DOVER, Del. — If Tony Stewart is tough on rookie drivers, it’s only because he wants to help them, Danica Patrick says.
Stewart had Patrick’s boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in his sights on Sunday, complaining that Stenhouse was blocking unnecessarily during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Stenhouse and Patrick also were involved in a three-wide wreck with Brad Keselowski.
After the race, Stewart told Claire B. Lang of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and Dustin Long of MRN, “Ricky Stenhouse — I’d choke him right now, if I could get to him.”
Patrick, who drives for Stewart-Haas Racing, said that’s merely Stewart’s way of showing he likes and respects the rookie driver.
“If Tony’s hard on rookies, I just thank the good Lord above that I’m on his team,” said Patrick, who is competing against Stenhouse for the Sprint Cup rookie of the year title. “What I would say about Tony is that he wants to help teach the rookies, and the rookies that he respects and feels like should get that time of day. If he doesn’t think they were good, he wouldn’t try to help them, because they won’t be around for long, in his opinion.
“So, if there’s anyone out there that he says something about, it’s only because he knows they’re going to be around, and he wants them to learn how to play the game the way he’s learned how to play the game — and he’s been here a long time and has been very successful. So it’s actually a good thing that he wants to help and that he would speak up.”
According to Patrick, Stenhouse and Stewart talked on Sunday night.
“We talked about it a little bit, too,” Patrick said. “He (Stewart) loves him like a son, he said. So you would never hurt your son. You would only try to help your son. I think that’s the moral of the story.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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