Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Stewart’s gruff persona may never return
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — For most of his 16 years in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, the three- time champion Tony Stewart has been a hard-driving, outspoken, combative favorite of fans. He has parlayed that success and persona into an empire that includes a champion dirt- track team, multiple racetracks, a communications company and co-ownership of the powerhouse Stewart-Haas Racing team.
A somber and introspective Stewart met with members of the media Monday for the first time since an Aug. 9 accident in upstate New York that killed 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr. The news conference at Stewart’s team headquarters just north of Charlotte came five days after an Ontario County, N.Y., grand jury declined to indict him on criminal charges related to the accident.
Missing at the news conference was his usual swagger. He does not know if or when it will return.
“I don’t know that it will ever be normal again,” Stewart said last Monday.
Compared in some ways to the late Dale Earnhardt because of his gruff personality and blue- collar style, Stewart has the ability to attract fans, big-money sponsors and premier drivers. His team includes championship contending drivers like Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, along with the fan and sponsor magnet Danica Patrick. But if he does not return to being the same driver fans have become accustomed to, there could be implications for Stewart-Haas Racing and NASCAR.
Since Stewart became a co-owner with Gene Haas in 2009, Stewart-Haas Racing has become one of the most competitive teams in NASCAR even as the sport has seen a contraction in teams and sponsors. Stewart-Haas Racing is important in part because it helps NASCAR maintain a competitive field in each race.
Humpy Wheeler, a longtime NASCAR promoter and the former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway, said criminal charges against Stewart would have put all that in jeopardy. But even without charges — Stewart still faces the possibility of a civil suit being filed against him — it is critical for Stewart to reassert himself on and off the track so his team can retain its status in the Cup garage.
“He’s got to weather this storm and get back to Tony,” Wheeler said. “And he probably realizes that.”
Along with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, Stewart is one of the highest-profile drivers in NASCAR. He has sponsorship deals with a variety of products, from Mobil 1 to Bass Pro Shops. He makes appearances for the sport and his sponsors, being counted on to be as much a promoter as a driver.
Although he is back in his No. 14 Chevrolet after missing three weeks while in seclusion after the Aug. 9 accident, the rest of his typically busy schedule has come to a halt. Stewart has stopped making public appearances, shooting commercials, attending sponsor events and meeting fans.
“We’ll start getting back into doing meet and greets and appearances again,” Stew- art said. “I think it’s important for me to do that and to take — I think that’s another step of making forward progress is getting back to trying to resume what was the best of a normal life before this. So I think it’s important for me to do that and get back to doing it as soon as possible.”
He will find plenty of support in his race shop.
“It’s been hard to watch,” Harvick said. “As his friend, you want to see that right, and I think every box that he checks off now in getting back to some sort of normal life is positive, and you can see the relief in his face in the things that he does.”
That support might ultimately help not only Stewart, but also his team. Jeff Gordon said the Hendrick Motorsports organization had grown closer as a result of a plane crash in 2004, when family members of the owner Rick Hendrick and key team personnel were killed.
“It made us want to come together that much more and go out there and do something for the organization to try to heal those wounds,” Gordon said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Stewart-Haas has a similar type of group.”
Stewart said he also had the support of his sponsors, which is crucial for the team to maintain its financing. Mobil 1 issued a statement indicating it had not cut sponsorship.
But two industry experts say Mobil 1 ads featuring Stewart were pulled after the accident. Jon Swallen, chief research officer at the media and market researcher Kantar Media, said the company stopped its television, Internet and banner ads days after the fatality. Swallen said no Mobil 1 television ads with Stewart have run since Aug. 12.
“It does appear that they pulled TV ads and they pulled Internet banner ads,” Swallen said, adding that Internet banner ads had recently returned.
Bob Dorfman, a sports marketing expert who is executive creative director at Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco, said Exxon Mobil had scaled back its Mobil 1 motor oil ads and promotions featuring Stewart.
“Sponsors don’t l i ke death,” Wheeler said. “Sponsors don’t like controversy.”
Swallen said Bass Pro Shops had not run a television ad featuring Stewart since Aug. 4. A company official said that decision was not associated with the accident.
The accident and its aftermath also cast a shadow over NASCAR. When Regan Smith replaced Stewart in the No. 14 car at Watkins Glen International for a Sprint Cup race the day after the accident, he received more on-air interview time than all but three drivers in the race, according to Joyce Julius & Associates, which measures driver and sponsor exposure during races. Stewart’s return on Aug. 31 garnered far more attention than his 41st-place finish.
That focus on Stewart inevitably took away from the buildup for NASCAR’s newly designed playoff, the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
“Well, it certainly has taken the rose off the bud as far as the Chase is concerned because of that huge amount of publicity,” Wheeler said. “He’s been on the evening news and everything else. He’s been a big story for quite a while. I think it certainly, there’s damaging parts of it. Anytime there’s a death in racing, it doesn’t help, it doesn’t matter where it is or how it happened.”
That might explain why NASCAR officials declined to discuss Stewart during an event in Charlotte this past week designed to promote the playoff.
“We want focus on the drivers competing for the championship,” a spokesman wrote in an email.
NASCAR might get just that, now that Stewart is beginning to put the accident behind him.