Six month after his role in an accident that left Kevin Ward Jr. dead, three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart says he may never race a Sprint car again.
Appearing on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “Tony Stewart Live” the outspoken driver talked about a lot of different topics as the 2015 Daytona 500 is just weeks away but the one that stood out was his talk about Sprint car racing.
“I’m not going to be in a sprint car for a while, if ever again,” said Stewart, who also suffered a broken leg in a sprint car crash in August 2013. “This is a way to give back to the sport. I’m passionate about it. I’m really excited.”
Stewart also expressed his approval of NASCAR’s qualifying rule changes from 2014 on must tracks, just not at the Superspeedway’s of Daytona and Talladega.
“To be perfectly honest, I am not a big fan of that,” Stewart said of group qualifying at a restrictor-plate track. “It’s exciting to watch, but the thing that most don’t realize is that, first of all, you’re trying to be the last guy to come out (to get the aerodynamic advantage). Once those guys in the back get that run and make that first lap, the last thing they want to do is go ahead and run that next lap full throttle and give the guys they just passed the same opportunity.
“I think all in all the whole qualifying format for the year (2014) was awesome. I thought that was one of the best changes and one of the easiest changes NASCAR had to make. It was a really, really good decision on their part. It brings a lot of excitement on Friday. I’m just not crazy about it at Daytona and Talladega.”
