NASCAR star rips sport for being slow and soft, another makes a shocking comeback & scorned wife bites back

Monday Morning Pit-Stop is a weekly NASCAR column that runs on OutKick.com and Fox News Digital. If you're looking for a normal NASCAR recap, go check out insufferable ESPN ... assuming they still know NASCAR exists.

Five races down, five to go in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason. That's right. Feels like we just started these playoffs, and now this new version of The Chase is nearing the finish line.

Serious question ...

How do we feel about it? This is the first year NASCAR hasn't had it's usual win-and-advance format in over a decade, and I'm genuinely curious how everyone feels.

NASCAR RACE INCLUDES HALF THE FIELD WRECKING, FURIOUS DRIVERS & HOLLYWOOD ACTOR RIPPING A 'LEFTIST, WOKE' MOVE

Have you watched more? Less? The same? Do these races have the same fire they used to when every third race was an elimination race? Has it made any difference at all for you?

I'll be honest ... I miss the old format. I do. I knew I would. Chase Briscoe won yesterday at Las Vegas. Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick crossed the line while wrecking after Larson hit the wall trying to chase down Briscoe on the final turn.

It was a decent race, and a fun finish ... but I just feel like it's lost some juice. The stakes don't feel quite as high to me. I still enjoy it, but these playoffs — or Chase, whatever NASCAR wants us to call them — have just felt sort of neutered.

And yes, I stole that word from Tony Stewart, who is currently viral right now for some eyebrow-raising comments he made about NASCAR earlier this year. You'll see.

RISING NASCAR STAR JUMPED, ATTACKED & BEATEN AT AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS HOT DOG SHACK

What else? I've got Kasey Kahne, amazingly, coming out of retirement, a scorned wife going after a NASCAR driver after she seduced her husband (true story), and Brad Keselowski has been pushed out the door by his own team, which makes no sense given the team stunk before Brad got there and was actually respectable the past few years.

Dummies. I'm not surprised, though, given his partners are associated with my Red Sox, and they're run just about as poorly as any professional sports team on the planet right now.

Four tires, a splash of that Sunoco racin' fuel, and maybe a few more horses for Tony Stewart ... Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the 'NASCAR's Been Neutered' edition — is LIVE!

Look, we're gonna break down yesterday's race at Vegas here in a bit. I promise. It was an OK race, with a decent finish that probably would've been a lot better if the cars weren't horrible.

Take a look at Saturday's O'Reilly Series ending to see what I mean.

But first, I do want to dive into these comments from Tony Stewart, which made the internet rounds over the weekend. Tony, who retired from full-time Cup racing in 2016, has never been known to mince words.

I agree with a lot of his takes. I don't agree with others. For instance, he weirdly bashed fans and the media for mourning Kyle Bu