Tony Stewart Remains Steadfast on Blocking Comments

Last weekend at Infineon Raceway, Tony Stewart made it clear he had enough of drivers blocking.

On Friday at Daytona International Speedway, he reasserted his position, saying others in the garage agree with his point. Talking about the incident with Brian Vickers – the driver he wrecked at Sonoma for blocking – Stewart said he had simply hit a point in which he had enough.

“I’ve talked to other drivers too and I didn’t anticipate to get the kind of support that I’m getting with some of these guys,” he said. “It’s not the whole field saying that by any means – I haven’t talked to everybody. I did talk to two or three different guys yesterday and the two or three guys that I spoke to mentioned and agreed that it’s a problem that’s getting worse, not better.

”Honestly, whether they agree or disagree – I don’t care. I’ve drawn my line in the sand and the next guy that blocks me, he is going to also suffer the same fate. It doesn’t matter who it is. That’s what it’s going to be.”

Stewart explained the problem with blocking has stemmed from drivers not being able to work out differences on or off the track. Once one driver starts blocking, everyone does it to stay competitive.

“Everybody knows the problem is that if you have one person that is taking advantage of a situation then it forces everybody else to do the same thing or else you’ve put yourself behind and you’re going to get taken advantage of more,” he said. “You don’t have that mutual give and take and that’s what more guys are taking more than they’re giving these days.”

Unlike years past, Stewart believes drivers can no longer self-police their problems without NASCAR and the media getting involved. Without a central figure in the garage, Stewart believes drivers no longer feel like they need to give and take on the race track.

“When I came in here I thought I was going to change how things worked too and Dale (Earnhardt) Sr. taught me how to do it, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, my teammate Bobby Labonte taught me and had to grab me and shake me beside a trailer one day and say, ‘Listen, you have to understand,’” Stewart said. “Nothing like that happens in this day and age. It’s all so glamorized when two people do something on the racetrack and it’s made to be such a soap opera that the whole point of why it happened in the first place isn’t getting resolved because of it.”

Stewart said he is not stepping up to fill that role of a leader in the garage, but he has simply had enough of blocking.