When former NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps’ comments on Tony Stewart’s SRX series became public, Stewart did not sit quietly. He hit back at the executives, particularly Steve O’Donnell, since Phelps is out of the picture now. And the effect of that has already started to show as the NASCAR president has promised new changes to the 2026 season.

President’s fresh formula for NASCAR in 2026

During the Daytona Speedweek Media Day, O’Donnell spoke to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and this was when he unraveled the talks about making NASCAR a better sport and far more inclusive.

“Everyone can be a part of NASCAR. And if you look at a race, right, you can come to a race and you can just want the noise and the visual experience,” O’Donnell said. “I may not even like part of the racing, but I love what’s happening with entertainment. We’re a big time sport. We got huge, huge opportunities ahead of us.”

Following this, the NASCAR officials shed light on how welcoming the fans are, as they want to celebrate the sport. NASCAR recognized this, listened to them, and changed the playoff format to bring back the Chase.

“But we also got to embrace the fact that what people loved about us was you could move around, you could have access to drivers, you can have conversations and you can be part of the sport. And the great thing about our fans is you’ve come to the race track and you’re new and you look like, what is this? People are going to embrace you and they have a beer with you or whatever it may be. And then they want to celebrate the sport.”

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

NASCAR President’s comments on the recent changes came after Tony Stewart slammed him on Thursday regarding Phelps’ comment on Stewart’s business venture, which left the stock car racing fraternity in shock. Phelps, who was running the sport at the time, said, “stick a knife in this trash series.”

The comments were directed towards Stewart’s racing enterprise, Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) racing series, which was exposed in the recently concluded lawsuit trial. The comment not only enraged the fans but also put the NASCAR officials in hot water, leading to Phelps’ removal.

Stewart, who did not let it pass simply, condemned Phelps’s choice of words and criticized O’Donnell, the new NASCAR boss. “I’m going to do my deal. If I run into Steve O’Donnell, then he’ll have to deal with that part. I’m gonna go do me, and I don’t really care what he does this week,” he said.

One would understand why Tony Stewart saying this makes sense, given how the 54-year-old driver spent racing in this sport for nearly two decades, and then ran a Cup Series team for over a decade. With that said, it will be interesting to see how Tony Stewart and Steve O’Donnell react once they meet each other.

Tony Stewart teased NASCAR return

As Tony Stewart is all set to return to NASCAR with the Fresh From Florida 250 at the Daytona International Speedway, this is unlikely to be his last race this season. Teasing a comeback, the former Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner said just ahead of the Daytona Truck race:

“I would have said this was one and done. But let’s just say, I’ll leave it open-ended at this point.”

At Daytona, Stewart will race for Kaulig Racing’s #25 RAM 1500 truck after signing up for RAM’s free-agent driver program. With this, Stewart will return to NASCAR for the first time since 2016, when he retired from the Cup Series.

Stewart’s last Truck Series race was back in 2005, and he has six races to his name. This means that the upcoming Fresh From Florida 250 is set to be “Smoke’s” first race at this prestigious track.