Tony Stewart said little about his confrontation with a fan during last week’s Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., when he met with reporters Thursday as part of the annual NASCAR preseason media tour.
Tony Stewart refuses to elaborate on confrontation with fan at Chili Bowl
Stewart was mum on what precipitated the incident with the heckler.
Jeff Curry/Getty Images
Off-duty Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Kyle Hess was repeatedly heckling Stewart, who was not competing in the Midget dirt track race but assisting with track preparations throughout the week, prompting the three-time NASCAR champion to come into the grandstands to confront Hess.
“I think the people that were there knew what happened, and that’s all,” Stewart said Thursday. “If anyone wants to know what happened, they should have been there to see it themselves.”
“I’m not going to waste my time on a NASCAR media day talking about an event that happened a week ago.”
Multiple videos posted on social media show Stewart walking toward Hess and, as he does, Hess telling Stewart, “I don’t like you and I never have.” The two then had an exchange where Hess appeared to shove Stewart slightly before security intervened with Hess falling down as the two were separated.
When asked to explain the sequence of events and whether fans may negatively misinterpret his behavior, Stewart declined.
“They make judgments of us no matter what they do, so I’m not going to try to justify or explain what happened there,” he said. “Everybody that was there knew what happened. I think you guys are starting to see social media now and all the people that are coming out and talking about what happened and what they heard.”
See More:
