Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
There was a huge controversy heading into Richmond International Raceway when Tony Stewart, who had just been cleared to get back behind the wheel of the race car made some comments about the lug nuts used on cars. NASCAR didn’t like what he said and fined him $35,000.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how many more $35,000 rules changes I want to make,” Stewart said with a laugh. “I’m glad that something has been done. Scott Miller is a huge asset to NASCAR right now. And from what I understand, he’s the one who spearheaded getting something done. You hate to have to pay $35,000 to get somebody’s attention to do something, but apparently that’s what it took. I’ve got questions that I’d like to have answers to. I’m still wondering why I’m paying a $35,000 fine for something that got changed three days later. But, it is what it is.
“I was gone that evening when the announcement came out that I was getting the fine and the Driver Council, we all have a chat that we get in and when I was able to get back on my phone for 90 messages of discussions of what went on with those guys and I realized what they had done at about three in the morning. I didn’t want to take their money. I appreciated their support and I think they made a huge statement about what the Driver Council is about and the fact that they didn’t believe what I did deserved the fine. And with that, that’s why they decided to support us and help split the fine with me. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the money.”
With the money for the fine, Smoke decided to donate it to a great charity. The charity they chose was Autism Delaware to help raise awareness for Autism.
“And so what we decided as a group was to put the money together and give it to a great charity,” Stewart said. “Artie Kemper (founder of Autism Delaware) is a great friend to everybody in NASCAR and is somebody that we all as a group know personally and we thought that would really make a big difference. So that’s why we chose that charity. But we did it collectively, as a group; and that’s something I’m really proud of with this Driver Council is how the drivers are united about everything that we’re doing. This was the first time something had happened where somebody on the Council got a penalty for speaking an opinion and for them to show that kind of support and show that we’re all one unit; and that’s something that you don’t normally see and we haven’t seen in this sport. Guys talk amongst each other, but somebody gets in trouble for something where the rest of the drivers, privately, will support it but can’t publicly support it. So this was the first time that we’ve seen public support like that and I think it went a long way.”
After this whole controversial and the Drivers council agreeing to pay the fine, drivers are hoping that they will be able to speak a little more freely about issues an such that arise throughout a race weekend and not have to worry about NASCAR intervening and getting punished.
“I think to a certain degree,” Stewart said. “I think that is, more importantly, that is why the driver council was started. It is to give us a voice and a collective voice. The hard part, and the scenario that NASCAR doesn’t want to get in and can’t get into, we saw this with CART years ago on the IndyCar side, was everybody is going to have an opinion about what to do; most of the time it’s something that is going to benefit themselves. So, to have a driver council where you have driver’s from all three manufacturers and different teams and organizations having a unified voice and everybody saying the same thing it’s validation to NASCAR that this isn’t about one individual group and what we want to help ourselves. It’s what we think as a group is best for everybody. That is why it’s so important to have this started. NASCAR had done a great job with it.
“To answer your question, I don’t know. I just got Brain France’s number yesterday. I’m happy I’ve got that now. I might call him at midnight to see if I can get ahold of him, just because I’m up at that hour. I just want to see if Brian is up at that hour. He will probably call me back at six in the morning to see if I’m up, which, won’t work very well for me either. We do and we have those conversations, but sometimes I think the sense of urgency and the sense of this really is an issue sometimes gets numbed with everything else that is going on topic wise. That was something with the lugnuts that it was proof that it was getting worse not better. Sometimes you’ve got to shake them.
“Apparently, I shook too hard. It’s just figuring out how to communicate with them and that is getting better. We’ve got a driver council meeting here in Talladega tonight. I’m excited about that. I’m excited to have been a part of it last year and I’m able to be a part of it this year before I move on to see the foundation that is being laid. It’s really a positive thing. There are a lot of drivers that are doing more work than I am with it right now. I’m kind of sitting back and watching what is going on because I’m only going to be on here for another six, eight months or whatever it is until the season is over. I’m really proud and I feel really strong that there is a lot of good leadership in the council right now and that the foundation that is being laid there will carry on for years to come down the road.”
