Tony Stewart has been very open about his bittersweet relationship with the corporate side of NASCAR. Recently, he had also opened up on how Tim Kuniskis and his wife could not believe it when he told them about making a NASCAR comeback. But there’s something else that Tony is still holding on to, and here’s why he doesn’t want to give up on the sport yet.
Tony Stewart offers rare praise for NASCAR
When Tim Kuniskis asked Tony Stewart about his perspective on what NASCAR is doing right now, Stewart jumped in to highlight its competitive fairness, praising spec motors and body parity so that RAM’s new trucks won’t trail Chevrolet or Ford.
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“A situation where, when you came in, you came in not with the idea of just bringing a truck back into the series; you came into it with outside thinking, and really thinking outside the box, like nobody I’ve seen, in quite a while, so NASCAR would have been foolish to not embrace that, and I think that’s kind of the mentality that NASCAR has right now,” Stewart said.
He then offered a seven-word phrase of praise on how NASCAR adapting to some changes is a step toward a positive development, which was the need of the hour.
“If you look at some of the projects that they have going on, they’re trying to think outside the box nonstop, so I think it was a very easy situation for RAM and Stellantis to come in and for NASCAR to look at that and say, ‘This is exactly what we need right now; this is exactly what we’re wanting,’ and to embrace that. I think NASCAR, there’s a lot of things they do right.”
This discussion happened when Kuniskis explained and revealed how cooperative NASCAR was with him when he took his vision and plan inside.
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“NASCAR has been absolutely phenomenal to work with on this. We want to work with Dana White on the TV show, and we want to do the free agent program, and here’s a laundry list of things that we want to do. Quite frankly, we thought that they would have a problem with at least half of the things that we asked for. They green everything.”
His plans to do everything differently, to bring Kaulig Racing with RAM, free agent programs, five truck teams, and to do the TV show, come with a lot of risk, but NASCAR is going hand in hand to bring this vision to reality. Kuniskis expressed how he thought that NASCAR would have never given them a green light, but they did.
Then, Stewart further explained how NASCAR has the gift to reinvent itself and do something unique as a sport compared to other sports, but the lack of willingness to change and try new things keeps NASCAR behind sometimes.
“In an era of sports and entertainment where basketball can’t reinvent itself, football can’t reinvent itself, and baseball can’t reinvent itself, NASCAR can. NASCAR has a lot of areas that give them the opportunity to do things that those other pro sports can’t do, so I think NASCAR does realize that and does do a good job of continuously trying to figure out what they can do down the road to make the sport grow and to give the entertainment value something that it hasn’t had for a while.”
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This heartfelt concern and praise for NASCAR by Tony Stewart revealed how much this sport means to him, and he has not completely left it behind. This rare praise moment is a testament to the fact that Tony is well-positioned to return to NASCAR with a fresh approach and to bring about change to make the sport great again.
Tony Stewart’s return to NASCAR despite a bittersweet relationship with NASCAR
Tony Stewart may not have been racing in NASCAR for the past few years, but his love and will to race for NASCAR actually never left. During a conversation with Kuniskis, he revealed how one question, “Hey, would you ever be interested in going and running a truck race next year?” led to a Tony Stewart comeback in the NASCAR truck series.
Stewart’s relationship with NASCAR has gone through several ups and downs, especially over the last year because of the NASCAR antitrust lawsuit. But he could not resist the opportunity because of his relationship with Stellantis brands like Dodge and RAM.
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“When the opportunity comes to do something with you, obviously, you know what to do with the RAM brand. Our relationship with the Dodge side…is awesome,” he said. Even Leah, Tony Stewart’s wife, was in disbelief when Tony told her he was making a comeback in NASCAR.
“I went back to Leah, and I said, ‘Hey, I just talked to Tim, and Tim asked me if I’d be interested in running a truck race,’ and her eyes got really big. She kind of knows the history of my relationship with NASCAR, but she was like, ‘What, you telling me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think I would be interested,’ and she looked at me like I had three heads, so it took a little bit of convincing—the convincing that I was serious about it.”
Tony is all set to drive the Kaulig Racing No. 25 RAM 1500 truck. He’ll be competing in NASCAR after a decade. His final Cup season was in 2016, and he has not raced a truck since 2005. NASCAR tracks and fans alike are eagerly awaiting the return of this veteran and seeing him back on track with his impeccable skills.
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