Will the Driver of the No.
20 Car, Please Calm Down?
July 27, 2006
Jack Lewis - SCR
Sunday's race at Pocono
saw just how sensitive Tony Stewart is. Everyone knows the story of what happened, and has heard his apology to all parties
involved. But the question that needs to be answered is… Is he sincere?
On lap 32 rookie Clint
Bowyer, and the veteran champion Stewart, were racing side-by-side coming out of the final corner at the Pocono Raceway, Bowyer
moves up slightly, and Stewart, on the outside barely brushes the wall.
Then Stewart, in the
heat of the battle, immediately puts his hand out the window as a gesture towards the rookie, and steers left into Bowyer.
Bowyer by no fault of his on hits an innocent bystander in Carl Edwards. Edwards was approaching the duet on the inside, causing
the No. 07 and No. 99 cars to spin down the frontstretch.
Both Bowyer and Edwards
were furious at Stewart, who received a one-lap penalty from NASCAR; he was told he was not eligible for the "Free pass" (Lucky
Dog) to get back on the lead lap, meaning he would have to earn it.
On the restart, Stewart
closely pursued leader Ryan Newman, who he had a run-in with last week at New Hampshire.
A run-in that dropped him out of the top 10 in points. After getting by the leaders and being on the tail end of the lead
lap, a caution came out, allowing Stewart to take a free 2.5 mile tour around the triangular-shaped track and back onto the
lead lap.
On lap 67, Edwards, already
a lap down, spun Stewart out coming onto pit road. His retaliation efforts got him a one lap penalty.
Following the restart
and through the rest of the 200-lap race, Stewart raced his way to the front, finishing a respectable 7th, and putting the
two-time Nextel Cup Champion back in the Chase for the time being.
Bowyer, whose damage
didn't look too bad to begin with, wound up 41st, six laps down to the race winner, Denny Hamlin.
Edwards, who was still
in the hunt to make the 10-race Chase for the Championship, finished 39th, two laps down.
Following the race, Edwards
had harsh words for Mr. Stewart. Bowyer had a "talk" with "Smoke" afterwards, but didn't say anything to the media.
Stewart, in typical fashion
as of lately, talked about give and takesaid "It's just the first-year and second-year
drivers that don't understand that there needs to be a little give and take. There our only a handful of guys that don't get
it, but the problem is they are in good racecars and they don't run up front enough to learn from the rest of us how to race
up front."
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One big problem with
what Stewart said is that it is pretty much the same thing he said last week, after his crash with Newman at New Hampshire.
He talked about give-and-take, and who does and who doesn't do it. The one thing I don't get is how he talks about the veterans
who do understand give and take. Well Ryan Newman is no rookie, he's in his fifth full season in Nextel Cup, and has several
wins on the elite NASCAR tour not to mention too many poles to count.
In all his post-race
interviews Sunday, he never once apologized for taking both drivers out of contention to win the race (all 3 were in the top
15 at the time), and for Edwards, a possible shot at the Chase for the Championship come September.
However, Monday morning, a
"team release" revealed that Tony took "100 percent" blame from the previous day's incident.
My question is whether
or not that whole release was a PR stunt, or Tony's sincere apology.
I'm in no way bashing
Stewart. I respect all that he does on and off the track, but if he's going to talk about give-and-take, then practice what
you preach. After all, he could've backed off the throttle if it was so early in the race, just like he claims Bowyer should
have done.
2006 StockCar Review.
