Tony Stewart Predicts Future Champions Of NASCAR During Interview

A three-time champion, a road-course ace, sometimes a hot-head and now a predictor of future champions?

Those are all common terms fans and media personalities alike use to describe the man known as Tony Stewart. While he is all of those things, and many more, he is also a very wise man who knows a thing or two about the direction NASCAR is heading in the next couple of years.

After leading the last 32 laps of the race and passing Denny Hamlin to regain the lead in the final lap of the race, Stewart took to the media center to drop some words of wisdom to the media. While much of the focus was on Stewart’s win, the first once since his win at Dover in 2012 and a win that puts him one step closer to making The Chase, he still had time to talk about what the future holds for NASCAR.

"“You see Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott, there’s two guys right there that are filling seats that got this under control Stewart told reporters after his win at Sonoma, “I got in trouble enough one day that I got invited to fly down to Daytona Beach, Florida, and go to (NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France’s) office … and I was only in there for 10 minutes and then I got to drive back and fly home.Stewart continued by saying that” But I remember him telling me you’re not bigger than the sport. You’re a star in the sport, but there were stars before you and there are stars coming after you. With Jeff and I leaving, Chase Elliott is going to win a championship, and if the Wood Brothers keep going the way they are, Ryan Blaney is going to win a lot of races, too, and potentially win championships.”"

Sure, this is something fans already pretty much knew, especially since both Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney have been finishing in the top-ten on an almost weekly basis and each have a good chance of making the post season this year, but getting a personal endorsement from Tony Stewart has to make these rookies feel even more confident about making that happen.

As for who has a chance of doing it first, that honor would probably go to Chase Elliott, who currently sits sixth in point, has six wins top-five’s and 11 top-ten’s in the first sixteen races of the season. Not only are these stats a good indication that Elliott is adjusting just fine to The Sprint Cup Series, it also shows that the sport does indeed have a future champion on its hands.

Then there’s Ryan Blaney. While his team was denied a charter at the beginning of the season, effectively forcing him and The Wood Brothers to qualify on time for each weekends race, he has done so much to overcome that disadvantage and has even gained some top-ten’s in the process. With that being said, he will need to go to another team if he wants a chance at a Cup title.

Although Stewart should be applauded by fans for giving such a shining endorsement to the next generation of drivers, one can’t help but think that Smoke might have left quite a few young stars off of his list. Not to argue with Smoke or who he sees potential in, but what about drivers like Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano and even Ricky Stenhouse JR.

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Sure, none of those drivers have wins either, but they have each come very close to capturing the first win of their career and one would think that they would be worth mentioning as future stars of the sport. In the end, maybe Stewart was just trying to highlight the rookie class and his thoughts on them, but it still can come across as a slight to other drivers who very well could take the sport by storm.