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NASCAR Community Holds Tony Stewart Guilty as Chase Elliott Takes HMS Across the Line

Published 09/17/2023, 4:37 PM EDT

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Since putting down his firesuit in 2016, besides co-owning a $180 million Cup team, Tony Stewart has also formulated the SRX Series. A man of many talents, he even won his first NHRA National event in the Top Alcohol Dragster category this year. And now he posts constantly on his Twitter account about his drag racing activities. However, the fans in the NASCAR community have not taken this in a good way.

Tony Stewart seems to not flinch at all at the fact that the driver of his #4 Ford Mustang is out of playoff contention. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott got Rick Hendrick’s No. 9 Chevy into the next round of the playoffs on the owner’s points. On one hand, despite being out of the driver’s championship, Elliott is still fighting in the playoffs, and on the other, the SHR boss is obsessed with drag racing when his only playoff contender has fallen out of contention. Naturally, the fans pulled no punches while slamming Smoke.

Fans bash the 52-year-old millionaire on social media

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After the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol, four drivers, including Kevin Harvick, got ousted from the championship battle. The other three were Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports wrote on Twitter, “In owners points, the HMS-9 advanced. Eliminated were the same as the four drivers — Penske-22, SHR-4, JTG-47, FRM-34”. Someone reposted the same on Reddit, where the actual show began.

A long-time Stewart-Haas Racing fan wrote, “4 has the worst race this whole season. What’s Tony do? Post on Twitter about his drag team. This is why the team is going nowhere.”

While another wrote, “It appears Tony doesn’t give af about this championship format.”

Another fan expressed his sorrow as he typed, “Growing up a Gordon I always respected Tony for who he was and how different from corporate Jeff he was. But I have lost every bit of it with how little he cares about his team. He will be the first to complain about the sport or officials but won’t ever take accountability for his poor team performances. It’s a joke. Tony cares about every other form of Motorsport except his team. That’s fine, that’s his prerogative, but keep your mouth shut about NASCAR next time.”

A NASCAR fan admitted that he was never a Kevin Harvick fan but also acknowledged that he felt infuriated at how Tony Stewart was neglecting his Cup Series race team. He commented, “Never really been a Harvick fan, but seeing him go out this way hurts…and hearing him say he couldn’t wait to get to Phoenix is heartbreaking. Then, to add insult to injury, Tony tweets about his drag racing team which is infuriating. Tony and Gene, sell your charters and get out. You should be ashamed of the junk you’ve given these guys to run the past few years.”

To top it all off, someone chose to call out team co-owner Gene Haas and wrote, “It just doesn’t seem that Tony or Gene care about the team anymore. You rarely see them around and they don’t seem concerned about the team’s performance. I feel bad for Berry coming into this mess because I think he’s a good driver, but he might not get the chance to show it.”

Watch this story: 5 NASCAR Underdogs Who Could Ace Over the Favorites to Make It to the Playoffs

Had Harvick been in the playoff contention, perhaps the fans would have been able to witness another Chase Elliott-Kevin Harvick tussle, like the one that happened during the 2021 edition of the same race.

Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick shoved each other

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2 years ago, Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick went for it at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kevin was leading the race, indeed, with some hard racing tactics. After rubbing against each other multiple times, Chase Elliott got a flat tire when Kevin Harvick passed him. However, Chase Elliott felt like Harvick had cut his tires, and that too, on purpose.

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As a result, he confronted Kevin Harvick on the pit road rather uniquely. Elliott got ahead of Kevin Harvick and pulled the brakes, not moving an inch from his spot. This made Kevin Harvick lose a lot of precious spots in the race, which ultimately Kyle Larson won. Both drivers confronted each other, and the crew members pulled them apart, preventing what could have resulted in a fistfight.

Harvick said, “It was kind of a chicken move that he (Chase) did there at the end. We’re racing for the freaking win at Bristol; we are three wide in the middle and he throws a temper tantrum.”“I was just trying to get the lead racing hard. Then he pulls up in front of me and just sits there until I lose the whole lead,” he added.

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Alas, we will not get to see another Elliott-Harvick ever again.

Despite His Exit, Chase Elliott Stays Integral to Rick Hendricks in the Playoffs

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Written by:

Soumyadeep Saha

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Soumyadeep is a NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. He has done his Master's in English Literature and is a semi-professional bodybuilder. He has, in recent years, channelized his love and commitment for motorsports into a building career path.
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Edited by:

Shivali Nathta