NASCAR fans "Is it time to suspend Tony Stewart?"

[funstan]

I am a big fan of Tony Stewart but is getting kind of hard to defend his actions. The guy is arguably the best all around race car driver on the planet. Former USAC champ, former IRL champ, Winston Cup champ, the guy can drive anything. But this year he has been involved in accidents with Kasey Kahne, Rusty Wallace, John Andretti, he took out half the field at Talledega, he spun several cars at Infenion raceway and then attacked Brian Vickers after he spun him.

He has also had off track incidents with photographers, reporters, both Gordons, and the entire broadcast crew of Fox Sports.

His sponsor is the "Official Home Improvement warehouse of NASCAR." Kevin Harvick and Jimmy Spencer were both suspended by NASCAR and their sponsors are not the "Official" anything of NASCAR.

Is it time to park him, I really do not think he would care, the guy could go to IRL, possibly even Formula 1 and would be successful. I think NASCAR is losing every bit of their credibility by changing the rules every week while Tony does whatever he wants. I am a big fan of Tony, he is mega talented, wears his emotions on his sleeve, and he is not a sanitized corporate driver, but NASCAR needs to do something before they lose all respect from fans and drivers.

[wildcatlh]

It's past time to suspend him. Should've done it several incidents ago.

NASCAR's biggest problem is that there's a different set of rules for the superstars than there are for the rest of the drivers.

[Copenhagen]

If they can prove that his bump on Kahne was intentional today, then yes I think he deserves to be suspended. That being said from what I saw I don't thik it was a deliberate bump and Kahne's pit crew didn't help the situation much by rushing the #20 pit and starting a fight.

[wildcatlh]

Even if they could prove it was intentional, NASCAR wouldn't do a damn thing. He's had 3 or 4 incidents this year where he wrecked somebody (clearly intentional), plus punching Vickers, and he still doesn't get suspended. I'm beginning to wonder if there's anything Stewart could do that would get him suspended.

[indianajdp]

Originally posted by WildcatLH
It's past time to suspend him. Should've done it several incidents ago.

NASCAR's biggest problem is that there's a different set of rules for the superstars than there are for the rest of the drivers.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Absolutely no way a "lesser" driver gets away with wrecking someone then going after the guy postrace and taking a swing at him in his car.

I'm an Indy native and I LOVED TS when he was racing openwheel. But he's been nothing but an ass since he moved to NASCAR.

[MidnightVulture]

Morons like Stewart make the sport look bad. Ban him!

[Shadow Ace]

I believe Stewart should have been suspended a minimum of one race for the deal with Vickers....2 would have been more appropriate.

I do not think today's bumping of Kahne should even be considered a punishable offense....it wasn't intentional in my opinion.

Having said that, NASCAR's continual slap on the wrist instead of any real punishment is getting old

[Lee Harvey Oswald]

They should have supsended him after the Sonoma race. They suspended Harvick a couple of years ago for far less.

I don't think this incident with Kahne was intentional, but its hard to give Stewart the benefit of the doubt when week after week he's involved in something.

Mike Helton is destroying Nascar and the credibility of the sport.

[mgbfan]

Next time he punts somebody on purpose, absolutly. But you don't make up for past chances to suspend him by doing it the time where it's hard to argue that it was on purpose.

Stewart will give NASCAR another good reason to do it. Today's incident was not the right one to do it on. Today's incident would be a non-issue for most any other driver. Kahne himself admitted that he slowed entering the turn.

Wait and suspend the guy when he has it coming. It probably won't be a long wait.

[Struz]

It's way past the time tp suspend him.
He's out of control.
I hope someone puts him into the wall at Louden in 2 weeks.

[SmackDaddy]

Well, although I think Tony is (when he wants to be) one heck of a driver, it's too bad the only thing people will remember him by are his yearly "incidents".

Did he put Kasey in the wall on purpose? From the initial viewing, it looked like he did. After watching it several times, it happened in such a way that...well...you just can't tell. Only Tony knows for sure, and he's not gonna admit it if he did.

I'm surprised his nudge of Andretti didn't get more attention, as that was clearly intentional, but luckily didn't wreck anyone.

He's making the higher ups in NASCAR look foolish. Even though everyone at Gibbs Racing denies it, I think the Joe Gibbs departure has had a pretty obvious effect on their teams. Ol' Joe needs to pay a few visits try and keep him in check.

As far as a suspension, it won't happen. Home Depot is not only his sponsor, but a major associate sponsor of NASCAR. If this was anyone else but a "marquee" driver, you can bet that there would have been a suspension from the Infineon incident, or major fines for skipping out on a meeting.

[wildcatlh]

via NASCAR.com:

JOLIET, Ill. - If Tony Stewart wanders down a dark alley any time soon, he probably better be on the lookout for Ray Evernham.

Evernham had some harsh words for Stewart during Sunday's Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway after a Stewart bump sent Evernham's Kasey Kahne spinning out of the lead.

As Kahne's crew worked to repair the damaged No. 9 Dodge, Evernham lashed out at Stewart.

"He definitely needs to get suspended, and he should have his ass beat," Evernham said. "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'll do that.

"He crashed a bunch of cars, and he's leading the race. That doesn't say a lot for him right now."

Later, during Stewart's post-race press conference, Stewart said, "I really don't care" what Evernham said.

"I'm not even interested in looking at them," Stewart said. "We didn't need the accident with him to win the race. We had the strongest car. That wasn't going to make the race or break the race for us."

Stewart had the dominant car Sunday, leading five times for 160 laps. But Kahne had the lead on a restart on lap 127 when Stewart got into the back of Kahne's No. 9 Dodge.

"He got up against the back of him after he shifted and stayed on him and pushed him probably for 50 or 60 feet before he finally spun out," Evernham said. "You know when you're up against the back of somebody."

Stewart said he wasn't sure what happened, only that Kahne suddenly slowed as the fielded headed into Turn 1. Stewart also said Kahne was "one of last guys" he wanted to get in an incident with.

"We've been the hot topic of discussion all year," Stewart said. "I'm a pretty black-and-white guy. If I make a mistake, I tell you guys I make a mistake. A lot of times I'm not proud of it and proud of what I do, but I'm telling you, whatever happened today, I didn't do it."

Zipadelli: 'He didn't do that intentionally'

Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, vehemently defended his driver.

"Because we've been in a few altercations this year, all of a sudden, automatically, you're guilty," Zipadelli said. "I think sometimes you've got to be honest and say, 'Did he intentionally do that? Was that a racing deal? Did the 9 car slip?'

"I will guarantee you one thing: He didn't do that intentionally. If you think that he did, I'll never talk to you again."

NASCAR had no penalty for Stewart during the race.

"We determined that was a racing incident and nothing more," NASCAR spokesman Herb Branham said. "If there were going to be any penalties because of that racing incident, they would have been called during the event."

But there likely will be penalties for the melee in the pits after the crash. Tommy Baldwin, crew chief for Kahne, went to Stewart's pit. A few moments later, several Kahne crewmen arrived, and a fight broke out.

"I was going to talk to Zippy and tell him his driver's a moron," Baldwin said. "I got off the pit box, and he started pushing me. Then the (NASCAR) official grabbed me. I don't know what happened after that."

That wasn't how Zipadelli saw it.

"Tommy and a bunch of boys came over and started hollering and pushing and shoving," Zipadelli said. "I'm not driving the car. All I can do is say, 'I'm sorry.' I think you can watch the tape as many times as you want. There was (nothing) intentional."

Stewart car owner J.D. Gibbs said he spoke with a NASCAR official about the incident, and, "The way he saw it was the way I hope he'd have seen it," Gibbs said.

Stewart didn't know about the fight until he got to Victory Lane, when Zipadelli made sure he spoke to his driver.

"I got penalized for going and trying to talk to a guy after a race," Stewart said. "I wasn't even upset until after the guy provoked me down there. So if I should get penalized for it, I think he should get penalized for it."

Branham said any penalties would be announced later this week at the earliest.

"We've already started looking into that," Branham said. "We're speaking to the individuals involved, and we're going to continue to do so, gathering as much information as possible, as we always do in this situation."

Evernham said he didn't condone those kind of incidents, but he was adamant about Stewart.

"Does someone have to get hurt?" Evernham said. "Is that what it's going to take ... before they do something?"

Stewart didn't care.

"The main thing is we won a race again," Stewart said.

[Turd Ferguson]

Sunday's "incident" was blown totally out of proportion. Kahne should have taken four tires instead of two and should have stayed with the flow. The only "incident" was Kahne's crew marching over to Tony's box like idiots and getting called on it like the bitches they were.

Tony can be a hotheaded jackass, but this was not an example of that.

[Tandem]

Tony is just an aggressive race driver and with as close as the teams are getting to each other in ability the more opportunities there are going to be for him to get himself into trouble. I don't fault him for getting into Kasey but a less aggressive driver might not have been up right on his bumper.

I agree Tony should have been suspended after the incident with Brian Vickers but NASCAR can't do it this week. They'll just have to wait until the next time Tony has anger management issues.

Slightly OT but how many times now has Kasey been punted this season through no fault of his own? Twice by Tony and didn't Kevin Harvick put him out at Bristol?

[weargle]

Kahne had waaay too much room in front of him and looked like he checked up to me. Of course, he should have been suspended after the last race anyway -- Jimmy Spencer sure would have been. It was a simple racing deal, nothing other than that. If Mark Martin would have gotten into him, there would have been no ancillary reactions from the pit crews. Kahne's people just proved to me and the rest of the world that they're as big of jackasses as Tony Stewart can be.

[mlemmond]

NASCAR deserves Tony Stewart. They shit on their fans and replace all of the interesting tracks with boring mile and a halfer's. Tony Stewart is about the only interesting thing left in NASCAR.

[Da Thrilla]

:lol: @ the pit brawl

[Stu 17]

No one should be fined for spinning a guy out. But when you do it every single race, then hit the driver (Vickers) when you go to "discuss" it, then you deserve to be sat down.

DW said it a few months ago and nothing has changed. Tony deserves to miss a race and be on probation for all of 2004.

[The Cow]

Make him drive in clockwise circles for 500 miles. That'll show him :)

[SmackDaddy]

Anyone catch Totally Nascar last night?

They made some pretty interesting observations when they reviewed the the Stewart/Kahne incident.

Wallace, Benson and Waltrip (who was next to Kasey on that restart) all noted that Kasey was keeping pace with the other cars on the restart. Waltrip even noted the Kahne was actually pulling ahead of him just before he got spun out.

All agreed that it was a bit too agressive on Tony's part. And with him having the fastest car it would have only taken him a couple of laps to clear everyone anyway.

If only Tony could learn a little patience, then he wouldn't have a cloud of controversy hanging over him.

[Tandem]

I put the blame totally on Mike Helton for the brawl in the pits. The teams have come to the conclusion that Helton isn't going to do anything to cool Tony down so they have to take action themselves. Tony is just being Tony and he'll keep on being the bad boy until he gets sent to his room without supper so to speak.

[Flashback]

Do you think Stewart is more like Dale E. than Junior wish he could be? Just a thought ;)

[Josh H]

Not a fan, but I wouldn't suspend him.

This stuff is like fighting in hockey. It gets the sport extra attention, and there's no such thing as bad publicity.

[Stu 17]

After hearing Evernhams comments, I hope Stewart doesnt get suspended, so that Evernham can beat his A$$. I would pay to see that. I think Ray could easily drop Tony like a sack of potatos.

[Tandem]

Speaking of an Evernham/Stewart match, there is a rather humorous article in the Detroit Free Press.

If it comes to a brawl, bet on Tony (http://www.freep.com/sports/othersports/brudenell13e_20040713.htm)

I'll quote a bit of it...
La-a-a-dies and gentlemen-n-n, may we have your attention, please ... in the Home Depot garage, wearing the flameproof orange-and-white driving suit and hailing from Indiana, we have Te-r-r-r-r-ible Tony Stewart, 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup champion and World of Outlaws team owner.

His opponent, fighting out of the Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge garage and sporting spotless white golf-shirt and black pants, is New Jersey-born Ra-a-a-a-pid Ray Evernham, Nextel Cup team owner and former crew chief for Jeff Gordon.

Your referee for this nationally televised bout is NASCAR president Mike Helton, a veteran third man of countless fights and shoving matches from Daytona Beach, Fla., to Bristol, Tenn.

"Gentlemen, you know the rules. There'll be no head-butting, holding or low blows, particularly if Tony is still belted into his car.

"Now, touch gloves and come out fighting."

[cwwallace]

I'm in agreement with majority here: Tony Stewart should be suspended. He is definitely out of control. Kasey Kahne has really been screwed around by NASCAR this year. The oil spill without a caution and now the Tony Stewart incident. NASCAR is inconsistent with probations/suspensions.