Tony Stewart spoke out earlier this week about comments Richard Petty made about his race car driver, Danica Patrick. Stewart threw out an offer to the King on Performance Racing Network that the two should race each other.
“I told her she should challenge Richard to a heads-up race,” Stewart said. “I think that would pretty much settle it once and for all. Maybe get him to shut up a little bit, too. He drove in an era when he had cars that were superior to what everyone else was running a lot. I think he forgets that NASCAR has changed a lot since he was a driver and how hard it really is now.”
Stewart even said he would supply the cars, ”I will supply the cars. I don’t care. If he wants to race her, I’ll make sure they have exactly the same setup in the car and give him a chance. He can drive one of my 14 cars. I don’t care.”
Petty appeared on Fox and Friends on Friday morning, and when asked if he would be up for the challenge, the 76-year old said he would do it. “I’m 76 years old, OK?” Petty said on Fox News. “It’s been 25 years since I’ve been in a race car. But I’ll take that challenge.”
The host asked again, “Really? You’re going to do it, Richard?”
“Oh yeah. When is this going to happen?” Petty replied.
The King also said he believes that Patrick could win at this weekend’s Daytona 500, “She could even win the race here – if somebody gets behind her and pushes her through the crowd.” he said.
Petty criticized Patrick during an appearance at the Canadian Motorsports Expo earlier this month, saying that the only way she would win a race was “if everyone else stayed home.” He also commented that if she was male, “Nobody would ever know if she’d showed up at a racetrack, ” because “it is a female deal that is driving her. ”
Petty did see some good in that though, “There’s nothing wrong with that, because that’s good PR for me. More fans come out, people are more interested in it. She has helped to draw attention to the sport, which helps everybody in the sport.”
When Petty was asked about his comments, he said he stood by them, “What I said is what I said and that’s what I believe, OK?”
Patrick brushed off the 200-race winners comments, ”I still say the same thing: Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. People will judge what he said, whether they judge it well or not, and I’m just not going to (judge).”
