Tony Stewart addresses 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports lawsuit with NASCAR

As Tony Stewart prepares to exit NASCAR with Stewart-Haas Racing bringing their Cup Series organization to an end after the final race of the season, he took some time to examine the current state of the sport.

At the moment, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have decided not to sign the new charter agreement with NASCAR, and they’re embroiled in a legal battle that doesn’t have an end date. Stewart weighed in on the whole situation, believing it signifies why now is the perfect time for him to depart.

“This is a time where things are drastically changing in the sport,” Stewart told Kevin Harvick on the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “You look at what’s going on with 23XI and Front Row Motorsports right now, with their battle with NASCAR and the direction that things are going. It’s not a direction that I want to be a part of. This is the right time. This was never a part of a master plan, but this is — as this year has gone on, this has become very clear, that this is the right time for me to get out on the sport. There’s things that I see that I definitely don’t like, and I’m happy doing the stuff I’m doing now.

“I mean, I’ve always been somebody that’s ran all kinds of different series, and I don’t have a Hendrick Motorsports, I don’t have Penske Truck Rentals and all the things that a lot of these guys have to back their race teams. We have to do it solely on sponsorship, and that is a ton of work. It’s more competitive now getting sponsors than it’s ever been, I feel like, in our sport. I mean, when you and I started, there were more Fortune 500 companies that wanted to be on cars full time, that couldn’t because there wasn’t cars to be on, and now you’re fighting for one race sponsorships, two race sponsorships. You’re constantly having to change wraps out, change uniforms, crew uniforms. It’s just a different time in the sport.

“The sport’s going to be healthy. It’s going to survive. It always has, it always will. But I’m happy at this point in my life to make this change. And like I said, it wasn’t that way at the beginning of the year. We had different reasons for why we had to shut down at the end of the season. As time’s gone on and watching the owners and NASCAR fight and just the chaos that’s going on over there, I’m fine being done with this at the end of the year.”

While Tony Stewart doesn’t have a problem with 23XI Racing or Front Row Motorsports making the decision to try and stand up for themselves, it’s made him realize he doesn’t have what it takes to be the tremendous team owner he’s been throughout his time in the Cup Series.

That’s alright with him, and he’s fine moving on, but NASCAR will certainly miss the legend’s presence.