Tony Stewart Rants NASCAR = Wrestling

[Corkscrewed]

Stewart likens NASCAR to pro wrestling

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Two-time champion Tony Stewart likened NASCAR to professional wrestling and accused it of using bogus caution flags to shape races in biting comments made on his weekly radio show.

Stewart's appearance on his Tuesday night show was his first since skipping a post-race press conference in Phoenix. He dominated Saturday night's race but lost after a late exchange of leads with winner Jeff Gordon. Stewart said he refused interviews to avoid bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.

"It's like playing God," he said on his Sirius Satellite Radio program. "They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It's happened too many times this year."

Stewart, who said he was fighting a fever and left the two-hour show early, went on to say fans are complaining about debris cautions and NASCAR isn't listening.

"I guess NASCAR thinks, 'Hey, wrestling worked, and it was for the most part staged, so I guess it's going to work in racing, too,'" he said. "I can't understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they're stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.

"I don't know that they've run a fair race all year," he said.
NASCAR officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Stewart led a race-high 132 laps at Phoenix but lost the lead while pitting under the final caution, which came for an accident. He used an impressive three-wide pass to re-claim the lead, only to swap it right back to Gordon, who drove away to victory.

Stewart called it the only legitimate caution of the day.

"To me, it's not all about the money, it's about the integrity of the sport," he said on his radio program. "When I feel our own sanctioning body isn't taking care of that, it's hard to support them and feel proud about being a driver in the Nextel Cup Series when they're throwing debris cautions."
He has had a frustrating start to the season, dominating several races but failing to find his way to Victory Lane. He was the class of the field at Daytona and Bristol, only to lose those races because of a wreck and mechanical failure.

He also lost a race in Atlanta when a debris caution came out while he was leading with 25 laps to go and the field pitted. Jimmie Johnson passed him for the victory with three laps to go.

Stewart was so frustrated after wrecking in Texas two weeks ago -- an accident caused by hard racing with Juan Pablo Montoya and criticized because Stewart ultimately wrecked Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- he threatened retirement.

The 35-year-old Stewart had calmed by the time he hosted last week's radio show, when he said he talked of retiring out of frustration.




Please note that he called wrestling "mostly staged" (which is accurate) before flaming him for being stupid.

You can flame him for being in NASCAR if you wish, though.

[Theo Dious]

Nascar has been pulling strings to keep Gordon at or near the top for years. He's basically been the Randy Orton of the company ever since he showed up; it was decided that he was the future of the business, and he's been allowed to get away with tons of stuff with them STILL handing him everything he needs.

[Theo Dious]

Originally Posted by Corkscrewed Please note that he called wrestling "mostly staged"

That's actually the best description I've heard a national celebrity give wrestling in public. Go Tony.

[Xero]

First of all, who?

Second of all, VROOOOOOOOOOOOM!

[Theo Dious]

Tony Stewart, fool, he drives an orange racecar with Home Depot all over it and is about as tall as Rey Mysterio.

[Theo Dious]

Incidentally, a photo at Nascar.com that I can't link to is captioned:

"Tony Stewart wonders how long the fans will put up with NASCAR thinking they are 'stupid.'"

Originally Posted by Tony Stewart "I guess NASCAR thinks, 'Hey, wrestling worked... so I guess it's going to work in racing, too.'"

[Linkbowler]

Tony Stewart owns your mother.

[Pepsi Man]

I always liked Stewart even if a lot of people have had a problem with his "bad attitude". Most of the time when he was pissed off, I could see his point.

[RGWhat316]

I actually happen to be a WWE and NASCAR fan, so I can agree with some of the stuff that he says, even if I don't like him that much. I don't know if I can really say that NASCAR is staged, but you can definitely tell who they like and who they don't. And now they can throw random caution flags to bunch up the field and to give someone their lap back.

Strangely enough, NASCAR has mentioned WWE quite a bit, even though it's usually in a negative way. They even said something about Stewart doing a "heel turn" last year after the Daytona 500.

[Pepsi Man]

For some reason, this is bringing back memories of Kyle Petty as a member of the nWo.

[Theo Dious]

Originally Posted by Pepsi Man I always liked Stewart even if a lot of people have had a problem with his "bad attitude". Most of the time when he was pissed off, I could see his point.

Stewart is real. He doesn't throw little temper tantrums very often like some guys (Gordon, Johnson, the Busch brothers) but things don't seem to go his way too often, and he says what he thinks about it, unlike a lot of guys who will do an interview and sneak in a sideways jab at a guy. The fact is that he's not a pretty boy like Godon or Earnhardt Jr, he's more in the old southern hick mold of Rusty Wallace or Richard Petty, and Nascar doesn't have a lot of use for that these days.

[Theo Dious]

Originally Posted by RGWhat316 Strangely enough, NASCAR has mentioned WWE quite a bit, even though it's usually in a negative way. They even said something about Stewart doing a "heel turn" last year after the Daytona 500.

The thing is, if we're going to compare Nascar to WWE, the administration is Mr. McMahon and Tony Stewart is set to become Steve Austin.

Don't think Nascar particularly dislikes Stewart's comments, it's got US talking, hasn't it?