NASCAR Cup

Stewart draws more ire

Tony Stewart says he didn't mean to do it. Ray Evernham says he needs his butt kicked. NASCAR surely will break out their ruler and slap Tony Stewart on the wrist, but clearly, fellow competitors have had enough. Tony Stewart. Photo by ...

Edited: Jul 15, 2004, 3:04 AM

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Tony Stewart says he didn't mean to do it. Ray Evernham says he needs his butt kicked. NASCAR surely will break out their ruler and slap Tony Stewart on the wrist, but clearly, fellow competitors have had enough.

Tony Stewart.

Photo by Todd Corzett.

Stewart drew the ire of garage-mates after wrecking the No. 9 Dodge of Kasey Kahne on a restart on lap 128 at Chicagoland Speedway last Sunday. Stewart and Kahne were both running at the front, when Stewart attempted to wheel the No. 20 Chevy through traffic to the front.

When Stewart came to the rear bumper of Kahne's car, he appeared not to slow, and slammed into the No. 9 Evernham Dodge. The blow turned Kahne in front of oncoming traffic. When all was said and done, seven cars were involved in the incident.

Owner of the No. 9 Dodge, Ray Evernham, was not amused, "He definitely needs to get suspended, and he should have his ass beat. That's the problem with him. Nobody has ever really grabbed him and given him a good beating. If he doesn't get suspended maybe I will do that."

"I'd like to see him give me ten minutes by myself right now. He needs to be set down."

This was not the first time Kahne and Stewart have tangled this year. Incidents at Darlington and Talladega have left the young rookie sensation clueless about what he has done to incite Stewart's rage.

"I haven't talked to Tony since Talladega when he took out about 8-10 cars," commented Kahne. "I said that he'd run into us a couple of times recently, which he did, and I haven't talked to him since then. I helped him with a Tony Stewart foundation things up in Wisconsin a few weeks back and was around him the whole time and he wouldn't say a word to me.

"He's obviously still upset about Talladega and what I said there, which was very little. I didn't say very much at all."

The unfortunate business between Stewart and Kahne sparked a pit road melee between the two teams, as Kahne's crew chief Tommy Baldwin grabbed No. 20 crew chief Greg Zipadelli. From there, both crews fell to fisticuffs.

"That's just Tony Stewart," explained the irate Baldwin. "It's what he has been doing all year, driving like a moron. He gets away with it all he wants, and all NASCAR does is fine him. He's got plenty of money. The guy needs to sit out a race.

"I was just talking to Zippy, telling him his driver is a moron." I got off the pit box, he started pushing me, and then the official grabbed me. I don't know what happened after that."

Sadly, if punishments past are any indication, it will probably be Zipadelli and Baldwin who sit out a race for inciting a fight on pit road.

Stewart was fairly blase about the entire entanglement as he celebrated his first win in 23 races at Chicagoland Speedway.

"I am waiting for someone to tell me what happened," Stewart said. "His car wiggled I don't know if he was shifting or if he missed a shift. I don't know why he backed up; I don't know why he checked up. It's not something I was expecting by any means. I don't know I haven't seen the tape of it.

"Something happened that broke his momentum and unfortunately we were right on his rear bumper. At that point in the race we weren't really in a hurry, we were in the top two and that is where we needed to be."

"I'm a pretty back and white guy," Stewart continued. "When I make a mistake I tell you that I made a mistake. And what I am telling you is that I don't know what happened out there."

All offending parties were summoned after the race to the NASCAR trailer. Some sort of response by NASCAR is expected sometime Tuesday afternoon.

Editors' Note:
NASCAR announced penalty for the No. 9 Crew Chief
See Tommy Baldwin fined for Chicago incident

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