Posted: April 27, 2007
Speedway Media Online

Tony Stewart.

The name rings many bells with people in the racing industry. From corporate sponsors to the three-year-old little boy in his Home Depot fire suit in line at his local home improvement warehouse to meet the sports superstar, Tony Stewart is the official spokesperson for NASCAR whether he likes it or not.

And when he runs away after a second place finish, only one week after saying that racing in the industry’s top series “isn’t fun anymore” and that he’s “ready to retire,” there’s something left to be said.

Is the sport pushing Tony Stewart away?

Stewart has been one of the first to say that he didn’t like the Car of Tomorrow. He let it be known after the first test sessions begin and he continued until the Bristol race this spring where he lead the most laps but ended the day early, finishing 35^th, when a fuel pump cable broke.

After a seventh place finish in Martinsville where he was the defending winner, he moved on to Texas where, the previous mentioned comments about retiring where spat off after the end of the race. Stewart finished 25^th but was two laps down. He had already battled with recent phenom Juan Pablo Montoya and one of his two spins caused the accident between good friend and unofficial teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch.

Phoenix.

Stewart could have and should have won Phoenix, but instead Jeff Gordon won his first race of the year, going on to tie Dale Earnhardt in the Most Wins category. Not so fast – as Gordon drove around the track waving a “3” flag, Stewart disappeared into the night, refusing to be interviewed by FOX , ESPN, and probably any other media outlet. His crew chief, Greg Zipadelli stood in for him in his media obligations after finishing second in the media center.

Smoke had left the building.

The mystery now remains why did he leave? People have called into the Sirius’ NASCAR shows making theories that Stewart was upset by the way that Gordon was waving the “3” flag around; that it disrespected Dale, Sr.

Some people actually think he may retire this week.

Personally, I don’t believe either.

As a race car driver that Tony Stewart is trying as hard as humanly possible to win a race for him, for Zippy, for his team, for Joe Gibbs Racing, for his fans. He could have already won at least three of those races. There is no crew chief on the circuit as good as Zipadelli and there’s no relationship that comes close to that of his and Stewart (maybe Matt Kenseth and Robbie Rieser). The formula for winning is there.

So why do I think he left? NASCAR.

NASCAR threw several “phantom” cautions Saturday night at the Phoenix race. I know it, the racers know it, and other fans know it. It’s been widely talked about in racing articles, on television, and on the radio. It screws up everything that the racers do on the track such as driving away from the pack (which is what happened to Tony) and he could have easily won that race. You never know when NASCAR is going to throw a “caution” or not. Kurt Busch has been caught twice in the past two weeks with these cautions.

So when NASCAR is more worried about making it a “fun” race by throwing fake cautions, why should Tony Stewart give them the pleasure of showing up for their benefit for the media?

Like Tony always says, he races people the way he wants to be raced…. I guess the same goes for NASCAR.