Last night, Tony Stewart saw his driver Cole Custer earn a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and he did it without wrecking anyone. The Xfinity race only needed a single overtime restart. It was far from the disaster that the Truck Series was on Friday night.
Now, this race did have two caution flags within the first 10 laps. But that wasn’t a super big deal, once the race got going, it was fantastic. Tony Stewart couldn’t believe how Custer drove through what was essentially a four-wide race with the other Championship 4 drivers.
Whatever Custer did, it worked. He came out with the win and the championship. Smoke wants young drivers to look at that finish as the example and not the Truck Series finale.
“As dominant as they [Custer’s team] were to the end and then have a caution come out at the end,” Stewart said in the post-race press conference. “And watching the Truck race last night you see how much chaos — maybe these Truck kids can learn from what happened tonight. You’ve got all four guys up there up front and never laid a wheel on each other and raced for a championship. Didn’t just play bumper cars.”
That’s when the conversation turned toward “respect” on the race track. A big topic to start the NASCAR season, it has come back up as the year ends.
“That was an ‘S’ show last night. The scary part, I had conversations with people today about it, and what scares me is these kids watch that and think that that’s what they’re supposed to do. … I think the Truck Series has zero percent amount of it [respect]. You watch that show last night and it was whoever was going to have a straight car at the end of the race.”
Tony Stewart is very particular about his drivers
Of course, Tony Stewart likes to make sure his team reflects his own values. Smoke is a no-nonsense guy when it comes to certain things. He has fun and is one of the biggest personalities in NASCAR history, but he wants his team to be a certain way.
It’s no mistake that Kevin Harvick has been the flagship for so long. It also isn’t a mistake that Josh Berry is replacing him next year.
“We’re not the ones driving it and putting everybody in those scenarios, that driver is. We’re going to put drivers in that we feel like have their act together and their composure and know how to do it the right way. And when you see those guys, then those guys get snatched up pretty quick by owners because we are all paying attention to what is going on in the Truck Series.
“But as much as they can make a name for themselves in a positive way, they also have the ability to make a name for themselves in a negative way and make it to where we’re not interested in looking at them anymore. So it gives you time to focus on the other drivers that you think have potential.”
Tony Stewart is watching. And I think this was a bit of a callout to Spire in a way. They did sign Carson Hocevar for next season. Hocevar got “snatched up” by the team in a way despite concerns about maturity. Read into that what you will.
Smoke is making it clear. If you want to race for his organization you have to race a certain way. If not, don’t bother.
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