Tony Stewart rips NASCAR

That's pretty much how I'm guessing it went down.

 

Nah. They probably just threatened to take his Ho-Hos and Cool Ranch Doritos away.

 

Stewart fined $10,000 and placed on probation.

 

For not going to the media center. Has nothing to do with his comments.

 

Just throwing it out there, not sure I believe it myself, but would Stewart have been fined had he not made his comments? Someone who is around NASCAR more than I am would have the answer to that.

 

In the words of Junior Soprano:

"What do you want him to say? They muscled him!"

 

In keeping with the WWE-ification of NASCAR, Stewart also had his head shaved by Vince McMahon, was stunned by Stone Cold Steve Austin and received The People's Elbow from The Rock. Now he can smell what Mike Helton is cooking.

 

This story isn't over yet...he'll let us know what he REALLY thought about the meeting on his radio show...

 

I think the comments helped, but there is precedent for fining someone for not doing the post-race interviews. I don't know that I've ever heard of the punishment being that steep, but you could argue that there is precedent with the behavior.

Also, I'm not saying he showed much backbone today, but he did what he had to do, so I'm not faulting him too much. What I absolutely LOVED, though, were some NASCAR media people who were falling over themselves to kiss Tony's ass who suddenly and totally jumped ship and crucified the guy after the PC. And not only did they attack him, they totally started kissing NASCAR's ass and basically gave them kudoes for what they did and were insinuating that Tony was wrong for implying that NASCAR would cheat. I guess that's what happens when NASCAR owns the radio network, too...

 

Jim Hunter: “I think Tony Stewart knows where he stands with us right now. This is the first time in NASCAR history that we’ve fined a driver for not fulfilling his media obligation. I don’t want to speculate on what’s going to happen in the future, but I would say the standard is set.”

 

Translation: "Good boy, Tony...good boy..."

 

Hate to say I told you so, but it was obvious Tony was going to be in the media center apologizing on Friday. Or else.