Tony Stewart’s Legendary Helmet Throw at Kenseth

The 2012 Bristol night race was 1 of the most legendary races in the sport’s history! And Tony Stewart’s on-track feud with 2003 champion Kenseth was one of its many all-time highlights! It wasn’t the 1st time the 2 former champions clashed with each other either. But their clash in 2012 was the most memorable!

Before the Legendary 2012 Night Race

Early in their NASCAR careers, Kenseth and Tony Stewart were battling for the win at Rockingham during the 1998 Busch Series. On the final lap in turn 3, the IndyCar driver at the time was leading the promising Wisconsin up-and-comer at the track. But with two laps to go, Matt Kenseth moved the Indiana native up the track and off the preferred line to take the lead and the win for Kenseth’s 1st of many in NASCAR.

And we know that Tony didn’t let it go, as when Sauter moved Kenseth out of the way to win at the 2003 Richmond Busch race. Tony, who was commentating, said, “What goes around comes around.”Next was at the 2006 Daytona 500. Now, both Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth were Cup Series champions at this point, so a lot more eyes were on them.

And with Tony spending all of Speedweeks complaining about how other drivers have been driving, surely he wouldn’t do anything rash, yeah? No, in the middle of the race, Tony slammed into Kenseth’s door, which wrecked both of them and was rightly called a stupid move by most. Kenseth made his opinion clear to Tony Stewart when he slammed into his car on pit road, which caused him to get a black flag.

The 2012 Incident

After over half a decade of peace between the 2 Cup Series champions, much like how, after he came off the 2005 championship and then feuded with Kenseth after Tony Stewart’s 2011 miracle title, he went at it with him again. It started when Tony Stewart slid past the driver of the Roush 17 for the lead in the middle of the Bristol night race.

Kenseth, though, isn’t known as 1 of the best defenders in NASCAR history for no reason, so off of turn 2, he accelerates and pulls a crossover on him. In turn 3, Kenseth does 1 of his favorite tricks and crowds the same lane as the driver he’s battling with is in.

But this is Tony Stewart; he’s not lifting for anybody under any circumstances, so not only does he not lift, but he also does his best to match his braking into turns 3 and 4. This caused the 2 to come out of the turn in the same spot, which caused them to collide and spin, which ruined both their races.

Tony Stewart’s Upfront Response

Now, Tony Stewart has always been very open about his thoughts and feelings, but actions always speak louder than words. So everyone watching knew exactly how mad Stewart was at Kenseth. When he threw his helmet flawlessly at the Valvoline-sponsored hood, the crowds cheered.

Tony Stewart might’ve made his feelings clear, but when given the opportunity, he did indeed make them more transparent. So Stewart didn’t hold back.“We learned our lesson. Next time, drive through him. We’re not going to give him that chance again,” he said. Kenseth did defend himself, however, and didn’t take 100% of the blame.

“I was running the top lane, and he got a run, and he went into Turn 1 like I wasn’t there and went straight to the fence,” Kenseth said. “If I wouldn’t have lifted, then we would have wrecked. So I let him have the spot. “Then I got a run back, drove all the way alongside him, and kept going…and he chose not to lift. So I don’t know. … I did the exact same thing down there, except he didn’t give it to me.

I guess he wanted to do all the taking.” Naturally, Stewart disagreed. “We were definitely faster than that after that restart,” he said. “I checked up twice to not run over him.” It was the final, but very memorable chapter for these legendary titans. Thanks a bunch for reading!