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Tony Stewart Rips NASCAR on Sirius Satellite

AS any race fan may know, last weekend (April 21, 2007) the Phoenix race was fairly fun to watch. Lots of close racing, a few debris cautions, a few accident cautions. The norm that we’ve become accustomed to.

After a closely fought finish between Jeff Gordon & Tony Stewart, Jeff won the race & Tony finished behind him.

As the broadcast wound down, interviews of the drivers commenced, but Tony Stewart had delcined all interviews and left the track. That action prompted some curiosity and an ensueing media frenzy had developed after Tony’s Sirius Satellite show, on NASCAR channel 128, called “Tony Stewart Live”, where he explained his actions.

In his show, he explained his reasons for having left the track as a high level of frustration with the number of debris caution flags that NASCAR has thrown this year. He felt it better to not say anything while he was as upset as he was and decided leaving was his best choice at that moment. In regards to the debris cautions, he believes it’s NASCAR’s way of bunching up the cars to make for better, closer racing that makes for a better show. Or, as Tony makes comment, has likened NASCAR to wrestling.

NASCAR’s statement on the issue was a case of disappointment.

With that statement, a flurry of web and news articles and blogs have lit up.

There’s the perspective of Tony’s that he is not obligated to talk to the media after a race.
There’s the perspective of the media that says if not for them, fans would not be in the know. (Seriously paraphrased!)
There’s the perspective of the fans on a multitude of blogs taking a stance on both sides of the fence.
There’s the main stream media just feeding on the events that have spawned off this item.

Here’s some links for you to read and decide for yourself:

Tony Stewart Live on Sirius Satellite Radio

ESPN.COM

Forbes Magazine

And a few other opinions and what not:

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=200504

http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/3910.html

http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/3907.html

UPDATE: 4/27/07: 1pm

An update on this issue is that Tony Stewart was called upon to meet with the NASCAR officials, (They insisted by not allowing his team to unload their car until Tony completed his meeting with them).

Tony later apologized for this weeks earlier statements, and a penalty of $10,000 was levied against him.

Fox Sports

Posted by Brusimm on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 9:36 am.
Filed in NASCAR, Sirius Sports, Sirius.
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Comments:

  1. I thought Stewart had changed his ways, or at least - was trying to change.

    This proves that some people never change. What does he care if he wins or loses a race? He gets a million dollars for every race no matter what.

    Can we all join together and say this right quick? OK, here goes:

    "WAHHHHH! Debris is everywhere, WAHHHHHHHHHHH!"     by MCWHAMMER
  2. The number of debris cautions where they can't even find the debris is getting ridiculous. Even the announcers are being sarcastic about it saying if they find it we will show it. LOL

    Those who hate Tony have to thank him for at least making it interesting. by D0TC0M
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by D0TC0M View Post
    The number of debris cautions where they can't even find the debris is getting ridiculous. Even the announcers are being sarcastic about it saying if they find it we will show it. LOL
    Yeah, I think D.W. said during the race "It's just tape" when he saw a piece of debris that brought a caution.

    It is getting ridiculous as far as debris goes, but Tony took this one a little too far. He's paying for it now, huh? by MCWHAMMER
  4. I went to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Race in Kansas City today. They had ZERO debris cautions in this race (ok, one for oil on the track when the 21 truck blew an engine...). for the most part, they had long green flag runs.

    As per Fox Sports...

    Quote:
    He (Erik Darnell) started 10th, led 92 of 167 laps on the 1.5-mile tri-oval and beat Rick Crawford by 10.44 seconds - the fifth-largest margin of victory in series history.
    Had NASCAR thrown a debris caution with 15 laps to go, he might not have won the race.

    Some people might have thought the race was boring, but Darnell deserved to win. He had the best truck today... by semipenguin
  5. After todays race, Tony's not going to be much happier than he was last weekend...

    God, what a stupid ending to a race. I hate this green-white-checker-overdrive-stupidity. Why did they have to start this?!

    I'm getting very annoyed with Nascar and their goofy rules. by MCWHAMMER
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by MCWHAMMER View Post
    After todays race, Tony's not going to be much happier than he was last weekend...
    He can thank one of those stupid 'debris cautions' for giving him a lap back.. He didn't complain about that one

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MCWHAMMER View Post
    God, what a stupid ending to a race. I hate this green-white-checker-overdrive-stupidity. Why did they have to start this?!

    I'm getting very annoyed with Nascar and their goofy rules.
    Yea, it's kind of a strange system, but what else can they do.. Go back to finishing the race under caution? by jwt873
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by jwt873 View Post
    Yea, it's kind of a strange system, but what else can they do.. Go back to finishing the race under caution?
    No, they could pause the lap count at the time the caution happens, wait until the clean-up is finished, and restart the race under green flag conditions with the correct number of laps left. It's so stupid to have a green-flag-checker when it ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS ends halfway due to a caution. That's what's aggravating about it. It's no fun to watch, when you've already sat through an entire race just to watch the leader win by default. I'm not mad at you, if it sounds like I am, I'm just mad at Nascar right now. by MCWHAMMER
  8. Did I see it correctly, after Tony was taken out at the end, did he walk out to the track and actually flip off the person who took him out of the race?

    If so classic.

    I think I am now a Tony Stewart fan. by Scott Greczkowski
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by MCWHAMMER View Post
    No, they could pause the lap count at the time the caution happens, wait until the clean-up is finished, and restart the race under green flag conditions with the correct number of laps left.
    I understand your passion.. I think it's harder than it appears for NASCAR. They could go back to the red flag rule and freeze the field on late race cautions, but that rule seriously pissed off a lot of fans too. I guess if they could throw the red CONSISTENTLY it would be a better way to finish by jwt873
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski View Post
    Did I see it correctly, after Tony was taken out at the end, did he walk out to the track and actually flip off the person who took him out of the race?

    If so classic.

    I think I am now a Tony Stewart fan.
    I believe it was the person he "thought" took him out. by Andrew8468
  11. ..... by DaveMoody
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by MCWHAMMER View Post
    It's so stupid to have a green-flag-checker when it ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS ends halfway due to a caution.
    Do last week's Phoenix race and the Talladega Busch race count? Both of them had GWC finishes that went all the way to the end. by DaveMoody
  13. Quote:
    Originally Posted by DaveMoody View Post
    Do last week's Phoenix race and the Talladega Busch race count? Both of them had GWC finishes that went all the way to the end.
    I would have to concur.. I feel the majority of the GWC events do run to fruition. by Brusimm
  14. It seems the lament accompanying GWC finishes is, "If so-and-so only had another lap, he would have taken the lead." Isn't that true of all races, though? Along the lines of, "If we'd scored more points we would have won..." by skylark40
  15. NASCAR = Wrestling. Funny.

    Although, I find both pretty entertaining. Hmm...

    In other news: Fox News isn't news, it's entertainment.

    More appalling, than entertaining, but it's a livin'. by onehandle
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