Tony Stewart said he would fire all of NASCAR’s upper management on the first day if he became commissioner, a blunt answer that turned a hypothetical into a direct warning about where he thinks the sport is headed.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion said he has been out of racing for two years, but that distance has only sharpened his criticism. He said NASCAR has made too many changes that have not worked, and that cleaning house at the top while bringing in fresh eyes and ears would be crucial.
Stewart’s argument is rooted in what he sees as a broken connection with longtime fans. He said NASCAR has lost its original fanbase, and that reconnecting with the fans of the past would be one of the main focuses if he were president for a day. He said people need to understand the history of the sport and then find a way to translate that into modern times.
The backdrop to those comments is a sport that has spent the past decade or so moving races away from historical tracks and into new markets while also introducing an elimination-style playoff system. Fans have grumbled that NASCAR has drifted from its roots in the chase for new audiences, and television ratings have gone down. Stewart’s frustration lands there, not on the surface details, but on the belief that the sport has kept changing without winning back the people it pushed away.
There is also a wrinkle in his criticism: Stewart said he thinks there are some great people in upper management, even as he said he would still fire all of them on day one. That leaves the real question hanging in the air. He answered the hypothetical about what he would do, but he did not spell out which leaders would survive if he ever got the power to decide for real.
