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Easter Weekend, 2000


Tony Stewart speaks out, who caused the "big one," Talledega inspections, and Lee Petty, stock car racing legend.





Tony Stewart........... At Odds With Goodyear

Tony Stewart is known for being outspoken, and a bit on the sarcastic side about things that irk him. If the press catches him at the right time, especially after he's had bad luck in a race, he's liable to tell them what's on his mind. Thus was the case when he was asked about Martinsville. He claimed Goodyear brought a different tire to Martinsville than they did the year before, without giving the teams any notice, or a chance to test the new tire. He questioned Goodyear's fairness to the teams by mandating the tires to be used in the race without giving the teams advance notice.

I thought he brought up a pretty good point, but Goodyear doesn't think so. Like any corporate giant, they have an aversion to bad publicity, and Tony Stewart is bad publicity. Sources claim that the deal to furnish free tires to Joe Gibbs Racing has either been cancelled, or is in serious jeopardy of being cancelled in the near future.

Stewart's also being vocal about NASCAR's inability to bring the aerodynamics of the Pontiac up to the level of the Fords and Chevrolets. He's chided NASCAR about banking on the wind tunnel tests for the data to support their rules. Then, when asked about the bad performance of late for the Pontiac teams, they say "look at the Pontiac's track record. So, Stewart wonders what they are basing their rules on, wind tunnel tests or previous track performance. He insinuated that NASCAR doesn't know themselves, which may be right. It takes them time to make sure they get their rules right. They can't assess new rules because of a few bad races for Pontiac. New rules always take time Petty Enterprises has been complaining about the Pontiac situation for a few weeks now, and it looks like Joe Gibbs Racing will be next in line. It has even been rumored that Gibbs will switch to Chevrolet next season.





Talledega Wreck.............. Who Caused the "Big One."

The blame was levied against rookie Scott Pruitt. All of the video replays were inconclusive. But one thing was conclusive. The orange paint on Jeremy Mayfield's left front fender told the story. Pruitt contended he was hit from behind, but it just didn't show up in the videos. It showed up on Mayfield's fender though, so now we know the whole story, and who caused the "big one."
The copyright of the article Easter Weekend, 2000 in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish Easter Weekend, 2000 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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