Tony Stewart retired from NASCAR at the end of 2016, but some of his doings are still intact in the garage. Although it is not something to be proud of, almost every driver in the Cup Series still follows this one particular superstition-like habit, as Chase Briscoe recently revealed.

He spoke about the superstition on the "Bussin' with the Boys" podcast earlier last week, stating that drivers sleep with a sock on their right foot to keep it warm for throttling. When he was asked about it in a press conference during the Pocono race weekend, Briscoe replied (via Cup Scene on YouTube):

"I thought it was more of a common thing. Tony (Stewart) told me, I feel like it was right when I got there in the Xfinity Series (now O'Reilly Series). Told me that was kind of like a trick of the trade thing."

Briscoe's claim was backed by his former teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing, Noah Gragson, who had appeared on the aforementioned podcast last week. Shedding more light on it at Pocono, Briscoe added:

"I don't know who he learned it from, obviously, but yeah, I was kind of surprised because sprint car-wise, I didn't, I never heard of that. And then Cup-wise, I guess all the Cup guys do it. I guess I mean I never tried it without it," Briscoe further added.

Gragson, who shared his thoughts on the same last week, revealed that he never got athlete's foot and always wears socks on his right foot, even when he is wearing flip flops at the beach.

Was Tony Stewart Superstitious?

Back in 1999, Tony Stewart had an interview with ESPN, where he opened up about being superstitious. Although he did not mention anything about wearing socks on the right foot, here's what he said instead:

"To a certain degree, I'm superstitious. I'm not obsessive like some people are. I used to eat the same meal before every race, but I've kind of gotten away from that."

Back then, Stewart, who had won an IndyCar championship but was yet to make his mark in NASCAR, further said:

"When I get in the race car, I buckle my belts the same way every time, I put my helmet on the same way. The routine that I go through in getting in the car and getting buckled up and everything is always the same for race day."

Tony Stewart had a storied NASCAR career, where he picked up three Cup Series titles and 49 wins in 18 years. A NASCAR Hall of Famer, Stewart is also named one of NASCAR's Greatest 75 Drivers in 2023.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yash Kotak