Stewart's Saga Continues

The continuing saga of NASCAR's most prestigious bad boy has taken another twist, creating enough controversy to add at least a chapter or two to the bad boy record book. Tony Stewart did it again? No, I don't think so, he was innocent this time.

The emotions surrounding Stewart's latest flap go deep, beginning with team owners, team members, some racing officials, and even on down to the fans. I wrote an article for my aroundthe track.net web site entitled "In Trouble Again?" and dared readers to tell me what Stewart did wrong. Believe it or not, there were some fans who wrote in with scathing accounts of Stewart's faults during the event. The problem is, they all missed the point that I brought out in the article. The Cup cars don't have brake lights, there's no way of knowing that the driver in front has checked up (slowed down) until you hit him.

In case some of you missed the Tropicana 400 event at Chicagoland Speedway this past Sunday afternoon, Tony Stewart ran into the back of Kasey Kahne knocking him into the wall while he was leading the race. The incident happened during a restart, before the competitors even made it through turn one and it happened really fast.

Sterling Marlin hasn't been known of late for having good restarts. This particular restart wasn't any exception, Marlin either missed a gear or had vapor lock problems, because he slowed, causing Stewart to have to either slow down with him, or go around him. Naturally, when restarting a race, a driver's objective is to "race," not slow down, so Stewart went around him and ducked back in line behind race leader Kasey Kahne in front of Marlin, heading into turn one. Dale Jarrett, driving the lap down #88 Ford, slid up in front of race leader Kahne. At the same time, Kahne's car kind of wobbled, losing traction. Stewart hit him before he had a chance to even think about braking to slow his car down, knocking Kahne into the wall, damaging his car to the extent that it was taken out of the event.

Kahne's pit crew became instantly livid, blaming Stewart for rough driving, and for taking their driver out of the race. Tommy Baldwin, Kasey Kahne's crew chief, started a melee in the pits. In his own words; he immediately went to Tony Stewart's pit to tell Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, that Stewart was a moron. When Baldwin, along with his crew, got to Stewart's pit, the pushing, shoving, and fisticuffs began instantly. The NBC TV broadcast cut in on the brief melee in the pits, showing a bunch of NASCAR officials and team members from both teams on the concrete pit surface, kicking, swinging, and grappling for all they were worth.

Go To Page: 1 2