Tony Stewart speaks out about Stewart-Haas Racing closing

In three short weeks, Stewart-Haas Racing will close up shop. They will no longer exist, being replaced by Haas Factory Team. Tony Stewart had to get out of NASCAR for many reasons, but he’s only added more to the list in recent months.

Tony Stewart has been involved in NASCAR for over two decades. As a team owner in the Cup Series, he paved a path for modern driver-owners. His accomplishments with Joe Gibbs as well as Stewart-Haas speak for themselves.

However, the time has come for that journey to end. As Smoke continues to race and own a team in NHRA, he is busy. Not only that, he is soon to be a father with his wife Leah Pruett, also an NHRA racer.

Tony Stewart took the time to speak with Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour podcast. He finally gave his side of things.

“It’s honestly, especially in the last two to three weeks, it’s starting to feel exactly like a year ago when we knew you were coming to the end of your career,” Stewart said. “And thinking of the fun we had together on the road, the times I drove your Xfinity car, just the fun stuff that we did together. Like you mentioned, I literally went to Talladega, went from Talladega to Charlotte, spent the whole day at the shop, got to see as many people as I could at the shop, and knowing that when I left the building there that there’s some of those people that I’ve known for 16 years and I may never ever see them again, unfortunately.”

So, the time has come. Tony Stewart is leaving NASCAR.

Tony Stewart happy to leave NASCAR now

While Stewart-Haas Racing has many reasons for closing, Tony Stewart has found a few more. In the months since announcing the end of SHR, he has seen where he believes NASCAR is headed.

He doesn’t like it.

“This is a time where things are drastically changing in the sport. You look at what’s going with 23XI and Front Row Motorsports right now and their battle with NASCAR and the direction that things are going, it’s not a direction that I want to be a part of,” he explained. “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 of 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’ve always been somebody that’s ran all kinds of different series.”

Looking at the direction of the sport, it’s the right time. Not many can say that they left at the right time, driver or owner. But Tony Stewart believes he can.

“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. 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.”