Tony Stewart Uncovers NASCAR’s Controversial Control Tactics: “They Tear It Down Until They Find Something”

Does NASCAR punish anyone and everyone that annoy them? Maybe. Or maybe not. However, after being handed down some serious penalties last season, Stewart Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart feels that it is better to be safe than sorry.

Explaining how he is afraid of voicing his opinions publicly as it might upset the governing body, Stewart talked about the issues faced by team owners and drivers in the ongoing season.

Since the start of the 2023 season, multiple drivers and teams like Denny Hamlin, Hendrick Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, and Kyle Busch Motorsports have been issued penalties. However, the question is if these penalties are a result of any action outside the track that might have upset NASCAR.

Reminiscing about his days as a NASCAR driver, Smoke asked the former driver and YouTube host Kenny Wallace if he remembers the ‘two guys in a tower that had a stopwatch in each hand.’ Furthermore, he shared, “If you or I pissed off NASCAR the week before or we got under their skin or ruffled their feathers, guess what happened the very next week? We got a pit road speeding penalty.”

Agreeing with Stewart, that this was how NASCAR kept the etiquette and the drivers in control, Wallace admitted that everyone understood this unsaid rule.

Tony Stewart reveals why NASCAR can’t impose a similar penalty anymore

While discussing the tools used by the governing body to keep the drivers in line, Tony Stewart further shared, “On top of that, if you really went overboard, they’d call you to the trailer and have a talk with you and they would explain why they have to do things the way they do.”

However, he added that he does not want any of it to sound like a NASCAR bash session. Admitting that the governing body has one of the toughest jobs in Motorsports, he continued, “So, now we are in an era where they’ve kind of backed themselves in a corner a little bit. Now you got all this gambling and betting on the sport. Well, they can’t sit there and give you a pit road speeding penalty if it’s not warranted. If you didn’t do it they can’t charge you for a pit road speeding penalty like they used to.

“Now you’ve changed it (the results of a race) and you are controlling the sport from that standpoint and screwing up the betting. So, they don’t do that anymore. There’s no debris cautions where somebody threw a water bottle out and it’s clear against the inside wall and they want a caution because they want to bunch the field up. They literally cannot do that anymore.”

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So how does NASCAR control the sport today?

During the conversation, Tony Stewart explained that it has become difficult for the governing body to intervene in the races. But that doesn’t mean they have not found a way for it.

He said, “So, now if you’re NASCAR, how do you control everything afterwards and how do you control Kevin Harvick’s mad and he’s talking about the cars are unsafe and they’re talking about this procedure screwed up and that. How does NASCAR then keep these guys under control?”

And here’s the probable answer to that. Citing the current season’s penalties, Stewart said, “They take the cars back to the shop, they tear it down until they find something they don’t like. And every car is going to have something that they can find.”

“So, that’s their way of controlling it.”

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But despite his conjectures about the penalties related to the car designs, Stewart made sure to commend NASCAR on its new Hawkeye system. Appreciating how the governing body has done an amazing job, he, however, added that the sport must decide upon a statute of limitation.