Interview

Tony Stewart is 52 years old, and although he stopped driving NASCAR in 2016, the racing legend's going faster than ever behind the wheel of a dragster ... and he tells us the finish line isn't anywhere in sight.

The 3x NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar champion (the only driver to ever win both) stopped by the TMZ offices this week ... and sat down with Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1), as Tony prepares for the NHRA Finals in Ponoma, CA November 9-12 at the Auto Club Raceway.

Stewart owns an NHRA team, Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), an organization he co-founded with his wife, fellow racing star Leah Pruitt ... who drives a Top Fuel dragster.

Tony made his racing debut as a driver in NHRA in 2022, and this year began racing the Top Alcohol dragster on a regular basis. We asked him how much longer he envisions driving.

"From the NASCAR side, I retired at the right time. I haven't been in a wing sprint car on dirt for a couple of years now and I'm okay with that. The good thing about drag racing is because the run is so short, and the most you're gonna make in a day is 4 runs, physically it's not as taxing on your body. The taxing part is the acceleration and deceleration when the parachutes come out. That's the hardest part on your body," Stewart said.

He continued ... "I do feel like in NHRA, this is adding years to the end of my racing career.  If it wasn't for NHRA, I'd probably would be for the most part officially retired. But this has kind of been a rebirth for me."

A traditional quarter-mile run in a TA dragster lasts a touch over 5 seconds and sees driver and race car reaching speeds near 300 MPH. The body endures several Gs during the start and stop of the race, but it doesn't last 3+ hours like the average NASCAR race.

Stewart believes that's extended his career by years ... possibly decades.

"Chris Karamesines, 'The Greek,' drove into his early 90s, was the last time he drove a top fuel car. Which I thought was absolutely insane watching him do that. John Force in early 70s, still winning races," Tony remarked.

We asked ... could you envision still being behind the wheel as a 70+-year-old driver?

"I just hope I live another 20 years," Tony said, laughing ... "At the rate I've been going, I feel like I'm a video game on extended play."

Meta de Mark Zuckerberg se aseguró de diseñar Facebook e Instagram para que sean muy difíciles de dejar y el resultado ha sido negativo para la sociedad, al menos esa es la alegación del Fiscal General de Tennessee y otros 41 estados.

Jonathan Skrmetti, el policía más importante del Estado de Voluntarios, se unió a nosotros el miércoles en "TMZ Live" para exponer por qué 41 estados  —y Washington, DC— están demandando a Facebook y a la compañía matriz de Instagram por supuestamente perjudicar a la juventud de nuestra nación.

Alegan que las aplicaciones de redes sociales están diseñadas intencionalmente para aprovechar la forma en que todos estamos conectados, haciendo las plataformas extremadamente adictivas con características como el desplazamiento infinito, recordatorios y notificaciones, solo por nombrar algunas.

Skrmetti dice que Meta es plenamente consciente de que las aplicaciones son difíciles de dejar y lo malo que es para la gente. Dice que causan problemas de sueño, ansiedad, déficit de atención, depresión y suicidio potencial.

En sus ojos, solo hay mucho que los padres pueden hacer para detener a sus hijos de engancharse a las redes sociales, y es en un punto ahora donde el gobierno tiene que intervenir para hacer cambios.

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta made sure to design Facebook and Instagram so they are super hard to quit, and the result has been bad for society ... at least that's the allegation from Tennessee's Attorney General, and 41 other AGs.

Jonathan Skrmetti, the Volunteer State's top cop, joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" to lay out why 41 states -- and Washington, DC -- are suing Facebook and Instagram's parent company for allegedly harming our nation's youth.

He says the social media apps are intentionally designed to take advantage of the way we're all wired -- making the platforms extremely addicting with features like infinite scrolling, reminders and notifications, just to name a few.

Skrmetti says Meta is fully aware the apps are hard to quit and bad for folks -- he says they cause sleep deprivation, anxiety, ADD, depression and potential suicide.

In his eyes, there's only so much parents can do to stop their kids from getting hooked on social media, and it's at a point now where the government needs to step in to make changes.

Chris Long dice que los haters de jugar haciendo "Tush Push" deberían calmarse. Le dijo a TMZ Sports que si los equipos tienen un problema con él, simplemente deben aprender a detenerlo.

El "Empujón Fraternal" se ha convertido en uno de los temas más polarizantes en la NFL este año, luego de que los Philadelphia Eagles han encontrado una manera de convertir la en una máquina de anotar.

Algunos han argumentado que es injusto, mientras que otros han dicho que es complicado, aburrido, e incluso peligroso y la NFL tiene que prohibirlo.

Pero Long —quien ganó un Super Bowl con los Eagles en 2018— dijo que la liga no debería hacer tal cosa, explicando que cree que los detractores de la jugada solo tienen envidia de los Birds.

"Los Eagles ejecutándola se ve totalmente diferente a los Niners ejecutándola o algún otro equipo", dijo la selección de primera ronda de 2008. "Y creo que la gente está enfadada con Philly. No le gustamos a nadie, pero no nos importa".

Long nos dice que los equipos no deben mirar a Roger Goodell para arreglar sus problemas con el juego y en su lugar, solo deben "reclutar tipos más grandes". O, mejor aún, ¡que simplemente eviten las jugadas de tercer y cuarto down-and-short contra Philly por completo!

Chris Long says "Tush Push" play haters need to kick rocks ... telling TMZ Sports if teams have such a problem with it, they should simply learn how to stop it.

The "Brotherly Shove" has become one of the most polarizing issues in the NFL this year ... after the Philadelphia Eagles have found a way to turn the ugly QB sneak into a first-down-making machine.

Some have argued it's unfair, while others have said it's so convoluted, boring, and even dangerous -- the NFL needs to ban it.

But Long -- who won a Super Bowl with the Eagles in 2018 -- said the league should do no such thing ... explaining he believes the play's detractors are just envious of the Birds.

"The Eagles running it looks totally different than the Niners running it or some other team," the 2008 first-round pick said. "And I think people are just mad at Philly. No one likes us, we don't care."

Long tells us teams shouldn't look to Roger Goodell to fix their problems with the play ... and instead, they should just "draft bigger guys." Or, better yet, he said just avoid third- and fourth-down-and-short plays against Philly altogether!!!

Jay-Z is advising all Twitter philosophers out there to take the proverbial "$500,000" over having dinner with him ... he's saying all the "jewels" they think they'll get are in his old albums!!!

HOV weighed in on the viral social media question Monday with Gayle King on "CBS Mornings," where he finally gave fans the answer key ... well, his, at least.

In case you’re not hip, fans have been having a field day with the topic for YEARS ... debating if having just ONE dinner with Jay is worth more than $500K cash upfront.

Clearly an obvious choice for many, but some have argued that Jay will bless them with the missing link to create their own billion-dollar empire!!!

Jay’s not exactly disagreeing with them, but he’s saying there’s a $499,989.01 discount just for listening to one of his old albums!!!

He touted cash-saving tactics on his last released album “4:44” back in 2017, and way back in 2009, he infamously rapped the lines ... "HOV on that new s**t, n****s like "How come?" N****s want my old s**t, buy my old albums."

Jay says he didn't name a batch of his albums "The Blueprint" just because ... he says the songs contain his life's work and everything he rapped about became true.

Angela Lee has no plans of returning to the cage after recently shocking the MMA world with her retirement announcement... telling TMZ Sports her focus is now on providing mental health services to combat sports athletes!

Lee -- who retired and vacated her 115-pound ONE title at Fight Night 14 on September 30 -- launched her non-profit, Fight Story, in honor of her younger sister and MMA fighter, Victoria, who died by suicide in December 2022.

Lee also revealed she attempted to take her own life in 2017 when she purposely crashed her car.

"I wouldn't say that I have fully recovered [from my sister's death] because healing processes take some time," Lee told us, "but I have gotten a lot better with the help and support of my husband, my daughter, and also with the nonprofit organization I created in honor of her."

Angela added ... "We're hoping to acknowledge our past and our personal experience but also take steps to proactively take care of our mental health [and] physical health."

The 11-3 mixed martial, who holds the record for longest championship reign in ONE, knows about the stress/pressure MMA fighters face ... and she pointed out combat sports athletes don't get the same mental health resources as other sports.

"I wanna highlight this group of individuals because the fact is the topic of mental health or mental health support is pretty much nonexistent in the fight world," the 27-year-old said.

"I think with Fight Story," Lee said, "we have lots of plans for the programs that we wish to implement and bring to the community."

Lee told us several fighters have already reached out to help the cause ... and they're hosting two big events, including a kickoff party that's going down on December 3 in Hawaii.

Angela says she's thankful for the support she's received ... and how it keeps the memory of her sister alive.

"I feel whenever I'm doing things with Fight Story, I really feel like Victoria is with me and helping me to work on this," Lee said.

"Something we're doing together."

Brace yourselves, Dodgers fans ... there's a chance Clayton Kershaw's career is done -- or, perhaps worse, he ends up pitching for Texas next season.

L.A.'s play-by-play man Joe Davis tells TMZ Sports the two options are very much on the table for the future Hall of Famer ... saying he knows Kershaw won't do anything in 2024 other than stay with the Dodgers, throw for the Rangers -- or hang up his spikes.

The voice of the Dodgers says he fully expects Kershaw to have lengthy conversations with his family in the upcoming weeks and months to ultimately make the best choice of the trio.

"It's a pretty simple decision," the 35-year-old said. "But it's certainly one that a lot of the Dodgers' offseason plans will hinge on the outcome of."

If it is ultimately the end ... Davis said there's simply no debate that Kershaw will go down as "one of the best left-handed pitchers of all-time."

And, it's definitely not hyperbole ... through 16 seasons so far, Kershaw has a 210-92 record, a 2.48 ERA and 2,944 strikeouts.

Bummed Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa ain't happening on Saturday?! Don't be ... 'cause UFC legend Chuck Liddell says he's actually more pumped for the fight vs. Kamaru Usman!

"I'm excited about it. That card fell apart, and I'm actually more excited about the card now [with Usman fighting Chimaev] than I was before [when Costa was fighting Khamzat]," the UFC legend told TMZ Sports this week at LAX.

Of course, both the main and co-main events of UFC 294 were lost last week ... when Charles Oliveira -- scheduled to fight Islam Makhachev -- and Paulo Costa were both forced out with injuries.

Thankfully, Alex Volkanovski and Kamaru are bonafide badasses ... and both guys agreed to travel thousands of miles and fight on less than two weeks' notice.

(We also talked to Liddell about "Dad Bods" ... hence this ⬇)

We followed up with The Iceman, asking him about the wisdom of stepping in the Octagon with an undefeated fighter on 10 days' notice.

"Kamaru Usman is always ready. He trains all the time. He stays in shape. He's a good guy. I'm excited about this fight. If he took it on 10 days' notice he thinks he's going to win."

Khabib Nurmagomedov was one of, if not the most dominant UFC fighter ever, but the retired, undefeated, former champion wants someone to actually be better than he was ... Islam Makhachev!

Of course, Makhachev is fighting Alex Volkanovski in just a few hours in the main event at UFC 294 ... and we recently spoke with Ali Abdelaziz, Islam and Khabib's manager and close friend, about their relationship.

"Khabib wants Islam to be better. That's what's beautiful about it," Ali said of Nurmagomedov's desire for his pupil to surpass his accomplishments.

Whether 31-year-old Makhachev is better in certain areas (striking, for example) is up for debate ... but when it comes to pure dominance of an opponent, Ali doesn't believe Islam's quiet on Khabib's (29-0) level just yet.

"Islam lost, Khabib never lost. Islan might be all the way technically better, but dominance, I don't think anybody can be as dominant as Khabib is. You see Henry lose, Kamaru. A lot of guys lost. Khabib never even have one blood leave his body. When you have a guy who never bled in 29 fights, it's very hard to match him. It's a very tall order to match him. It's almost impossible."

But, that's exactly what Khabib wants for Islam ... who has a record of 24-1. His sole loss came in 2015.

Abdelaziz does think there's another fighter who is closer to Nurmagomedov's dominance ... Umar Nurmagomedov, Khabib's cousin.

Umar is 16-0, and 4-0 in the UFC ... and the 12th ranked bantamweight.

"The guy who is closer to Khabib than anybody is Umar. I truly believe Umar is the closest to Khabib's dominance."

For Islam, the #3 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the entire UFC, a win over #2 ranked Volkanovski would be another step towards fulfilling Khabib's wish.

Britney Spears no va a hacer una gira de prensa de televisión para promover su nuevo libro de memorias. La cantante ha tomado la decisión de omitir cualquier entrevista para ayudar a impulsar las ventas del libro.

Fuentes cercanas a Britney nos informan que está pasando de hacer cualquier promo televisada para su próximo libro de memorias, "The Woman in Me", lo mismo ocurre con cualquier otra entrevista adicional en el futuro.

Ha habido rumores de que a Britney se le pidió aparecer en "60 Minutos", además de una entrevista exclusiva con Oprah Winfrey y otros programas, y nos informan que nada de esto se va a concretar.

En caso de que te lo hayas perdido, Britey recientemente le concedió una entrevista a la revista People sobre su muy esperado libro de memorias, pero nuestras fuentes dicen que esas preguntas fueron contestadas por correo electrónico.

La idea de no aparecer en TV en muy Britney... al parecer el libro se puede vender por sí solo. La gente que la rodea también entiende que esto podría problemático si tuviera que responder preguntas personales en vivo.

Como informamos,  ciertos fragmentos de su libro ya han revelado mucho sobre su pasado, incluyendo a su exnovio, Justin Timberlake, quien dice que la dejó embarazada y la presionó para que abortara cuando solo tenían 19 años.

Britney Spears won't do a TV press tour to promote her new memoir ... the singer has made the decision to skip any sit-down interviews to help boost book sales.

Sources close to Britney tell TMZ ... she's passing on doing any televised promos for her upcoming memoir, "The Woman in Me" -- same goes for any other additional interviews moving forward.

There have been rumors that Britney was getting asked to appear on "60 Minutes," an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, and other shows ... we're told none of those will happen.

In case ya missed it, Brit recently chatted with People Magazine about her much-anticipated memoir, but our sources say those questions were all answered over email.

The call to skip TV was all Britney's, BTW ... and we're told her book is gonna sell off its own power alone. Those around her also understand it would open up a lot of problematic doors if she were to jump back into the interview game, getting hit with personal questions.

As we reported, snippets of her tell-all have already revealed a LOT about her past -- including her ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake ... whom she says got her pregnant and pushed for her to get an abortion when they were just 19.

A Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust -- and is currently living in Israel -- is getting terrible flashbacks amid the attacks by Hamas ... a group she calls "inhuman," and horrifyingly reminiscent of the Nazis of her childhood.

90-year-old Lucy Lipiner joined us Monday on "TMZ Live," along with her daughter, Rena Lipiner Katz ... and said she can't even begin to comprehend why Jewish people have been persecuted so frequently for centuries now.

Lucy arrived in NYC from Poland in 1949 when she was 16 years old, having survived the horrors of the Holocaust ... and she lived in the Big Apple up until last month when she moved to Israel to join her daughter and other family members.

Despite the destruction and horror of the Hamas attack of October 7 -- and the subsequent rocket volleys between Israel and Gaza -- Rena tells us why she and her mom are staying put.

Tara Reid says she learned a lot about herself while filming "Special Forces" ... and despite pulling out of the competition early on, she wants a second chance.

We got Tara outside Crossroads Kitchen in WeHo Thursday, filling us in on why she decided to take a stab at the brutally tough competition series -- mainly, she wanted to prove to herself that she was worthy after being the subject of bullying over the years.

The 47-year-old actress says she's down to try the grueling show again ... even though she pulled herself out of the competition on the 2nd day of training, but admits she didn't have a lot of time to prep before heading to New Zealand.

FYI, Tara tells us she's been getting emotional looking at all the support she's been getting from fans ... reading sweet comments about her determination.

Kamaru Usman had a nearly impossible decision to make Wednesday morning ... travel nearly 8,000 miles and fight Khamzat Chimaev on 9 days notice, and now the former welterweight champ is opening up on why he decided to step in against one of the most dangerous men in the world!

"I leave training and I get the call from [manager Ali Abdelaziz] and I'm immediately excited. That's where you are, you're excited about what could potentially be," 36-year-old Usman told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" show on Friday (airs weekdays on FS1).

But, the UFC legend said he didn't want "to be hasty and do something unintelligent," so after speaking with his coaches, who didn't object, Kamaru told his people he'd take Tuesday night to decide.

When the sun rose Wednesday morning, the choice was crystal clear for Usman, who "texted Ali and said, 'Let's do this!'"

Of course, Usman is stepping in for Paulo Costa -- the middleweight contender -- who was originally scheduled to fight Chimaev. unfortunately, Costa is dealing with a medical issue, and wasn't going to be cleared.

With less than two weeks before UFC 294, the co-main event was in serious jeopardy ... but then Kamaru saved the day.

Now, Usman faces a huge challenge in the 29-year-old, undefeated Khamzat ... who Kamaru admits is very dangerous.

"He's very skilled. He's strong, he's big. He's fast, he can wrestle, he can grapple, he can strike. He has everything," Kamaru said, "But so do I."

"At the end of the day, we're all human beings. Everyone feels invincible until someone pokes that balloon."

Usman (#1) and Chimaev (#4), are both top 5 ranked welterweights ... but the fight's being contested at middleweight (185 lbs.)

We asked the Nigerian Nightmare if he's been told a win earns him a title shot.

"I mean, it's a no-brainer," Kamaru said, before making it clear he's solely focused on KC.

"I've got a mountain in front of me that I have to scale. We'll get through that first and then we'll worry about what's next."

Check out the full interview ... there's much more with Kamaru, including whether we've seen the last of him at welterweight, where he's arguably the G.O.A.T.

David Ortiz is still mourning the death of Tim Wakefield ... telling TMZ Sports this week his former Red Sox teammate was a "great guy, man."

"Great guy," he repeated.

Ortiz opened up to us about Wakefield for a few moments while out in Los Angeles ... just days after the former Boston star pitcher died from brain cancer.

Big Papi said the knuckleballer was straight-up "like my family, man" ... and you can see in the clip, he's obviously still in pain over the passing.

Ortiz and Wakefield grew close during their time together at Fenway Park -- you'll recall, they shared a locker room with one another for nine seasons. And, the two formed such a strong bond ... Wakefield actually showed up to Cooperstown last year to watch Ortiz get inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Papi is hardly the only former Red Sox player to express heartbreak over Wakefield's death -- multiple former teammates sent thoughts and prayers on social media as well.

Tim was just 57 years old.