|
 |   |
AD PARTNERS
|  |
Media crush Stewart not getting a minute's rest at Daytona
Posted: Friday February 18, 2000 06:54 PM
By Ryan Smithson, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As one might expect, Tony Stewart is a veteran when it comes to dealing with the media. But even he is having a hard time handling the media blitz surrounding the Daytona 500. "It's sad when you can't even come out of your trailer without being bothered," Stewart said. "You kind of feel like you are a prisoner sometimes. You are stuck inside your car in the garage; you are stuck inside your trailer and stuck inside your motor home. It really takes a toll on your personal life." A media crush that was bad to begin with became worse Wednesday, when Stewart was involved in a brief but well-documented scuffle with Robby Gordon. Mike Arning handles public relations for The Home Depot, Stewart's sponsor. He had the unenviable task of smoothing the waves in a sea of media that rushed to the garage in the scuffle's aftermath. "I heard it on the radio, I knew it was going on," Arning said. "I said, 'OK, that's not good.' I knew Tony would have to face the media afterwards. "Those things are to be expected, when they do happen, you deal with it. Joe [Team owner Gibbs] did talk to everyone on the team and hopefully it won't happen again." The media hounded Stewart last year when he ran the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Stewart says that his experience at Speedweeks has been just as bad as last year at Indianapolis. "It's always busier at a Cup race," Stewart said. "There's a lot more excitement here. It shows how popular the sport is. You can see how popular a sport is by judging how many media show up every day." "The media crush, especially at the beginning of Speedweeks, was pretty heavy because he is a championship contender instead of a rookie," Arning said. "We had a lot of requests to be accommodated there was a lot we couldn't do. There are only so many hours in the day."
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
