Joe Gibbs’s Young Driver Detests Tony Stewart’s Championship Mentality After Garnering Criticism Over His Loss

In NSACAR, rubbin’ is racing. However, when a NASCAR driver gets involved in on-track skirmishes regularly, fans and experts label them as a villain. On the other hand, drivers carry the risk of being called “soft” if they don’t race hard. This duality in fans’ opinion often leaves the drivers scratching their heads. A few drivers like the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin do not care, but not everyone is Denny Hamlin.

After Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell chose to race Kyle Larson respectfully during the closing laps of the South Point 400, Larson was grateful. Interestingly, Bell and Larson have been dirt car rivals and Larson has always been the more aggressive one. But when Bell chose to not do “whatever it takes” to get his spot in the Championship 4 last Sunday, he faced some criticism from the community.

Christopher Bell vehemently opposes Smoke’s wreck-and-break attitude

Tony Stewart is widely known to be a driver who doesn’t think before making his opponents experience his wrath. Back when he was a full-time NASCAR driver, he displayed that when he held off Carl Edwards and won the Sprint Cup championship in 2011 in front of the then-First Lady Michelle Obama and future First Lady Jill Biden. What’s more interesting is his pre-race trash-talk.

An NBC clip from more than a decade ago would probably give the fans a peek at Tony Stewart’s infamous trash-talk. Stewart told Edwards, “I’ll wreck my mom to win a championship. I’ll wreck your mom to win a championship…You can come visit my trophy in the room at Vegas when you get out there.”

However, Christopher Bell doesn’t feel the same. According to Bell, there was nothing more that he could have done to outrace Kyle Larson. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver said, “I chose what I chose and I did what I did.” Bell explained that neither had he lifted off his feet from the accelerator before approaching the start-finish line, nor had he pile-driven Larson. Hence, it’s not that he had raced Larson extremely hard for the win. But Bell doesn’t regret his choices.

The pilot for Joe Gibbs’s #20 Toyota admitted, “I’m not going to blatantly wreck somebody and I don’t even think I had the opportunity to blatantly wreck there.
“If the #38 car wasn’t on the bottom I think I probably could have gone to the inside and maybe got alongside of him but even with that I don’t know if I would have cleared him.”

Some might call it respectful racing, but it is safe to say that fans find Tony Stewart’s approach to racing more exciting. On that note, Tony Stewart’s 2011 victory was quite controversial for many reasons.

Watch this story: Kyle Busch Mocks Joe Gibbs With Sarcastic Remark

Tony Stewart was happy, but his crew chief wasn’t

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Tony Stewart’s championship-winning race in 2011 is one of the most widely discussed races in NASCAR. Is it because Tony Stewart finally snapped Jimmie Johnson’s streak of five consecutive NASCAR Cup championships? Or is it because Tony Stewart predicted his win moments before the race?

When Tony Stewart and SHR co-owner Gene Haas sat on the podium during the media availability after Stewart’s victory, the room seemed to lack another important crew member. It was Stewart’s crew chief Darian Grubb. However, moments later, he was seen walking up hesitantly and, ultimately; he took a seat. But the expression on his face did not display the aura of victory that Stewart’s face did. And it was because it wasn’t even an hour since he had gone from a race-winning crew chief to a fired crew chief.

Although Grubb didn’t lash back at his team or Tony Stewart in any way, fans wondered why Stewart fired his crew chief after winning a championship title. To this day, that reason is not really clear.

What are your thoughts on this?

Read more: “He’s Denny Freaking Hamlin” – Joe Gibbs’ Superstar Declared As the 2023 Cup Series Champion by Insider Who Claims the #11 Team Is the Best This Season