"It doesn’t paint the big picture accurately": When Tony Stewart apologized after criticism of NASCAR challenges

Tony Stewart had a magnificent start to his NASCAR racing career. By the time the driver from Columbus, Indiana, debuted in NASCAR, he was already a star in IndyCar. With the commencement of his stock car racing career, his fame reached multiplefold. However, he could not handle the fame that arrived with NASCAR and had to apologize after his actions led to an uneasy situation.

Stewart arrived in the NASCAR Cup Series in 1999, three years after he made his Xfinity Series debut. However, his Xfinity outing was far from successful. Coming from an IndyCar Championship, he already had high hopes, but to no avail.

With the Xfinity Series out of the scene for a few years, he prioritized the Cup Series and scored his first win in his debut season. With the performance improvement, Stewart's hopes reached higher.

The expectations of performing week in, week out took a toll on him, and he did not handle it wisely. In one of his interviews with a national racing publication in May 2000, he criticized the sport, and the headline in the magazine read "All Fed Up."

Once the magazine was out, the team owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, Joe Gibbs (Tony Stewart raced for JGR that season) accompanied Stewart in an unusual and urgent interview session at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In the short media session, the then-JGR driver apologized.

“Keep in mind that I’m new here, and I’m going to make mistakes,” Stewart said (as per USA Today). “But I care a bunch about NASCAR, about Joe Gibbs Racing, Home Depot (his primary sponsor) and, most definitely, the fans."

"I want them to understand that what was said were my words, but it wasn’t the whole story, and it doesn’t paint the big picture accurately. The big picture is I do care about the fans. I probably care more than anybody else.”

The story in the national racing publication was not all. Before this, Stewart was confronted by NASCAR officials, battled reporters, had verbal scuffles with fans, shoved photographers, and the list was endless. In a nutshell, he made life difficult for most people around him.

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Tony Stewart's illustrious NASCAR career

The career that started with hopes, and controversies, Tony Stewart was able to end it on a high. The Columbus-born driver raced in the top tier of stock car racing for 18 years where he participated in 618 races, claiming three championships, 49 wins, 15 pole positions, and 308 top 10s.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick (left) talks with team owner Tony Stewart - Source: Imagn

His Xfinity Series statistics consist of 94 races in over 18 years, where he claimed 11 wins, six pole positions, and 41 top 10s. After his NASCAR full-time racing was over, he got involved in team ownership and co-owned Stewart-Haas Racing.

SHR had four charters, and many notable drivers such as Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch raced for the team. However, at the end of the 2024 Cup Series season, Tony Stewart decided to withdraw from the sport, and as a result, his team went defunct.