$90M NASCAR Great Tony Stewart has his say on Dale Jr. riding Cleetus McFarland’s truck at Talladega

NASCAR Legend, Tony Stewart, has reacted to a new video between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Cleetus McFarland, where Dale Jr. can be seen driving McFarland’s drag racing truck (Dale Truck, inspired by Dale Sr.’s iconic #3 NASCAR car).

Tony Stewart, nicknamed “Smoke,” is a highly accomplished NASCAR Cup Series driver as well as an icon of IndyCar. Stewart has secured championships in both IndyCar and NASCAR, being the only driver to do so, with his IndyCar triumph coming in 1997.

His NASCAR career spanned from 1999 to 2016, in which he claimed three Cup Series championships (2002, 2005, and 2011), including the 2011 title, which he won as an owner-driver with Stewart-Haas Racing. He also has a dirt track racing team in Tony Stewart Racing, which he founded in 2000. Stewart is also the owner of Eldora Speedway. His current net worth is $90 million according to celebritynetworth.com.

Tony Stewart, in a press conference before his NHRA race, said:

"I got a car, I'll let him take some runs if he wants. So it's an open invitation, but I think if you watch that whole video, he thought about what we did and he's like, whoa. So I thought his reaction was pretty appropriate because it's kind of what my reaction was first time I drove Leah's car in a test too. So it's just drastically different than what Dale's done and what my path was. Everything we've done in oval track racing and dirt track racing, this is what I've always said. Everything I've ever done is kind of fit in the same giant bubble, but things are on more toward different sides of it."

In April, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Cleetus McFarland teamed up for a detailed lap around the Talladega Superspeedway. In the practice lap, Junior provided Cleetus with his expertise on the track (having won the Talladega Cup Series race six times with a record-setting four consecutive wins from 2001 to 2003).

He taught the media personality turned driver, McFarland, how to ace qualifying, along with pit strategy involved on Talladega, as well as managing the unique driving lines of the track. The collaboration came before Cleetus McFarland’s debut at the track for the ARCA Menards Series.

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Tony Stewart reflected on the skepticism he faced following his JGR departure for SHR

Tony Stewart reflected on the skepticism he faced after leaving Joe Gibbs Racing to co-found Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009. Many doubted his ability to succeed as a driver-owner, predicting he would fail to win again. However, Stewart quickly silenced critics by winning the All-Star Race that same year, driving the No. 14 Chevrolet.

During a recent interview, he recalled how the victory meant more to his team than to himself, realizing for the first time the significance of a win for the entire organization, which had never won a Cup Series race before.

“When we won the All-Star Race in May with Stewart-Haas Racing and guys were there crying in victory lane, I'm like, what is everybody crying about?” Tony Stewart told the interviewers (7:48). “In my mind, all I'm thinking about is all these people said I was going to fail, that I wasn't going to win another race in my career," Stewart added (via SpeedfFreaks)

“I'm like, 'holy crap! I've never thought about it.' I think it was really the first time in my life that a win mattered to me more for the guys than it did myself,” Stewart added.

Stewart-Haas Racing went on to become one of NASCAR’s most successful teams, amassing 69 Cup Series wins and 28 Xfinity Series victories before closing operations after the 2024 season.