What’s In A Name?
Updated September 2018

“Smoke” ~ Tony Stewart 3-Time Sprint Cup Champion

If you’re a new NASCAR fan you might hear some names thrown around on broadcasts of races, or on social media networks, that you can’t figure out. Who is Smoke? What’s The Monster Mile? Why do they call that guy by that name?

This is something that recently happened between some posts I made on FB for the #SmokeWillRise countdown to Daytona 2014.

My brother-in-law went looking for a driver named Smoke and couldn’t find one. So he assumed it was a nickname, but wasn’t sure.

That made me think about the Nicknames we’ve become used to in NASCAR as fans and where they came from.

How did Matt Kenseth get his nickname Matt The Brat? Why is Hollywood Hammond called Hollywood and who called him that? Do you know why Roger Penske is called The Captain?

Now being a Smoke fan, I of course know that Smoke refers to 3-Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart. And I know where his nickname comes from. Continue reading →