Tony Stewart was critical of the public reaction to Kyle Busch’s passing. Stewart believes fans were quick to judge Busch based on his on-track personality and didn’t make the effort to “learn him as a person.”
Stewart is competing in NHRA’s first race at a NASCAR venue since Busch’s death. While preparing for the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway, Stewart, 55, was interviewed by Noah for a tribute piece on the late driver.
NASCAR reporter Steven Taranto shared excerpts from the interview.
“now everybody wants to talk about how he was as a person. Outside of that, all they wanted to do was just judge what they saw on TV. It’s frustrating. I mean, every one of us are judged by what they see on TV, and then once you die then they want to talk about how good a person you were,” Stewart said.
“They should’ve given him a chance to learn him as a person before they judged him in the first place,” Stewart added, “So right now, I don’t care about educating everybody about how Kyle Busch was. I know who Kyle Busch was.”
Kyle Busch died from bacterial pneumonia and complications with sepsis. He had been dealing with the illness for several weeks before succumbing.
Tony Stewart shares a grief-stricken message for the death of a World of Outlaws official
Last month, firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician Billy Hurt lost his life during a World of Outlaws event at Kennedale Speedway. Hurt had a 23-year career rescuing sprint car drivers in the American Sprint Car Series, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the Tulsa Shootout, and the Chili Bowl Nationals.
Tony Stewart, who owns a sprint car team himself, shared a heartfelt message on X, writing,
“Please keep the families of Billy Hurt, Jerry Myers and the entire WRG team following the tragedy in Texas on Saturday. Sprint Car racing is a small world… but we’re a tight-knit group. We all hurt when tragedy rears its ugly head. Hug your people and never forget what our safety teams provide for us every night at the track….The chance to do what we love.”
Tony Stewart’s sprint car team was restructured this season. Longtime driver Donny Schatz departed after 18 seasons. Australian sprint car veteran Kerry Madsen replaced Schatz in the No. 15 entry.
On the other hand, Stewart gave way for his wife Leah Pruett and left TSR Nitro to join Elite Motorsports, making him the NHRA team’s first driver in the Top Fuel Program. Despite the fresh start, Stewart has already grabbed a win at Pomona Winternationals.
His TSR Nitro driver Matt Hagan won alongside him in NHRA’s 1000th Funny Car race that weekend.
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