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When Tony Stewart talks, the NASCAR world tends to listen.
And the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion turned team owner likes to do a lot of talking.
Such was the case in a recent interview with Dustin Long of NBC Sports after Stewart announced that driver Josh Berry would take over the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 car in 2024 following the retirement of legend Kevin Harvick at the end of the 2023 season.
Stewart and Long discussed a number of topic. But the most notable was Stewart’s comments about the costs of operating a team.
In 2022, NASCAR switched to its Generation 7, or NextGen, style of car. Parts for each team would be manufactured by a single source, rather than each team individually, and then distributed to the teams by NASCAR.
Those parts may not be modified in any way.
The goal of the change was to reduce costs for teams and improve parity within the series. NASCAR seems to have accomplished the latter of those two goals. But the first is something that Stewart says they missed the mark on.
“For partners coming into the sport now, it’s a financial risk,” he said of team ownership. “It’s not got cheaper to operate a NASCAR team like this new car was designed. It’s costing us more money than it’s ever cost us to run these cars.”
Even so, Stewart continues to advocate for strict penalties for teams that break the rules. Even after his team was fined $250,000 recently for creating a counterfeit part.
“Honestly, I’m supportive of the amount of fines. I think if you want to get it under control, you’ve got to keep bumping it up to where it’s risk vs. reward. What are you willing to risk to get in the gray areas,” he asked. “I support NASCAR on that side. I feel like they’ve done a good job of trying to discourage teams from going above and beyond.”
NASCAR returns to action this Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway following a week off. And no doubt there will be plenty of questions asked about Stewart’s comments.