Lug nuts, fine dominate talk for Stewart’s short weekend
TALLADEGA, Ala. — It’s been an action-packed week for Tony Stewart following his return to a race car after a back injury sidelined him the first eight races of the season.
Upon his return, he was promptly fined $35,000 by NASCAR for criticizing the series about safety surrounding lug nuts. He then ran his first race since November and participated in the final tire test of his career over two days this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Now he’s scheduled for a short weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ty Dillon will be his relief driver to help Stewart avoid hurting his back again.
But all the talk Friday was about his fine, which wasn’t lifted even after NASCAR heeded to concerns.
Stewart said he still doesn’t understand what he said to warrant the penalty.
“You hate to have to pay $35,000 to get someone’s attention, but apparently that’s what it took,” Stewart said. “I’ve got questions, too, that I’d like to have answers to. I’m still wondering why I’m paying a $35,000 fine for something that got changed three days later.”
NASCAR last season stopped policing how many lug nuts teams were using and it evolved into many crews using less than the standard five. It led to a rash of loose wheels, and several drivers and crew chiefs were critical of the safety aspects.
But it wasn’t until Stewart spoke up that NASCAR snapped to attention. He was the only one fined.
On Monday of this week, NASCAR said it will check tires before and after the race for all five lug nuts.
“The crazy part was I wasn’t the first person that brought it up, I was down the food chain of guys that had already discussed it and talked about it,” he said. “I talked about it and got my hand slapped. Ob- viously, it was the way that I talked about it, which I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I said or what the word or the phrase was that got me in trouble. When it comes to something like that that is a safety issue, fine or not, I think you’ve got to speak your mind and you’ve got to be honest about it.
“I hope this doesn’t discourage drivers for standing up for what they believe and what they think is right for everybody.”
Stewart only plans to race Sunday until the first caution, and then he’ll give his seat up to Dillon. Stewart crashed an all-terrain vehicle the week before the season opened and ruptured a vertebra that caused him to miss the first eight races of his final season in NASCAR. He’s retiring at the end of the year.
Stewart will drive Sunday with Dillon’s seat to make it a seamless driver change.
NASCAR has said that if Dillon wins on Sunday, it would count toward Stewart’s attempt to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.