The NASCAR Cup Series season finale over the weekend also marked the end of an era for Tony Stewart and the highest levels of national Stock Car competition.
It was the final race weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing, which will downsize from a four-car team to just the one-car Haas Factory Team, as the three-time Cup Series champion has divested himself from the team he co-owned with Gene Haas since the 2009 season.
Stewart, 53, told Sportsnaut over the weekend that his appearances in NASCAR would be ‘far and few between,’ closing a door on this chapter of his life as he expects to begin a journey into fatherhood before the end of the month with wife Leah Pruitt, while also now in his second full-time season as an NHRA drag racer.
During that conversation with Sportsnaut, Stewart also said he wasn’t interested anymore in talking about why he has decided to leave NASCAR, the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing, or the charter negotiations that led to a lawsuit between two teams against the sanctioning body.
He said ‘I have said all I need to say’ regarding that topic and a recent appearance on ‘Cars and Culture with Jason Stein’ reflected exactly what he had to say on the matter.
For example, what’s changed in NASCAR, and why Stewart said ‘leadership’ is markedly different. Specifically, he missed leaders like Bill France Jr., Mike Helton and Jim Hunter.
“Leadership more than anything,” Stewart told Stein. “I had the privilege of coming in when Bill France Jr. was there and Bill was a very unique character and a very, very good leader for our sport.
“But I think the support system he had, and his number one support system was Mike Helton, and that is the one person that is still left that I have the utmost respect for. Mike helped me grow as a person, is one of the three greatest people that have come into my life and shaped me as a person and a man today, so I have the utmost respect for Mike. There’s people like Bill France that we lost. We lost Jim Hunter and Jim was someone that had a way of explaining why things are done the way they are and why they are in the big picture.”
France was the son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and its chief officer until the 2000 season. Helton was his longtime Vice President and is now Vice Chairman and Hunter was the league’s longtime chief communications officer.
“There isn’t anyone now that remotely comes close,” Stewart said of current NASCAR leadership. “You talk to people now, and these are officials that are high company, and when you talk to them, they’re just trying to keep their job. They are worried that if they say the wrong thing or make the wrong decision, they are going to get in trouble, and lose their job over it.
“That’s the feeling you get when you talk to them. The leadership is way different than it was. The direction its going. I say this from the standpoint that I’ve been an owner in the sport and I’ve been a driver in the sport but I’m still a fan of the sport too. 98 percent of the race fans have no clue. They don’t know the stuff I’m talking about, the elements I don’t like. They see what they see on the broadcast and that’s fine.
“At the end of the day, if you enjoy what you see, that’s okay. But for someone like myself who has been in the sport for over 20 years, what it was when I started and where it’s at now and the direction it’s going, I don’t necessarily agree with it, I don’t necessarily like it. There’s elements of it that I’m very disappointed in. But that’s okay. Not everybody has to agree on it.”
Stewart said that is not why he decided to step away now, but it has made the timing okay. In that conversation with Sportsnaut, Stewart said he never planned anything in his life and career. He never planned to be an Indy car driver when he was racing USAC. He never planned to be a NASCAR driver when he was racing Indy cars and he never planned to meet his wife and start a family but that everything made sense at the time he did each of those things.
But Stewart did address the charter negotiations, which mostly wrapped up in September with all but two teams signing the updated agreement. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports did not and joined together in a lawsuit against NASCAR.
Rick Hendrick said he was simply tired of the negotiations. Brad Keselowski said the time was right. Justin Marks said he could build a business model around the new terms and this was the best deal the teams were going to get.
“The charter agreements are a joke,” Stewart told Stein. “And if people aren’t smart enough to read between the lines – when someone like Rick Hendrick says, ‘I just got tired of arguing with them.’ Do you think Rick Hendrick runs his business and negotiations and just says, ‘I’m going to just sign this agreement because I’m tired of arguing with you.’
“Rick Hendrick’s never done that a day in his life. So, if people aren’t smart enough to read between the lines and figuring out what that means, then you’re all missing the whole big picture all by itself. So, it’s just an area I don’t want to be a part of anymore. I’m a purist, I’m an old-school guy when it comes to racing.”
Lawsuit timeline
23XI Racing, Front Row decline to sign NASCAR’s final 2025-2031 charter document
Why 23XI, Front Row filed a lawsuit against NASCAR
23XI, Front Row makes his case in antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR
Richard Childress says he had ‘no choice’ but to sign charter document
How drivers feel about the lawsuit
Michael Jordan comments on his team’s lawsuit against NASCAR
Meet NASCAR’s antitrust defense lawyer
NASCAR files injunction to be included in charter system through lawsuit
NASCAR motions against team’s preliminary injunction request
NASCAR, teams consent to redacting charter details in filings
Teams make case for injunctive relief, expedited discovery
NASCAR’s lengthy rebuttal to injunction, lawsuit
Teams respond to NASCAR response over injunction
23XI, Front Row and NASCAR go to court over injunctions
Judge rules against teams preliminary injunction request
Denny Hamlin says 23XI may not race next year
What preliminary injunction denial means for lawsuit