Jim Rome has nothing but love for NASCAR. But that hasn’t always been the case.

Rome never held back when being critical of NASCAR in the early days of his show, calling it a redneck sport. But he said Tuesday on The Jim Rome Show NASCAR eventually challenged him to actually check out a race for himself and interview drivers regularly.

“They knew I was killing them every chance I could,” he said on his Tuesday show. “And then they called me up, and they were like, ‘Hey man, we know, Rome.’ And I would say, ‘And…?’ And they’re like, ‘And we don’t really think you’re being fair. But we’re cool with that.'”

“‘Why don’t you come to an event? Why don’t you talk to our drivers?'” Rome continued. “‘Why don’t you learn a little bit more and not take the easy way out and just keep killing us?'”

Jeff Gordon is one of several former NASCAR drivers that have appeared on the show previously. On Tuesday the four-time NASCAR Cup champion and vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports joined Jim again to talk about the upcoming “Clash at the Coliseum” exhibition race on February 5, as well as previewing the new season which starts on February 19.

By the end, Rome was reminded how the consistent high-quality interviews NASCAR folks have given over the years won him over on the sport.

“It really is one of my favorite stories of my entire career,” he said. “We evolve, we change, do a 180.”

Rome did say he thought it was funny the only NASCAR driver he’s yet to interview remains Tony Stewart.

“I think I’ve interviewed everybody who’s ever driven a stock car except for ‘Smoke,'” Rome said. “And that’s the only one that I don’t want to fix, and he doesn’t want to fix it either. Because I kind of pride myself on having spoken to every driver ever except for one. And I think NASCAR should pride themselves on that too. It’s the ultimate 180.”

104.3 The Fan host Derek Wolfe has been sought by many for interviews this week. Wolfe has been making the rounds talking about his crazy story from last week where he tracked and hunted down a mountain lion just outside of Denver.

Wolfe joined Tucker Carlson on FOX News on Monday night and spoke out against some of the criticism he’s received from those against hunting and big game hunting. He said to those who think he hired a guide or bought his opportunity to bag the big cat, it’s just not true.

“This wasn’t a paid hunt. I didn’t pay for this hunt,” he said. “It was just something I was interested in doing.”

But since the story went viral, especially with the photo of him holding up the 200-pound animal circulating on social media, Derek Wolfe said he’s faced harassment and is aware of attempts by others to try and get him in trouble with Colorado wildlife officials.

“Going on a legal hunt, doing something legal by the book – they’ve had 200 calls to Colorado Parks and Wildlife trying to turn me in like I did something wrong,” he said.

“I did nothing wrong,” he added. “Everything’s legal.”

Tony Romo has fallen out of favor among NFL fans. Whereas the early days of his broadcasting career were met with great enthusiasm, now he is more often the subject of criticism and ridicule.

Add Ken Carman to the list of people questioning Romo’s performances of late. On Tuesday morning, the 92.3 The Fan morning show host questioned how much time the CBS analyst is putting into preparing for his game each week.

“I hate to go into what other broadcasters are doing for prep work, but now people are noticing,” Carman said. “I mean Tony Romo is just showing up day of. He’s golfing all week. He’s living the good life. So what’s the motivation there?”

Carman’s partner Anthony Lima was surprised to learn that Romo is nearing the end of his sixth year on CBS. He described the ability to predict that next play as “a nice parlor trick” Romo could do, but it is an act that has worn thin on the audience.

“At first they loved it and then they didn’t like it and then he started getting them wrong,” Lima said.

Ken Carman compared Tony Romo to Cris Collinsworth. He said that the prep time they each put in is evident and their respective approaches could not be more different.

“Now it’s become chic to rip all these announcers, but look at Collinsworth. He has his own ideas. He is actually studying the film like a coach and I appreciate that in Collinsworth.”

Tony Romo will call one more game this season. He and Jim Nantz will be in the CBS booth on Sunday as the Cincinnati Bengals visit Kansas City with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.