The NASCAR community was in shock when Tony Stewart and Gene Haas’s team announced their exit from the sport last season. And the reason given was: “The commitment needed to extract maximum performance while providing sustainability is incredibly demanding, and we’ve reached a point in our respective personal and business lives where it’s time to pass the torch.”
But somewhere, everyone knew there was more to the story when Haas retained one of the charters. Keeping Cup Series operations alive with the Hass Factory Team. However, Stewart was clear he wanted nothing to do with NASCAR anymore. But it was long before he revealed the reasons for it. And it was all thanks to the antitrust lawsuit that Stewart opened up.
Why Did Tony Stewart Lash Out at NASCAR?
It all started ahead of the 2024 playoffs, when the Cup teams were rushed into signing the new charter agreement. In fact, there were accusations that the teams were threatened with having their charter status revoked if they did not sign. And all but two teams signed it.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports instead filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, accusing it of “monopolistic practices.” And these two teams had also bought charters from the defunct SHR, but the transfer couldn’t go through unless NASCAR agreed to it. And obviously, they didn’t let it go through.
Tony Stewart slammed NASCAR leadership on the "Rubbin is Racing" podcast, calling them “ignorant” for dismissing driver input and criticizing the charter system as a “joke.” Now unaffiliated, Stewart says he’s free to speak out without fear of fines.#NASCAR
— NTC Feed (@NTC_Feed)
And it had Stewart stuck with the rather expensive charters, and this was when he actually lashed out at NASCAR and the whole charter system. If you recall, he had said, “The charter agreements are a joke.”
After the antitrust lawsuit kicked off, several NASCAR team owners started to open up on the charter agreement. In fact, Rick Hendrick had said, “I think we worked really hard for two years, and it got down to, you’re not going to make everybody happy. And I think it got down to, I was just tired. This is what Stewart based his criticism on.
“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,” Stewart added.
Well, clearly, Stewart found something wrong in the whole deal and took an out when he could. Luckily for the veteran, the courts later ordered NASCAR to allow the transfers of the charters from SHR to 23XI and FRM. AND it’s unlikely that Stewart will ever return to NASCAR.