Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

CHARLOTTE -- It gets old being the one guy who speaks his mind.

At least that's how Tony Stewart feels, which is another reason why he's looking forward to retiring as a NASCAR driver in November.

Stewart often has made his opinion known about various issues in NASCAR, and he expressed some frustration Wednesday during a media session that his peers don't do the same. The 45-year-old told reporters there are NASCAR-related topics drivers discuss on their group text that would make people cringe, but no one is willing to bring them up publicly.

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“There’s 39 of these guys that 99 out of 100 times won’t say a thing about it to you guys or NASCAR or anybody else,” he said. “I’m the one guy that will go, ‘Man, this is a bad thing to talk about and I shouldn’t talk about it,’ but I’ll get pissed off enough to talk about it because I believe it’s worth talking about and addressing.

“At times when you’re not getting (NASCAR’s) attention, now you’re like, ‘OK, now I’ve got to go to a different way to get their attention and do something about it.’ That’s when I normally get slapped on the hand with a fine.”

But Stewart doesn’t want to be that person anymore, and said it’s up to someone else to be the voice of the garage once he leaves.

“That’s part of the reason I’m retiring,” he said. “I’m tired of being responsible for it. That’s somebody else’s responsibility. I’ve had my fill of fighting the fight. At some point, you’ve got to say, ‘Why do I keep fighting this fight when I’m not getting anywhere?’

“It’s extremely exhausting. There’s times when I know beyond a shadow of a doubt what I’m complaining about or feeling is 100% right on the money. But I’ve also learned … is there’s a reason it’s not getting changed or not going the direction it should go, because it’s part of a bigger picture that has to be in sync with each other.”

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