Stewart facing penalty?

[antig24]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart's actions following Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway were being reviewed Monday afternoon by NASCAR officials to determine if further action by the sanctioning body was necessary.

 

"We're reviewing (Stewart's actions)," NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo said. "And gathering facts on what occurred to determine what we might do."

 

Stewart caused one accident during the race when he hit Kurt Busch and was on the receiving end of some similar contact later in the race from Jimmie Johnson that sent Stewart spinning.

 

After the second incident, which brought out the race's next-to-last of a record 11 caution periods, Stewart was forced to pit for new tires.

 

He only drove back to 22nd position before the final caution forced the race to end under a yellow flag, with Jeff Gordon the winner.

 

Neither of those events brought NASCAR's glare on Stewart, though a number of drivers were irate over his role in the first, 11-car accident.

 

He was being reviewed because, after taking the checkered flag at about 70 mph behind the pace car, he abruptly turned 90 degrees to the left, onto the track's asphalt apron heading into Turn 1.

 

When he did, Stewart's car made contact with the front of Terry Labonte's car, causing it heavy damage, according to a team spokesman.

 

Stewart drove up pit road in the opposite direction from the rest of the field, causing at least one television correspondent to report Sunday evening he and his co-workers had "feared for their safety" upon Stewart's actions.

 

Stewart stopped at NASCAR's checkpoint to get the proper angle of his car's rear spoiler verified, and then drove into the garage area.

 

Stewart made no comment about the incident in post-race remarks to the media. He did say that both the accident involving Busch and the one with Johnson were blameless consequences of restrictor plate racing.

 

A statement issued by Stewart's public relations representative said the driver turned abruptly off the racetrack to avoid debris being hurled onto the racetrack by fans.

 

Many in the crowd were disgruntled either by NASCAR's decision to place Jeff Gordon in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the finish, or the fact that NASCAR did not attempt to restart the race, which took the final caution with four laps remaining.

 

Labonte was testing Monday at Kentucky Speedway and was not available for comment. A team representative said the damage caused by Stewart's move appeared more extensive than that incurred in the 11-car wreck, after which Labonte's Hendrick Motorsports crew had replaced his car's nosepiece.

 

NASCAR's competition staff, including Nextel Cup Series director John Darby, typically meets each Monday afternoon to discuss the weekend's events. Stewart would be discussed at that session, Zizzo said.

[gave20]

Stewart should clearly be fined for causing the multicar accident as well as NASCAR for developing restrictor plates that enable 43 cars to run 0.00001 seconds apart at 200mph and Talladega for building a large, fast race track.

 

secaondly, maybe Stewart "feared for his safety" from the barrage of beer cans of 160,000 little E fans upset their boy didn't win.

 

Like he said script a script for the drivers to run lap by lap and all this rough driving and controversy will end.

[99GoldSilverado]

It seems like everything Tony does gets 'reviewed by NASCAR'. They should give the guy a break.

[Hecktorx]

Tony has been running a lot of people over this year, but I say let the drivers handle it themselves. NASCAR doesn't need anymore crappy rules.

 

As far as what happened with the 5 car, can you really blame the guy for wanting off that track ASAP.

 

Kenny

[General Lee 01]

It seems like everything Tony does gets 'reviewed by NASCAR'. They should give the guy a break.

Tony proved today in California why NASCAR has it's eye on him.

[oldtimer]

Tony was a long leash for awhile and now NASCAR has shortened the leash alot. I think Tony is looking for that edge and looking to be the bad boy of NASCAR again. Let Tony be Tony because it is good for NASCAR.