Tony Stewart can still get into Chase

Aug 29, 2014; Hampton, GA, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart during practice for the Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports

During a press conference at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday, NASCAR President Mike Helton announced that, because of his special circumstance, Tony Stewart will retain eligibilty to go after one of the 16 slots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

NASCAR rules state that, to be Chase eligible, drivers must attempt to qualify for all races on the schedule, unless NASCAR decides to make an exception because of an unusual circumstance.

Stewart did not attempt to qualify last weekend at Bristol (Ten.) Motor Speedway or the week before at Michigan International Speedway. He also didn’t race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on Aug. 9, but he did qualify his car earlier in the weekend. But according to Helton, Stewart will be allowed into the Chase if he wins either at Atlanta on Sunday or next weekend at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, provided he’s in the top-30 of the points standings.

Stewart, still winless on the season, is 26th in points heading into the Atlanta race.

Below, is the transcript of Helton’s press conference, during which he talked about other matters relating to Stewart’s return:

Q. Mike, yesterday in the release Steve O’Donnell said specifically there were multiple clearances that Tony had to receive. What was the nature of those?

MIKE HELTON: As typical, our process calls for us to rely on third party experts to assure us that a NASCAR driver or a NASCAR member is ready to return. All those forms of processes were met and we cleared him based on those third party inputs from experts.

Q. Mike, as you know, when this incident first took place, there was a lot of confusion in the mainstream media over the incident, whether it involved NASCAR, you as the sanctioning body. There’s a misconception that NASCAR sanctions a lot of things that it actually doesn’t. A lot of people spent a lot of time trying to clear up that misconception. By granting a waiver to Tony Stewart for something that originated by competing in another series, are you worried at all that that line may blur again between competition of what you’re in control of and what someone elects to do on their own time?

MIKE HELTON: I don’t think so. I think our scope of responsibility is to our membership, our events. Sometimes incidents occur outside of the sanctioned event, a NASCAR sanctioned event, that we have to consider in the participation of members. So I don’t think so.

Q. Tony Stewart was just in here and read a statement. Is obviously still stricken with grief. How has NASCAR determined he’s ready to get back in the car? Has anybody from the organization talked with him to make sure he is mentally ready or capable to be behind the wheel?

MIKE HELTON: Throughout this period of time, as Steve mentioned in his statement yesterday, NASCAR has been in constant contact with Stewart-Haas Racing. But when it comes to the assurances that a driver or a NASCAR member is ready to return, we’re going to rely on outside experts.

Q. Mike, when you talk about outside experts, to clarify, in your process of evaluation, did you get psychological or psychiatric reports as part of your evaluation of Tony’s eligibility to return?

MIKE HELTON: We received the ones that we felt were relevant under the circumstances.

Q. These were from psychological professionals? How can we categorize those?

MIKE HELTON: The ones that were relevant to these circumstances.

Q. The fact that the investigation into the tragedy is still ongoing, did you weigh that at all in your decision? If for some reason Tony does actually face charges in this, would he be subject to any discipline?

MIKE HELTON: We made our decisions based on the circumstances we’ve got currently. And I think most everyone in this room understands at NASCAR, our effort, our scope of responsibility and authority is limited to the NASCAR community.

We take the current circumstances that we are dealt with and make what we hope to be the best absolute conclusion. That’s what we’re talking about today, is the current set of circumstances and our reaction to them.

Q. Mike, can you describe as much as possible how the actual process worked to get to this point where you’re able to make this announcement today.

MIKE HELTON: Well, I think we have experience. You’re well aware of our policies and procedures on reinstatement when someone is absent, for whatever reason it may be. So these would apply to similar situations, except for the fact that this was very unique.

The reinstatement process doesn’t begin until the competitor is ready to come back. That’s what we’ve been through this week.

Q. Given these unique circumstances, has there been thought to adding a 17th position to the Chase? Have you had any car owners suggest that?

MIKE HELTON: We haven’t had anyone suggest it, and that’s not on the table right now. It’s simply if Tony were able to earn a spot in the Chase, and our decision is currently yes.

Q. Mike, you said you went through the whole process, the third party individuals with whom you spoke made it clear Tony could be reinstated. How hard was the decision? Was the evidence or information overwhelmingly easy or not?

MIKE HELTON: I don’t know if we could categorize the ease of it. This was a very challenging, a very unique situation. I think the earlier press conference with Tony’s statement that he read was evidence of how overwhelming these set of circumstances have been.

I think particularly those of us that follow this sport every weekend know that driver’s healing processes are unique, but they are racecar drivers, and a lot of times getting back in a racecar is something they shoot to do as quickly as they can.

So once Tony decided to come back, we then had to go through the policies and the procedures and the steps that we’ve historically built over time to make the absolute most correct decision we could make under the circumstances we were handed.

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