According to a tweet put out by The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart was originally scheduled to give the command to fire engines for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
However, it was announced Friday that country singer Kip Moore would do it instead. So what’s up with that?
Stewart has made headlines recently critical of NASCAR following recent penalties given to his team.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Stewart expressed his displeasure with NASCAR.
According to a spokesperson for Stewart-Haas Racing when reached on Monday by Autoweek, “It was merely a scheduling issue that we needed to address. Tony voluntarily stepped down from the grand marshal position so that he had the time to engage with partners associated with Stewart-Haas Racing that were onsite at Homestead.”
— Autoweek —