“I’m in a way better spot”: When Tony Stewart made his opinion clear on why it’s ‘easier’ to interact with fans at NHRA than NASCAR

Earlier this year, Tony Stewart shared his thoughts on how it's easier for an NHRA driver to spend more time with fans than a NASCAR driver. After a storied career in the Cup Series as a driver and team owner, the 53-year-old Stewart has ventured into drag racing, competing in the Top Fuel category.

In an April 2024 interview with SpeedFreaks, the four-time Cup Series champion Stewart highlighted how a stock car driver doesn't have much time to interact with fans because of small intricacies. He said:

"There's not a driver in NASCAR that would stay in the ropes for an hour and sign autographs [...] Because you have so many things that you have to do and you know, my debrief with the crew chief, there's not a lot of information for me to do right now and tell I get dialed in a little more with the race car." [6:49]

However, he then stated that his time in the NHRA Nationals has changed his perspective on fan interaction and how he can now actively interact for a longer period. He added:

"We're like, like today, we're only on track one time, you know, the rest of the day you have time when you're not busy, you have time to spend with the fans and it's actually, I'm in a way better spot with the only race fans."

Moreover, the Columbus, Indiana native shared his belief the NASCAR fans have to be more "aggressive" in nature compared to the NHRA fans following because of less accessibility on any NASCAR tracks.

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"It's not great access to drivers": Tony Stewart highlighted differences between fan interaction at NASCAR and NHRA

Tony Stewart greeting fans and signing autographs at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals - Source: Getty

NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart was in the stock-car racing series for almost two years before announcing his retirement as a driver in 2016, followed by the departure of his famed Cup team, Stewart-Haas Racing, earlier this year.

With his increased involvement in the drag racing series, Stewart - during the same discussion with Kenny Sargent of SpeedFreaks - elucidated his take on how having less accessibility to NASCAR fans is a factor in time spent interacting with their favorite drivers.

"I think to support the NASCAR fans it's really hard at a NASCAR track because you want to see your drivers it's not great access to the drivers now, you know, garage passes really don't mean much anymore because they're not driving in and out and having practice," Tony Stewart said. [8:02]

Furthermore, while talking about his time interacting with fans at any NHRA event, Stewart pointed out why NASCAR fans become more "aggressive" whenever they get an opportunity to interact. He said:

"NASCAR fans they got to be aggressive... At the same time, you understand why they were aggressive like that because they don't have many opportunities to get next to the driver so when they get close they do everything they can to maximize."

After making a mark in several motorsports disciplines, Tony Stewart has switched his focus primarily to drag racing and recently won the 2024 NHRA Rookie of the Year Award.