Tony Stewart will pay $35,000 fine, donate money collected by Drivers Council to charity

Tony Stewart will pay the fine issued to him by NASCAR and donate the money collected by fellow drivers on his behalf to charity.

The $35,000 pledged by the Sprint Cup Drivers Council will go to Autism Delaware, founded by Fox Sports NASCAR director Artie Kempner and his wife Marcy. Stewart’s fine will also go to charity with NASCAR directing the money toward the NASCAR Foundation.

“I appreciated the Drivers Council support, but I didn’t want them to pay the fine. We decided as a group to donate the money to charity,” Stewart said in a statement. “Artie is such a good friend to all of us and his foundation does a lot of great work.”

NASCAR fined Stewart $35,000 last week following comments he made about lug nuts and questioning whether the sanctioning body was taking every measure to protect drivers.

Many teams have taken to fastening fewer than the maximum five lugs during pit stops in order to gain positions on the track. That practice has led to several instances of loose wheels, with some drivers, most vocally Stewart, calling for NASCAR to better police the issue.

The Sprint Cup Drivers Council, of which Stewart is one of nine members, issued a statement last week defending Stewart’s right to speak his mind and pledging to collectively pay his fine. In addition to Stewart, the council consists of Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson.

“We just think that there should be a little bit of leniency there for someone that knows a lot about our sport and has been in our sport a long time ... especially when it’s something on safety,” Hamlin said Friday at Richmond International Raceway.

NASCAR issued a rules bulletin Monday requiring teams to have all five lug nuts “installed in a safe and secure manner.” If a team is found in violation, a crew chief faces a minimum one-race suspension and a $20,000 fine.