Stewart says drivers must prove they can police themselves

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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Stewart says drivers must prove they can police themselves

Published Wednesday, February 10 2010 - (0) Comments

Jeff Burton has been dubbed the unofficial mayor of the Sprint Cup garage. I guess that makes Tony Stewart the sheriff.
While Stewart wants no part of being a spokesman for the drivers, a role that Burton has embraced in recent years, Smoke has had no problem using his front fender to teach new drivers the dos and don'ts of Cup racing.
Stewart has largely been viewed as a Lone Ranger on that front, especially in recent years during NASCAR's "conduct detrimental to stock car racing" era.
That is quite a departure from the way things were when Stewart first landed a Cup ride over 10 years ago. Back then, Stewart remembers having a whole posse on the track ready to dole out justice whenever a young driver decided to do his best Stroker Ace impression.
"I know when I started, every driver used to self‑police the etiquette out there, and trust me, NASCAR from day one doesn't want to have to get involved in that," Stewart said. "But there has to be a level of control involved before it gets out of control."
So while NASCAR has promised to ease up on rough driving penalties and allow drivers to solve their own problems on the track, Stewart doesn't see that as a free pass to turn this weekend's Daytona 500 into a demolition derby.
"I don't think NASCAR will change that side of it, necessarily," he said. "I think they have to be in that position because it can quickly get out of control if you don't get a handle on it."
In other words, if the return of self-policing is going to last until the spring thaw, drivers will need to show NASCAR they can handle the responsibility that is being handed to them.
Stewart said that wasn't a problem early in his career, but that's because a garage area stocked with veteran drivers like Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace had the maturity and stature to keep the sport under control.
"The thing you've got to remember is that the average age of drivers keeps going down every year, and I think a lot of that is why you still have to have the sanctioning body policing everything," Stewart said. "When you had veteran drivers that had been there for 10 or 12 years, that was how we policed it and that's why we policed it. Now, a 'veteran' driver is 25, 26 years old."
It will be interesting to see what happens if the veterans are indeed allowed to stay on patrol all season. If so, it could be a long year for Brad Keselowski, who has established himself as public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Denny Hamlin and several others in the Cup garage.
Who else should be on the lookout? Well, let's just say that the Target sponsorship is an appropriate one for Juan Pablo Montoya.
The Target logo may be on his hood, but there might as well be one on his left-rear quarter panel after JPM rubbed, scraped and bumped his way into the Chase last season.

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