Tony Stewart Opens Up About Racing & Life

that you have done it all. I mean, if you know in this new era, if I Google Tony Stewart, I mean NASCAR. champion, you know IndyCar Champion, you know, don't make me go down the list, but you've done it all. There's nothing else to do except what Tony wants to do, we all know that, so you're going to compete with the NHRA and, but now. you finish in Las Vegas last week and now you've done it all, but you win, you win your first NHRA drag race, you make the entire United States nervous and not the states of the world because now it's like shit, now it's .

Winning the drag races, are you going to take Wally to the Dairy Queen? I don't know. As for the Wally, it's a little different from a Fairgrounds trophy in a TQ race, but that was one thing when I got home last night and I was taking everything out of the truck and carrying it inside, you know, when we won a SRX. race or we win a sprint car race or whatever, you know, if we win something, we always take it to the kitchen first and you know, my housekeeper here we call her Berta like Berta from Two and a Half Men, she has so much and she doesn't care if it's Johnny Morris staying at the house or you or anyone else, she's going to give me the same shit and the same pain as if I hadn't even seen her yet this morning and I guarantee it. when I go.

Out there she'll look at me and say: you're here, yeah, how long until you're gone again? So I guarantee you that's what she's going to say, but I love posting it because she likes to see it, my friend, Mark. works for us, he loves to see it when they get here and, you know, so it's a topic where you know, talking about the race weekend and talking about how it went, so you went to Las Vegas, um, uh , and I want to get, I want to get. to that but you do something that comes out a little later it came out immediately in your interview but not all of us find out you have been to Las Vegas many times in your

life

you have won on the cup track in which you won in the bullring you have won in the dirt track and now you've just done historic things now you've won everything at the Las Vegas resort once you realized what you've done I think you realize at Victor Lane From the videos I saw, that's a big feather in your cap, no one could possibly do that.

Honestly, we thought about it last fall when we came second in the NHRA race. The first race I ran I lost by two ten thousandths of a second which is literally an inch it's that big and there are 15,840 inches in a quarter mile so you can imagine driving a quarter mile 15,840 inches and you lose by a. You are now smarter in math because of drag

racing

. No, it's just the good thing. It's just that we understand that we all have phones so much easier for us, but um, but yeah, it's just that I sat there last year and when after we won the semi-finals I felt like shit, if we won, I started thinking like I would like the bullring in a different place. -wing Sprint car and one that I won in an ASCS national race uh 360 race on the dirt track.

I won my first USAC Silver Crown race on the dirt track, a cup win on the big track and then we were an inch away. to complete it and, but who would have known that four races later and in the spring we will go back to Las Vegas and win by three ten-thousandths of a second, which is an inch and a half and I ended up completing it, so probably, besides thinking that there were three things to do which I was very grateful for at the top when we got out of the car. I was so excited that we won because you and I are Runners don't care until the day we die, we're going to be sure of something if it means we have to race to the bathroom to see who gets to the bathroom first or live to the end. buffet or getting down the hall to see our girlfriend in the nursing home, whatever it is, we're always going to erase something, so the win was exciting to begin with and then I thought, man, this is great for this team, I'm with the McPhillips family, it's Rich. senior Rich Junior we call Rich senior pop, so I'll refer to him as pops, but him, Eric, Bill and Renee, um, those are the five people that actually work on my car and the car I drove last weekend It wasn't the car. that I raced in Las Vegas last fall that we were obsessed with, they built, they were already building a new car for Richie the Sun and after the Las Vegas race they decided they wanted to make a deal for me to drive the new car this year, so we started the year very, very slow and difficult and the pre-season testing we did for a couple of days we couldn't get any speed out of the car.

I raced at the Baby Gator Nationals, which is the weekend before the Gator National. The slow event went to the crocodile. The slow Nationals went to Pomona, slow like he literally couldn't get this car out of its own way and it was literally the biggest part of it was the first 60 feet of the race, I just could. I couldn't get the car to take off and start and uh, but he was, they were tearing their hair out, pop. I don't know him very well, but I mean, I could see every race we came back on, just the stress and the torment.

In his eyes, he was very frustrated, but after the Pomona race before Las Vegas, we won't do it. We took the car to Bakersfield, California and did a test drive there and it showed no promise either. I went there. Richie drove the car, I said. Hey, this was going to be your car, you need to do the test session and drive it and I didn't see anything during the day we tested, but between the tests and the trip to Las Vegas they found two things that were very big and It was very important that they be They had lost and found a couple more areas where we made improvements, so literally on Friday in Vegas when I stepped on the gas to do the burnout, I was like, "This thing's woken up now." I can tell it's a different race car and he told me the whole list, I mean the intake camshafts did some things to the rear, freeing up the rear, we had an alignment issue with the engine and the cam lines. transmission, just little things that added up, uh. but it was literally a very different race car and on Friday in the two rounds of qualifying we had we didn't even make it to the track, it would come in second and a half into the race and it would literally shake the tires you had so much. to lift it up, so we knew we were, we were on the other side of the needle at that point, that's a good feeling, I mean, it's like a racehorse, it's a lot easier to rein that horse in than it is to sit there and get the We came out quickly and tried to get more speed out of it, so we had power, we just had to pull it back and figure out where it needed to be, so for the most part, when we started on Friday, it was like starting all over again. a new car, I love it because this is racer talk and racers love to hear how you go from not being good to testing, overcoming, prevailing, so we're in Victory Lane and you know, the great Dick Trickle taught me about snapshots, you know? you know if you're in the race car and you're coming out of the corner you look in the mirror it's a snapshot or

life

life is full of snapshots what I really liked about your Victor Lane and I tuned in was your wife Liam came and She gave you a kiss and you told her: I don't have to borrow your Wally anymore, I have mine and she looked at your face like a competitor and says you earned it, do you remember that moment, yes?

Do it, it's bad, yeah, I won't forget that moment. Are you kidding? I mean, I couldn't wait for her to come down. The first person for me and the lady you saw me hug right away while I still had my helmet on was Kelly. Antonelli and Kelly run TSR for us, she used to run John Force Racing and was looking for a change and we said, hey, what a coincidence, we're looking for someone, but she's the backbone of the whole program, so Kelly was the first Al I hugged him, but I kept looking for Liam like she would be here at any moment and, but it's a long time, I want to move on, you know, celebrate the part you miss as a driver in NHRA is when you win.

Normally at the race you can celebrate with the team right away. The hard part at NHRA is that you're half a mile from the track, yes, they celebrate in the line and then everyone gets in the tow vehicle, scooters, and golf carts. and drag my ass all the way back uh to get there to you, but I remember I'll never forget that moment. I was so excited to see her up there and you know she's she, she's really the reason I'm there, I mean, me. for multiple reasons, I mean, we'll go deeper, obviously, but you know she's my coach, I mean she's my driver's coach, there's so many things like etiquette, I just don't even know it and I still don't know it.

I ran five. races now and I'm still confused with the flags at the top end of the track about who's supposed to turn first and this and that, and it can be a dangerous situation if you're not paying attention, so they always say when you're in Dudo, just stop, but I'm figuring out all that stuff, but Leah has been the most amazing teacher you could ever imagine. I mean, from the day we met, I started asking a lot of questions about the sport because, as you mentioned before, I'm a motorsports student. I want to understand it.

I want to know it. I want to understand it with my head and my hands and understand it. So we've talked about a lot of things and then I've been on the track. the last two years and I've been able to watch it and learn from it, but then when you get the call that you're going to drive a car for the first time at an event, I'm like, oh shit, there's all this stuff that I don't know about etiquette, I want to. I mean, you know what I'm like as a person in motorsports. You talked about the loving side, the aggressive side and the frustrating side.

Many times when I got angry, people thought I just enjoyed being angry. I hated being angry I don't like being angry I'm like you you and I are two drops of water we love to have fun we love to laugh we love to be around people I hate getting angry and I hate getting angry with other competitors but when I get angry with them it's always about etiquette , it's about the things that Dale Senior and Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin Bobby Labonte Jeff Gordon Terry Labonte all these great guys that I ran with taught us and taught you too when it came up, taught us the etiquette of how to do it the way right and if you didn't do it the right way, there was an easy solution for those guys, we'll break your ass, yeah, they turned you around on the fence. and when you were sitting there sliding down the track or stopping or trying to start it to take it to the pits, you have that time to go.

I think I made a mistake and you had to figure it out but that's how you learned and they really don't, it's sad in our sport now how vanilla and weak all these drivers are, they want to literally not face each other on the track, They'll just sit there and wait until they get home and beat each other up. another one on Twitter where no one has to confront anyone so we grew up in a different era in a different time I don't know how I did on this channel it's a good topic don't worry I do it all At that time but let me tell you this when we had a gentlemen's agreement in the Nascar Cup series that when there was a big accident we all slowed down because at that time we didn't have the lines under the asphalt to freeze the field, so we froze the field ourselves at the beginning of my career.

I ran with Terry Labonte, you know, I passed him and I thought, oh, I'm catching him, I'm catching him, he took me, Terry Labonte took me between the trailers and to me that's what you did. Rusty, we liked it, hey, come here and you know, oh, and we went between the trailers and it was that little private hallway, people like you or, you know, Dale, father, we were addressing people, those days are over, yeah , yeah, you're right, it's uh. I mean, I remember the drivers would come up to the room and it wasn't always bad, sometimes they would come in and tell you that when you did something good too and that you had done something right, they would come in and praise you for it, but if you did something wrong exactly, there were meetings between the trailers, they would literally come into your trailer and talk to you in your own living room and they would talk in each other's RVs after practice was over or after the race was over, you handled it and you did it . eye to eye, you did it face to face, you did it like men and exactly what you said, I mean, we had no schedules at the track when the yellow flag came out, you were literally allowed to race to the start.

Finish line, yes, and you could get 10, 15, 20 places if you wanted, if the yellow flag came out and they turned one and two, but they were all handled with respect and we did it because when the cars collided then we didn't have softs. walls, we didn't have restraint seats, uh, security at that time was as good as it could be at that time, but there was a lot of room for improvement, but we all took care of each other and there was proper etiquette and as time went on and I tell people, I honestly say that when we lost Dale senior, that was the beginning of the end of the label, there is no label anymorewith these guys and that's fine as long as we don't care and I don't care what the rules are, we just want it to be the same for everyone, we want everyone to run the same, so that talk is a Gentleman's Agreement, yeah, yeah, and we all did very well and had great races, great races for everyone.

We respect each other and sure there are times when guys made mistakes or crossed the line and we all stayed in control, but it's definitely a different time in NASCAR and that's what I was, I guess, which way? was I going with that? That's what I'm trying to make sure I learn in the NHRA sport is that I want to be respectful going in no matter what I've done in my past before I got there. I'm a rookie like everyone else, but I have my way of being as a person and my way of being as a driver.

I want to respect the sport, I want to respect the people in the sport and I want to learn the etiquette I want to do it the right way and Leah will tell you that. I focus on making sure I do it the right way. I can get things done and then at the end of the day we'll get it done. go to the hotel and say hey, I did it, this was the right thing, this was the right way to do it or not and literally some of the guys that I line up with for qualifying races, you know, they're not

racing

each other , but they are paired with each other for qualifying and you know in our class we have injected cars and then we have some cars that have blowers and the way they are staged is different than the alcohol cars that are just injected, that's how you stage it. they stage it and everything, so I would literally talk to every driver I was going with and say Hey, you know, help me understand how you need to stage the stage so you don't go broke because I'm not going to ruin your career.

You know, if I ruin my career, that's on me, but I don't want to measure the career. because I don't know what I'm doing and I think those guys really respect the fact that I don't just sit there and walk away. I don't care about any of these guys, all I care about is myself, uh, I care about guys that I'm racing with and so I will build a good relationship in a short period of time with the teams and the drivers that are in my class in the pit area. Yes, I want to congratulate you, so let's go.

To go from drag racing to number one, you are the best racer. I'm saying the other thing I know about you is that grown men in racing try to be tough guys and they will. They will jump over things they should have been focusing on, but when I'm around you, one thing I've noticed about you is that you take the simplest things and take it very seriously and I realized that years ago. I'm like Tony was focused on what I thought was the simplest thing and I want to thank you Tony because you made me more mature in that area, so like literature, no, no, no, no, I have everyone. thinking about a nut right now you're gaining ground you're gaining ground but I mean you've got a long way to go but I want everyone to know that about you about you at the beginning of a manual of yours you know instructions, whether it's in life or in the races, you are very serious from the beginning about the simplest things, so I just wanted to congratulate you on that and tell you that you taught me that you don't have to be a tough guy.

Okay, let's get off to a good start and that's why when I saw you I was going to do a drag race at school. You know, I thought I was so rude. You know you were learning from the bottom up. And honestly, when I did it, I didn't have any. With the intention of competing, I literally went at the end of 2020 because you know Lee and I met in March and then towards the end of the season I had built enough of a relationship with his team to the extent that they would allow me and ask me. sitting through the reports with this learning the lingo and the yeah and I and I was sitting there and I mean I would sit with my shoulders like this and I would try not to breathe too hard and I could listen to the whole report. and I listened to Leah talk about the race and what she had to do driving wisely.

Anyone who thinks a drag race used to go in a straight line, in the end you could go in a straight line to get there, but none of those cars were going exactly in a straight line. all the time so you have to drive, but I sat and listened to all that stuff and I sat there and you and I did it, we all know, you and I visit different race tracks and watch different car races and and when you listen to people talk about it, you're fine, we think we understand and we know how it would feel to do that, but when she talks about something, I think why in my head I understand it, but I don't really know what.

That feels because you wanted to feel it, so I wanted to go to drag racing school and get a better perspective on it so that when I sat in those meetings I didn't have to ask all those questions and at the end of school you feel about a tenth of the things you need to learn, but it gives you a good foundation and understanding of how it all works and you know, I started in a super competitive car there at Holly's school and um, halfway through. the day you brought your car with alcohol for me to drive too, that car is a 220 mile an hour and a quarter mile car, so Lord, get your full attention, not for the speed but for the acceleration to get there, I mean our cup cars can't go 200 miles an hour in a quarter mile, it's just physically not possible, so that's how it really started, but I had no intention at the time to do anything more than going to that school.

I know, oh god, I have to finish this part, but when we were at bike week I told you, Tony, that I took a shot at the Jegs Pro Stock and said something new that I thought was a little funny, but you took it Seriously, I said. You know, when I did that whole workshop my brain was here, yeah, and the G-force was so incredible because I was already 50 years old and the car was up here and you said that's a big deal, yeah, it really is. the hardest thing to explain to people because they're like men you can drive anything oh I feel like yeah I can drive anything but the thing is the easiest way to describe it is if you wanted to bench press with 400 pounds, no You don't just start at 400 pounds, you start with a lighter weight and as you get used to it and increase it, you keep adding weight and you keep increasing and working.

Our brains have to learn to process information so you think of fighter pilots and you think that's right, race car drivers and you think of all these people who drive things and fly things that move very quickly and change direction very quickly, your brain You have to learn and you don't do it automatically. Training yourself if you don't have an app to get bigger and better will be no different than lifting weights and building muscle, so I had to drive slower cars that didn't have as much acceleration as the top fuel card. so my brain starts to understand it because I told you that the first time I drove Leah's Top Fuel car they told me to go to the 330 foot cone because all the cars that you and I have driven if we want to get close to it we just half accelerate and then we want to go faster and a little more acceleration.

It doesn't work that way in drag racing because there are timers, there are all these sensors that have to activate, but you have to hit the gas when the light changes and then it has to go through and do its job, so to get to it you just travels a shorter distance starting at cone 330, then goes to cone 660, then goes to thousand feet and then reaches the end of The quarter mile in the alcohol car, so I hit the gas, got to cone 330 and I saw the 330 cone turn it off and my brain was probably 150 feet away and I was able to tell everyone that I've driven Leah's car.

I have done 16 races. 322 miles per hour at 3.76 lapse time and that's dragging your butt, yeah they run into 330 when they're dragging your butt, but 322 was fast for me, but trying to get your brain to understand and you know, you and I We could go to Bristol. and happy hour and running 100 laps at happy hour before it ended in a one-hour session on an eight-hour day at an NHRA track. If you have a good day, you can do four runs with alcohol, maybe you'll get five. So to try to get your brain to understand and learn all of these things, it takes time to do it and that's how I actually ended up in the booze car with the McPhillips family.

I drove his car in Las Vegas a year ago and the tires spun. The last two runs ended after 200 feet and I didn't even know I was spinning the tires because it was still pulling at 1.6 G. I mean, it still pulls hard, but I couldn't feel it and I got really frustrated and at the same time. The reality came when you know, when the thing passes by and there are no problems, okay, those are the 40 things that could happen during that trip of a cylinder that goes out or spins the tires and doesn't catch it fast enough, There's just so many things you have to be prepared for and ready for, that's what scared me.

If I'm behind the car and something happens, there's a good chance I won't be able to reach it to get it back, so that's why. I took a step back and went down to run alcohol. I totally understand it. I'm going to finish the drag racing segment as I was flying with the Blue Angels and I was pulling six eight G's and I was coming out and the pilot was flying. wonderfully because like you said, he worked hard for it, you know what you're right about, you have to train your brain, so Tony, let's move on, uh, wow, boy, that was loud, listen, I take this interview seriously.

I received notes. In fact, I have notes. Well, I wanted to. to throw them for you who made three? because you didn't write them yourself. I did. I'm lost. Do you know what I do? Tony. I get on my phone and have others tell me. Kim. I understand. I have a notes section. uh, Connie from Sparkle called me but I got those notes and the helmet anyway, so yeah, uniforms, I guess that's fair, that's your deal with SRX. Well, I'll be there, I'll go to Charlotte, by the way, you really did. Good job on that SRX deal and I'm honored August 17th for the last SRX race at Wheatland.

They know everyone invited me. It's a great honor for the third third child who always feels younger, so I'm going to adjust my seat. you're the one I'm worried about in that event you're the one I'm like you're the guy in the group that I circled that this is the guy I'm going to have to beat for the Win if I'm going to win that race, stop it right, so We have to move on to NASCAR. You are the co-owner of Stuart Haas. It is a great responsibility and we all know it. Okay, I say this.

You are not. Gene called you, someone called you, you go there, I mean, it's Christmas, you save the day, you immediately win a championship, you know, you know all your people and now Stuart Haas is one of the top teams, there's no Ezra. Stephen wouldn't say there's any question about it, so now you're a full owner and you have every right to say whatever you want because now you know everything about NASCAR, even if you run the NHRA, you can do anything. at the same time I said, I say Tony conchugum and I walk at the same time better than anyone, so I'm going to ask you some questions about NASCAR because I already heard you, so I'm already kind of aware of what you think.

Technical inspection with these new state-of-the-art cars and the penalties. What is your opinion on this? I don't want you to get in trouble. The bad thing is that I have an opinion about it. I have a very strong opinion on this. You got the same thing as mine, but I said this at Bristol when you know we were down with Chris Myers, Clint and I were doing the pre-race show and there was discussion about the Hendrix saga of getting penalized and losing points and crew chiefs. suspended and then they win the appeal and then the next week two more cars come back and the windshield screw is cut and they lose all these points again for a windshield screw that was cut so yeah this is the part that really hate. about the sport right now and this is what frustrates me about NASCAR right now, yes I have an opinion, I have a very strong opinion on how they are doing things, but if I say something, yes, they own it, then I'm going It's going to cost money, it's going to cost me points, it's going to hurt my drivers, it's going to hurt my organization and as much as I have an opinion, I'm afraid to express it because NASCAR is showing now, you can't.

You have an opinion, you can have an opinion, but keeping your mouth shut is basically the moral of the story, so let me say it and I don't want you to respond because one thing we want to remind everyone is that you own NASCAR. and I think we all lose sight of that because you announce the races that you drag, you know, I mean, you have Donny shots in the Outlaws world, you do a lot of good for motorsports around the world, Tony, thanks for doing that , but I want to say this Kyle Petty said it exactly right, he says when dad people in the south call their dad's dad when dad ran when he was Lee Petty Kyle Petty you know Richard Petty all the mean things he said when we went to the track It was us against them, so my opinion is this look, let's go to the race track, here's my car, pick it up, do whatYou want, we'll go through inspection as many times as you want on this race track, but I think five hundred. a thousand dollars for this car or 450 whatever and when I leave it it's my car.

I don't think it's right to continue the inspection when you leave the premises, uh, because I've given you all the Hey, listen, we can find any problem with your house, if I go to your house, even Joyce doesn't know about it, so yeah You're going to take my race car and study it, that's not right, you inspected it on the track when we unloaded before qualifying. Before the race, I beat you to the end. I feel comfortable with this because I have said it before, okay, you are saying it and you and remember this, when I started and when you had already been in the sport for a while, when I started there were two of them. guys in the tower who had a stopwatch in each hand two guys a total of four stopwatches to sit there on time 43 cars on Pit Road for pets Speeding right on the highway, everyone is 100 right if you or I piss off NASCAR the week before we either bothered them or ruffled their feathers, guess what happened the next week, they gave us a highway speed penalty and a 100 penalty and that's how NASCAR kept the etiquette and kept the drivers in line and kept control and so on it was like we all understood it and it was like Yeah, we get it and also if you really cross the line they will call you to the trailer and talk to you and explain to you why they have to do things the way they do and I don't.

I want this to sound like a diss against NASCAR because no it doesn't, they have the hardest job in motorsports controlling all of this so we are now in an era where they have backed themselves into a bit of a corner now that you have all these games of chance and betting. In sport, well, they can't, they can't sit there and give you a penalty for speeding on Pit Road if it's not justified. If you didn't, they can't charge you a speeding penalty on Pit Road like they used to now. you change the outcome of the game if you did now you changed it and you control the sport from that point of view and you ruin the bets so they don't do that anymore, there is no rubble you know?

Debris warnings where someone threw a water bottle and it's clear against the inside wall and they want to warn because they want to group the field, they literally can't do that anymore, yeah, now if you're a NASCAR, how do you control everything afterwards? and how you control one through Kevin Harvick is angry, he's talking about the cars being unsafe and they're talking about this fucked up procedure and how NASCAR then keeps these guys under control, they take their cars back to the shop and they find Lo they knock it down just like you said in my house they knock it down until they find something they don't like and every car will have something they can find so that's their way of controlling it so with that again it's it's.

Again, why it's like the inspection process and this and that man, the disco room and the lasers and all that to scan it, the technology involved in that and the good job that Nascar has done to control that is amazing, The Hawkeye system is phenomenal. I had to figure all that out and figure out how to control all of this. NASCAR has done an incredible job from that standpoint, but I agree with you about sitting there and getting angry because someone said something. You know the Denny Hamlin case is a perfect example. He shows up on his podcast a day or two later and says what he says, well, what's the statute of limitations?

You know, two years from now, two years from now, years ago, I trashed Danny Hamlin on purpose, well, what are you going to do? He takes away the victory now. I mean, what do you do? And that's what I asked them in a meeting. I told them: where does it end? It's like you can't control, you can't, you can't babysit, you can't monitor everything and I think they're making mistakes. but it's their playground, it's their rules and we all play by them, so let's move on that way. I can keep you and me out of trouble because I'm still constantly living in a state of trouble, it's yeah, how big or small is my brother Rusty getting? she says and I see all the things you do, he says he does. press hard enough, say, well, let me know if I get close to the line, so hey, like I said, I just want everyone to understand.

I still love the sport of NASCAR, although I still love what it's about. There are some growing pains with the new car and there are some things that I feel like they are revisiting, but it's not for us to judge. which is their game and you know they've always said it and I remember Brian France saying if you don't like it here you don't have to be here you can leave at any time if the sport was here before you got here and it will be here long after you leave and he's absolutely right, but at some point everyone also has to realize that we're all working together to make it better.

Yes, that reminds me of when I interviewed and we talked. Jonathan Davenport in Bristol for the NASCAR race day show came back and I said, Jonathan, I want to be this. I see you know what earth is. Fans hate NASCAR. I said you're here to run the Cup race. Do you hate NASCAR? Kenny says, this is it. a dream come true all dirt racers love nascar this is the most important moment of my life my career so you're right you can do whatever you want you don't have to race nascar but everyone wants the dirt thing community because i have a sprint series Car I have a Sprint Car team Yes, you had the series too.

I forgot it. Yes, I have a car that runs World of Outlaws. The mistakes that NASCAR is making are very transparent and everyone in the industry and it's like. NASCAR doesn't realize that what you would consider the lowest levels of motorsports, the grassroots level, view NASCAR differently than they did 10 years ago and 20 years ago. I mean, absolutely, it's every driver's dream to be a NASCAR driver at some point, but then you're going to throw out and I both do this, we get on a dirt track and people come up and say what the hell was NASCAR thinking? ?

Listen to it non-stop and you can't penalize me for it, yeah, if my cars finish. I'll be at Tech next week because I said they were penalizing the wrong guy. You know they are making mistakes and somehow they have to get back under control. Tony, I spend all my time on the dirt tracks trying to help you. I know you help NASCAR and make these dirt fans come watch. I know you're upset, but NASCAR is awesome and I spent my entire dirt racing career doing that, so let's move on. I want you to do it. Tell me if this is a rumor or not.

So the new car was said to Rick Hendrick Roger Penske Jack Roush Richard Childers all major car owners. I want you to tell me if this is true or false. They went to NASCAR and said because you're an owner, they said you save. us, because we're spending a lot of money molding these cars, just let us get a car so we can get rid of it and we have so many employees it's killing us, is that true? I'm not telling you, but I'm telling all the owners. NASCAR absolutely asked for this next-generation car. I mean, it had to happen because the spend per team per year was becoming astronomical, the resources you had to put into it and what it was doing was separating the bottom third from the middle third. and the top tier teams, the top tier teams were well funded, they had a lot of resources, the lower tier teams, all they could do was survive and get the cars on the track, so we needed for the health of the sport, we needed to find a way. to cut costs to cut I mean, I think Gibbs at one point had over 600 employees for four Cup teams and he ran a car in a race, yeah, he ran a car in a race and then stripped it, it's crazy, yeah, and that was the standard, I mean.

That's how far the competition has been taken and how technology has gotten involved and driven this sport so that owners realize that for longevity, from the owners' side, we needed to ask for that and I think it's the new car. . I don't know, I have opinions on the new car. I don't think I would have asked a sports car manufacturer to design a stock car, that's where I'm going to go with that, yeah, okay, so let's finish NASCAR. opinion uh so I asked Austin Dillon, I said Austin, why are you guys hitting each other, says Kenny, says years ago we knocked down the radiator, you couldn't do it because they have these things so strong that they're like Tanks Germans and that's why we're beating each other up now, that being said, you know you're the best Tony, you're one of the best sports ever because the front ends are strong in case we're beating. from each other, well, you're on to something, the front ends are strong, the foot links at the back are not strong, that's what you have to protect, I mean you, and then you can change them, obviously, during a pit stop, but that's it.

It's the weak link, I mean we used to be able to hit the wall and it didn't take us out of the race, now it ruined the sheet metal and probably scraped the tire, but that's the good thing about the compound. bodies, you don't really rub as many tires because the bodies will push back. The difficult part is the composition of the suspension components and having the toe links in the rear, uh, for the independent rear suspension, I mean, that's it. It's kind of a weak link in cars right now, okay, we're done with NASCAR. I don't think you and I are in trouble.

Listen, it'll take them a couple of weeks. They will not. They might be clever about it if I'm going to penalize these things, I mean, I say that and I give them, I criticize them because I really want the best for the sport and I appreciate the opportunity that I had in NASCAR and what it has given me to reinvest in the motorsports and move on. Let's end it like this, what's so good about NASCAR, well if you look at these last 75 years, where it started and where it is now, I mean, it's incredible, it's the largest form of motorsports in the United States, so to see all the Great Drivers and you know, be part of those 70.

Congratulations Tony, thank you. You sit there and as you get older you start to look back at the big picture of everything and look at what Bill Sr. did and what he did. Bill Jr and Brian and now Jim France and Ben Kennedy. I think Ben Kennedy's world. I don't always agree with him and we don't always get along, but I really respect Ben Kennedy. I think he is the future of NASCAR. uh I think he's going to carry this sport for the next 50 years easily yeah Daryl Walter Owen like that. Daryl Walter said Hey, listen, just because I complain about NASCAR doesn't mean I hate it, you know, I love them, right?

It's our sport, so we keep going. uh, this will be our last segment, uh, dirt racing, you have somewhere better to be today, just enough to hang out. I feel like we've been doing this forever. I'm having a good time for about five minutes, are we having a good time? I'm having a great time. I love it and I'm home. I don't have to go anywhere. I have a day off. I continue, yes. I think I keep saying that because I'm not nervous, but this is the first one. It's very important to have one of the best drivers and I won't tell everyone that we are good friends, uh, dirt racing, are you still ashamed of me?

Do you remember that day, no, I was just afraid of you and when you confronted me about it. you came out of era Daytona in the toner in the RV section, you came up and said the media says you're scared of me and I said yes, but we're over that, I love you, I was learning from you. I was learning you and we discussed that, actually yeah, I was taking you the wrong way uh and like you said, I think you know I would see your tenacity and I didn't understand that you were just, you know, going for it, you know, um, it reminds me.

From David, if he was my first crew chief, he says, uh, I was, I was arguing with him, I was arguing about a sway bar because I was kind of a chassis guy, he grabbed me because of the color, I said. Boy, when we come to this track we love each other, we're at war, don't take anything personal, but we're at war together, we're fighting on the same team, yeah, yeah, and I'll be 60 years old. August and sometimes I wish life was the other way around because if I had known some of those things, but I think that's part of the journey, yeah, so dirt racing.

I'm going to say a couple of things and maybe you can comment on them. It's not so much a question, uh, I think in the entirety of America or maybe the world, when I look at auto racing, it seems like the super late models are the best thing in racing, they're just skyrocketing, it's all the better. . It's more money to earn eh, am I wrong or right or am I just commenting on that? No, I think you're right. I mean, I think and I don't even think they're just their latest models. I mean, we did the Dirt Million last year at Eldora for this year's late models and you're at Eldora, yeah, I forgot about that one.

We're making a million dollars to win the Wing sprint car race this year, so dirt racing is through the roof. I mean, uh, Jackson Minnesota is. making 250,000 to win the Wing sprint car race, you know, thePurses are getting bigger and bigger and short track racing, which is great, but it has to do with technology and the latest dirty models that are out of control now, I mean Kevin Rumley. He's the guy who really started revolutionizing the latest modern models to where they are now, do they ever mess up the dirt? Yeah, exactly, that's exactly the best way to put it, but he's him and he's taught these guys, you know our world, that we learned from. downforce we didn't think anything about lateral force and then when we learned about lateral force it was a turning point in NASCAR racing well now they brought that technology to late model dirt racing and look at Cars they literally did it I remember and this could have been Five years ago I even remember seeing Jonathan Davenport the world 100 took the lead and was pulling away from the field he took over the back of the pack and couldn't pass the last car yeah it depended both of the air which was no different than what we complain about as drivers in the cup series and what you see in IndyCar and Formula One about relying on air, so it really shows how technology has changed in recent times. earth models.

World sprint cars are the same way they've always been because of the big wings on top, but um, Wing sprint cars, dirt models and even the modified ones now, I mean, I sat there and looked at the car. I was watching the broadcast, uh, watching Kyle Larson when and Justin outside and I looked at that thing in Victory Lane and I'm like, man, 15 years ago, that would have been the most tricked race car you've ever seen in your life, but it was brilliant. I'm looking at it. I think it was done very well, that it was really done.

Great, that was done really well and I'm just looking at it on the computer, but then you look at the cardboard around the race track and say, yeah, that's why it drives well too, because of the good work of Justin and his team. . I have done it by building a car that is totally illegal. We know what we're looking at when you and I look. And we think that's pretty sexy, I mean, that's getting it done, yeah, so you talk about you and me watching the races. Six, ten years ago, Bob Sergeant and I were driving on Interstate 55 north and I'm trying to figure out if the Flow or Dirt Vision transmission is good for the sport, what's your opinion?

You already know all the new streaming sites. Well Dirtvision started with sprint cars and then moved on to late models in Big Blocks and then here came flow sports, yeah, and it's revolutionized and changed the game for short track racing, uh, not just racing short track, I mean, now they're moving into drag racing, whatever, they're into this and when I first, when someone first said flow, I said well, well, what is it?, and they said, well, you just have to look. I mean, there's everything from marching band competitions that started with three guys and two of the brothers, one was a wrestler and the other was on the track. and field, so, I mean, they do high school athletics, high school wrestling, college athletics, college wrestling and everything else, Jitsu, you name it, they cover it if it's sports, they're covering it and, uh, to bring in the motorsports aspect.

I mean, Mark and his staff have totally changed the game of how fans have the opportunity to watch racing. We all know you live in St Louis, I live in Indiana or Arizona, depending on which half of the country we're racing in that weekend, but we. We can't drive to all of these race tracks, but we have the ability to go to a track and at the same time watch another race on our phone when there is downtime, so we have the ability to enjoy more and more motorsports and It's all cataloged so you can go back and watch it so Flo can do what they've done to give fans the opportunity to have all their content for 150 a year.

I mean, if you want to see it, you think, oh, I bought it for the races, but yeah, my kids like it, you know, my five-year-old kids like this softball. Yeah, let's think you can see it and all that and it's crazy and I think flow has really been a game changer. I love what they're doing, you know, it's created kind of a storm in our sport, although the track operators and owners are afraid that because of that people won't go to the racetrack well if you live in Skagit Washington. He's not coming on Tuesday night, Eldora, right, you still see him good, so I don't feel like he hurts the tracks and I hope he doesn't hurt the tracks as much, like we do, what we're talking about, but it's great for the teams.

Great for the drivers, it gives them that exposure. You know, it really helps showcase their talent and stuff, so we as owners, team owners and series owners get to see these young, up-and-coming guys and it's hard to sit there and go, yeah. I don't know anything about him well yeah I have to watch him on Tuesday night or I can go back and do a race and watch him run that's something we didn't have access to years ago so I'm a big fan of this right now, yeah, I think it's also good because we don't have to depend, listen, we always say we want everyone on the track, but yeah, and we still do it.

I mean, that's the biggest thing that people don't realize. it's an ecosystem and for all of this to work you can't just sit at home and watch it on streaming and for this to be sustainable you still have to go to the race track, you have to support your local tracks because you have uh partner companies like Copart that They come in and buy racetracks left and right and the reason they do it is because they can take all their cars there and they don't have to worry about the EPA because just about every racetrack has oil and stuff in it. land and it's a nightmare for the EPA, but they can buy the property because it's already that way, so they come in and close the racetracks to expand their business.

They don't care about motorsports. they only care about building their own yes this is interesting yes this is something Mike Joy pointed out to me. Copart is a big factor in purchasing a lot of racetracks that are struggling right now and you know it's for these track operators and owners that are unfortunately struggling, it's a way out for them, but it's closing racetracks. all over the country because Coach and Jerry Boyd just closed, yes, the partnership is buying up a lot of these racetracks and turning them into salvage yards. Wow, never. I knew what do you see what do you see in your window right now we're fine it's nice it's pretty slow at the moment although I guess the grazing period is over or they've moved away from eating my bushes outside I know you're trying to do an interview yeah like that that, if you look back on your career, what was the happiest moment, what was it, when was it, when I ran the Xfinity series, the Bush series that I was winning, it was a simple moment for me when I got the cup it was difficult what was it? your happiest moment I would say it's pretty close to your happiest moment now, but I would say originally that what I always told everyone was that my happiest moments were when I was racing with you, when I was racing in a Sprint car and a silver corona car and you drove with your friends to the races and then you could fight each other on the race track, so you think we have to ride home together, the white nine, yeah, yeah, Lewis' car and, uh, but when I was in back then, before I won my first championship, I mean, you would sit there and literally, in a four-week period in a month, if you had three tough weeks and you weren't making much money.

You managed and advanced race after race, but then you rented utilities, all those things that make me nervous. I get nauseous thinking about those days in the real world. You sat there in week four and said, man, I can't screw this up. because I have to pay the bills next week, you know, and it kind of changed the way you ran in the fourth week if you had a rough first three weeks, but that's when I had the most fun, I mean, life was simple , you know, I was in I'm in my twenties and I really enjoy life as a racing driver and originally, when I started as a kid, when I got into my teens I thought, man, if I could ever make a living.

Drive in a racing car and support. myself, if I could make a living, driving midgets and sprint cars, that would be the best thing for me, and what did you know, we got there, we got there, we kept trucking them in, so, yeah, those were the best times in the ones that were, you know, raised in the US in the past, well, lesson from Tony, uh, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for saying yes, doing this, this is a big deal, I I dreamed, I told Charlie, I said Charlie one. These days we go interview people and he says, "Well, we can do that now.

I'm really welcome to technology. Bud, yeah, yeah, it's pretty awesome, you know, and I have to say we've had a great broadcast and it's a lot easier than me traveling five hours to your house and uh, thank you very much, do good, you've mistakenly reminded me of everything you're doing, my Lord Eldora, fast cars, drag cars, police cars, it's amazing, congratulations on all your success, congratulations once again, uh, being one of the greatest racing drivers that ever lived with NASCAR 75, but there's a lot more to you than that, well, I appreciate all of that, thank you very much and I appreciate it. would do every time you call.

I've done your brother's podcast and, uh, when you messaged me, I'm like apps. I didn't know what my schedule was the rest of the week initially, but I was like, yeah, I'm 100% on. to do this with you, but I would say one of the proudest moments of my life and in my years in NASCAR and I can't take all the credit. Kenny Schrader also gets a lot of the credit. Kenny Schrader and I talked you into getting into dirt track racing, yeah, and getting into dirt cars and then a whole new Kenny Wallace came out of his shell and seeing that and being a part of that is probably one of my greatest achievements in motorsports: introducing you to dirt track racing and getting hooked on it, uh, I know.

It saved my life and I'm proud of that. Seeing you, you know, I was working the track in Tulsa at the Chili Bowl and seeing you the first time you helped me, there was no happier moment. It was like a proud father looking at you. You ever changed the wheel too much, you helped me, but you were learning and, uh, but the fact that here your experience was always in pavement racing and NASCAR racing and we got you into something that you were really passionate about and you felt happy and with what Look at that and you, uh, it's really made me happy as a friend to see you enjoy dirt track racing and other forms of motorsports like we do.

I'm smiling from here to here. I will never forget that we won, that we won. your Dream Prelude from 2005 and I ran out trying to catch you and you just left and I had Don O'Neal as my crew chief that night and he was so I won't say he was mad at me, but he was frustrated. I'm like Don. I tried everything I've learned in a race car better than anyone else in the field. I told him, "I did everything in my power and he just ran a perfect race. He never made a mistake and you didn't." Didn't you run every lap flawlessly so you looked at me in Victory Lane and said what that was all about?

I think I told you maybe I should have been a dirt runner. I don't think it was like an out-of-body experience for it. It was crazy, but man, like I said, I mean, I wish fans and fans knew you now for who you are and how they know your personality and you've always had that personality, but see a smile in how much. You're having fun, you've burst into the shell and shadow of your brothers. I know you always say you are the third brother, but you are not, you are your own man and you are you.

You are your own Wallace, you have built it, so you need to accept it and start accepting it because you, you are not Rusty's brother, you are not Mike's brother, you are, for God's sake, you are Kenny, fucking Wallace and you, you are you. man, I mean, you had a huge impact on so many people. I needed it to be great therapy Tony, listen, thank you very much, I appreciate it. I want to remind all the fans, uh, listen, we're doing it, we're in podcast form now. are on Spotify iTunes this interview was amazing for me, I hope it was for all of you, but until then, let's move on, we have the best drivers in NASCAR, we have more in the works, so until then, see you later to all.