining Haas CNC Racing and becoming a co-owner before the charter system was in place?

TONY STEWART: I think I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with a guy (Gene Haas) that is an extremely smart businessman and built a great business from the ground up that has the ability to have sustainability. But not all these partners have that opportunity. I think my risk was I was leaving a championship-winning team (Joe Gibbs Racing) that I’d won two championships with and leaving that organization to venture out with an organization that had a car 34th and 36th in the points at the time. That was my big risk.

For partners coming into the sport now, it’s a financial risk. It’s not got cheaper to operate a NASCAR team like this new car was designed. It’s costing us more money than it’s ever cost us to run these cars.

If you want to have strong partners and strong people coming into the sport, there’s got to be some sort of stability and these permanent charters are what would do that and be a step in the right direction for these teams and organizations. But we’ve got to have that cooperation with NASCAR to make that happen.

Q: NASCAR has issued more than $1 million in fines for technical violations (including a $250,000 fine, among other penalties to Stewart-Haas Racing for a counterfeit part on Chase Briscoe’s car) and talked about changing the culture in the garage. Can the culture change in the garage?

TONY STEWART: Honestly, I’m supportive of the amount of fines. I think if you want to get it under control, you’ve got to keep bumping it up to where it’s risk vs. reward. What are you willing to risk to get in the gray areas?

I support NASCAR on that side. I feel like they’ve done a good job of trying to discourage teams from going above and beyond. But the mindset on some of these aspects are absolutely ludicrous. Some of these penalties have been justified and some of them, I feel like, have been extremely in poor judgment. But it’s not our series. We’re not the sanctioning body. They have to run the series the way they feel like it needs to be run.

Q: When you are saying poor judgment, are you talking about people committing the act or NASCAR penalizing the infraction. Seems like you’re talking about the hood louver penalties at Phoenix with Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing?

TONY STEWART: Yeah and windshield screws. This really boils down to one thing. You’ve been a part of this sport, we’ve all been a part of this sport forever. It’s all about control. Before we had timing lines on pit road, they had two people in the scoring booth with a stopwatch in each hand. You can only control four cars out of 43 cars down pit road. If you ruffled their feathers and upset them, you were probably going to get a pit road speeding penalty the next week. You could guarantee it. That was NASCAR’s way of keeping everybody in check.

Now, they’ve backed themselves in a corner with the greed to the gambling side of this. They can’t manipulate the race. They can’t call somebody for a pit road speeding penalty if they didn’t commit the act. They can’t control that. They can’t throw bogus cautions to bunch the field back up. … How do you control everybody then if you’ve taken that ability away during the race? How do you do it? You do it at the R&D Center after the races are over. If somebody’s ruffling your feathers, that’s where they’re going to get you.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise. … They’re going to find things like they’ve always done in the history of the sport, and they have to police the sport. You can’t fault them for that. Some of the ways they’ve tried to keep balance and control, some of their decisions — fans aren’t stupid, you guys in the media are not stupid — it’s very plain of how they’re controlling it and how they’re trying to keep everybody in check.

I think it’s important that they do keep aspects of this in check. You can’t lose control of that. If you do, it becomes a free-for-all and then they’ve lost everything they’ve built over 75 years. Some of (the penalties), I think, they went overboard and above and beyond this year.

Q: What does it mean to have the challenge of drag racing, something new to you, and how different is it from other forms of racing you’ve done?

TONY STEWART: It’s probably the most drastic change of any of them in motorsports that we’ve had in all honesty. I think that’s one of the main reasons I like it so well. You look at my history in motorsports and all the different types of cars we’ve driven, I’ve always thrived on new challenges.

Q: When you stopped driving in NASCAR, did you worry you were out of challenges as a competitor?

TONY STEWART: No. There’s always a new series and new cars and new opportunities. Travis Pastrana has talked to us about trying to do Nitro (Rallycross) and it’s something that I’m interested in. There’s always going to be new opportunities to try new things, but I think that is really one of the main factors of what I’ve enjoyed about drag racing.

For 5.2 seconds is what you get to drive the car, but it’s the whole procedure. It’s all the things that you have to do and do correctly and do it in the right cadence. Learning those things and learning the psychological side of it, what you’re thinking about when you go to stage, pre-stage and stage, and all the things that you have to do. It’s way different, drastically different than what we’ve done (in NASCAR).

All those skill sets that you learned in all these years of motorsports and driving these cars, most of them don’t even apply in drag racing. So, to learn this and learn the nuances that make it so special, that’s one of the parts I really like about it.”

2. Did NASCAR go too far in penalty?

This week’s NASCAR on NBC podcast hosted by Nate Ryan features a roundtable discussion with NASCAR on NBC’s Steve Letarte, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio “The Morning Drive” co-host Pete Pistone and Mike Forde, managing director of racing communications at NASCAR.

Among various hot-button topics discussed was Denny Hamlin’s penalty for wrecking Ross Chastain at the end of the Phoenix race in March. NASCAR didn’t penalize Hamlin when the incident happed, but officials did so after Hamlin admitted his actions on his podcast. NASCAR penalized Hamlin $50,000 and 25 points .

Since then, drivers in similar situations have denied such actions, although NASCAR suspended Chase Elliott one race for hooking Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 .

Letarte raised his concerns with NASCAR penalizing Hamlin after Hamlin’s comments on his podcast instead of when the incident happened.

“I didn’t like the Denny Hamlin penalty,” Letarte said on the NASCAR on NBC podcast. “If we’re going to penalize for what he did on the racetrack or what any driver does on the racetrack, that is NASCAR’s position as the sanctioning body. I would not want the position and it’s a tough position.

“But we are basically encouraging the athletes to be dishonest or withhold the truth. (Hamlin) said he wrecked him, which I’m going to take as the truth.

“I just don’t believe driver comments should be the reason we are penalizing drivers for on-course action. It was either a penalty on-track or it wasn’t. Chase Elliott was still suspended even though he said he didn’t wreck Hamlin. So, I guess my struggle with this is I don’t believe what they say into a microphone should be evidence.”

Forde explained the NASCAR side.

“We did what we did because he admitted to violating the rulebook,” Forde said on the NASCAR on NBC podcast. “So he has to get penalized for that. That’s how I feel about that. That’s kind of how we answer that question.

“As far as drivers not feeling they’re able to show their personalties when there’s a microphone in front of their face, I think NASCAR, and I’ve got to give (NASCAR Chief Operating Officer) Steve O’Donnell major kudos for this. There was back in the day, I'd say 2013 to 2017 era, fines for saying that it was hard to pass or fines for ripping NASCAR leadership or ripping a call. Those have gone away completely.

“Talk about Denny Hamlin again. Just (last) October, he said the entire NASCAR leadership team should be fired . The penalty for that was zero dollars, zero points and zero-race suspension . In no other sport, I don’t think, could you do that, and not open your checkbook the next day. NFL, NBA, MLB, you rip any of those commissioners, you’re probably going to get suspended for that.

“I think NASCAR is incredibly lenient as far as letting drivers speak their mind. As far as the specifics to the Phoenix penalty, this has been beaten to death, I think, but I think when you say you committed a violation on the track, whether it’s a technical one or you wrecked someone on purpose, if we didn’t do something, I think, we’d be having the same conversation — how could you admit that you broke the rules and not get in trouble for it?”

3. Test to improve short track racing

NASCAR has scheduled a test July 17 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the day after the Cup race.

NASCAR has been working on a new splitter and it will be tested there. The intent is to enhance the racing at short tracks.

“Might not be able to be implemented in 2023 just because there is a lot of production following that,” said Mike Forde, managing director of racing communications at NASCAR, on this week’s NASCAR on NBC podcast about the new splitter.

Forde went on to say that “we feel pretty good about (the new splitter). The CFD modeling we’ve done on this, from my understanding … it’s pretty promising. So we’re excited about that.”

Greg Zipadelli, chief competition officer for Stewart-Haas Racing, said that the No. 41 team for SHR will be among the teams to take part in that test.

“I think anytime they’re willing to work and look at different directions, we’re willing to help and be a part of it,” Zipadelli told NBC Sports.

“I don’t know if there’s a bunch of magic there or not, but hats off for at least having a different thought and putting the effort into getting the parts and pieces made and constructing this test for us.”

4. Building upon Le Mans experience

Jenson Button, who co-drove the NASCAR Garage 56 car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller earlier this month, said NASCAR needs to take advantage of the Le Mans experience to build the sport internationally.

“I think if you can get a fanbase in Europe, they will love that – within reason,” said Button, who will compete in the Chicago Cup street race next week. “I think there are certain things that the European fanbase will struggle with.

“I think the big one is the ‘no rules’ in terms of how aggressive you can be on the track. I think that’s one thing that takes all of us time to get into, in any category of NASCAR.

“We struggle with that initially, because it’s completely different to any other type of racing. Where in other racing, if you tap a guy, you’re probably going to get a penalty or damage your car. Whereas, in NASCAR, that’s not the case. You can hit people, and it’s down to the other guy either to retaliate or to move out of the way. That’s the biggest thing I think for the European public to get their heads around.”

While there is the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, Button says more NASCAR racing will help grow the sport overseas.

“I think there needs to be a way to get the European fans to understand the personalities within the sport, as much as enjoying the racing,” Button said. “I think it could be big, and doing a race in Europe next year would be great.

“You've got to jump on what we did at Le Mans, and I think it had such a big following – I saw so many memes and it went crazy on social media. It could be easily forgotten, so I think it needs to be jumped on as soon as possible. A race in Europe would be great.”

5. Atop the list

Martin Truex Jr.’s victory two weeks ago at Sonoma marked his 30th win since the start of the 2016 season.

That’s the most victories of any driver in that period, breaking a tie with Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, who each have scored 29 wins since the start of the 2016 season. Denny Hamlin has 23 victories during that stretch. Kyle Larson has 21.

Truex also has led a series-high 9,270 laps since the start of the 2016 season. His average running position of 9.7 in that same time period also ranks first among drivers.