Corey Heim did earn a win on the track in the July 26 Brickyard 400, but by some accounts, he earned another win in his post-race media session when he fanned the flames of his heated feud with Carson Hocevar.
Like other major sports, NASCAR sees its fair share of feuds and spats that often come with significant verbal jousting.
Personal insults always seem to hit hard. Whether Dale Earnhardt Jr. calling Todd Bodine a “cue-ball-headed fool” or Kurt Busch labeling Jimmy Spencer “a decrepit old has-been,” schoolyard name calling always gets the fans riled up. Most people who have followed the sport for any length of time could tell you their favorite put down with minimal hesitation.
But there was one driver who could spit fire when it came to dishing out insults and no one was safe. Tony Stewart was capable of outrunning anyone and just as capable of humiliating them outside of the car. Be it fellow drivers, media, crew members, or a certain tire manufacturer, Smoke knew how to hit where it hurt.
But he saved his most vicious verbiage for the sanctioning body itself and it remains one of the most epic burns ever recorded on video.
After years of the cars racing in packs and the field-obliterating accidents that come with pack racing, there was a concentrated effort by NASCAR to break up the packs of cars. When the Car of Tomorrow debuted in 2007, it opened the door to a completely different style of racing at Talladega Superspeedway. Suddenly, drivers realized that two cars tucked together were faster than the group, giving rise to the era of “tandem racing.”
As is often the case with anything that happens more than a couple times, fans began to complain about the tandem racing. Arguments ranged from it being boring to ruining the essence of racing at Talladega, and to a lesser degree, Daytona. Some even declared that superspeedway racing was better with a four-wide mass of cars and an opportunity for them to be destroyed in accidents, as nature intended.
After NASCAR put the COT out to pasture, the Talladega that so many had longed for was back in all of its racecar-demolishing splendor. But not everyone was happy about that. In 2012, Stewart served as both a racecar driver and race team owner and wasn’t pleased in either capacity after the spring edition of the biannual wreck fest in central Alabama.
It wasn’t just what Tony said but how he said it. His expression, his tone — everything projected sincerity, but the words were so absurd that they couldn’t be his true thoughts. It set the stage for one of the most bizarre and downright hilarious sound bites in sports history.
“The racing was awesome,” Stewart said to a group of reporters gathered around in the garage after the race. “It’s fun to be able to race and have to watch the (temperature) gauges at the same time. It just adds that much more. Being able to make yourself run on the apron and everything to try to get clean air, it makes it fun.”
When asked what NASCAR should do to remedy the overheating cars, Stewart replied that he thought they should “tape ’em off solid and run ’em till they blow up.”
“I’m just sorry we couldn’t crash more cars today,” he added. “We didn’t fill the quota for Talladega and NASCAR.
“Honestly, if we haven’t crashed at least 50 percent of the field by the end of the race, we need to extend the race until we crash at least 50 percent of the cars,” he said. “It’s not fair to these fans to not see any more wrecks than that, any more torn-up cars. I mean, we still had over half the cars running at the end, and it shouldn’t be that way.”
By the time Tony had added that Talladega should be made into a figure eight and suggested that half of the cars run the opposite direction in the second half of the race, he had single-handedly destroyed any semblance of professionalism for nearly every media member within earshot. Seasoned reporters struggled to hold in laughter and even post-race recaps were delivered by admiring commentators.
More than a decade later, the Tony Stewart Talladega rant remains one of the most talked about tirades ever. Disses come and go, but drawing the ire of Smoke meant risking a burn that even time may not alleviate.
Stewart is certainly among the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, but when it comes to insults, he may be in a category all his own.
Frank Velat has been an avid follower of NASCAR and other motorsports for over 30 years. He brings a blend of passionate fan and objective author to his work. Frank offers unique perspectives that everyone can relate to, remembering the sport's past all the while embracing its future.
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I think the Honey Badger is Tony’s spirit animal! lol
I think that was the beginning of the end for Tony. 3 years later he would retire and many believe it was because he was tired of the constant gimmicks, the ridiculous playoff format, and the manipulated races that were prevalent back then. Dale Jr, Edwards, and Gordon all retired during that time as well.
Tony needs to stay with drag racing. His days as an influence on Nascar are over. I watched the very first televised race when football had a problem. That and the years following were real racing. No cookie cutter machines.
You realize this didn’t happen yesterday right?