Post by dalejrfan on May 22, 2006 0:25:42 GMT -5
CONCORD, N.C. -- Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth crashed hard and spoke harder on Saturday night during the Nextel All-Star Challenge.
Both drivers, who generally get along well, blamed the other for the crash on Lap 71 that took both out of the running for the $1 million winner's prize in NASCAR's all-star shootout.
Kenseth, running third, led Stewart into Turn 1 on that lap, and by the time they got to Turn 2, both cars were in the wall and out of contention.
Here's where it gets murky.
Kenseth, speaking just before Stewart, said that Stewart must have driven through the grass to get to his left rear quarter-panel to trigger the crash.
"At the finish line, I could see that Tony was getting a run and I was going to try to stay on the bottom," Kenseth said. "I came across the second part of the tri-oval, I thought on the grass, and right before we got to the corner, my spotter told me he was looking inside.
"As soon as he said that, I moved up but we made contact and I got turned around."
Stewart, who watched the interview on TV while changing clothes in the front of his transporter, fired back.
"I had a pretty definitive view from what I saw," Stewart said. "I got a run on him, like he said, so at least he got that part right. You can see by the camera view that he went into the corner a whole lane-and-a-half low. You don't go into the corner that way, so obviously he was blocking there.
"If he's going to complain about me being under there. ... I was there, and any other weekend, that might be acceptable, but it's the Nextel All-Star Crashfest."
Later, Kenseth said that it was possible he came down into Stewart.
"Maybe he was way in there and I squeezed him off, I don't really know," he said. "I didn't think he could get in there that well to have that good a run, but he must have."
Stewart agreed with that assessment.
"I think he screwed up on this one," he said. "If he thinks I got under there and caused this, he's screwed up in the head."
The two also got together at Daytona in February, with Stewart running Kenseth down to the grass at one point after tangling with the Wisconsin driver. Kenseth wound up in the Turn 3 wall after that run-in.
"Tony is always mad at somebody," Kenseth said. "I'm not going to go out and do the name-calling like he does every week. He's always mad at somebody.
"If he was under there and I cut him off and made a mistake, then I made a mistake. There's nothing else I can do about that right now."
Stewart and Kenseth were involved in the biggest crash of the night, triggered when Kasey Kahne slipped loose underneath Mark Martin and sent both to the wall. Stewart was clobbered by Jeremy Mayfield just behind the left front wheel, while Kenseth had more cosmetic damage.
Both cars were repaired and running quite well before the accident. Stewart had made up a lot of ground with a torn-up racecar, and was looking for more when the accident occurred.
Kenseth finished 11th and Stewart 12th in the final rundown.
Both drivers, who generally get along well, blamed the other for the crash on Lap 71 that took both out of the running for the $1 million winner's prize in NASCAR's all-star shootout.
Kenseth, running third, led Stewart into Turn 1 on that lap, and by the time they got to Turn 2, both cars were in the wall and out of contention.
Here's where it gets murky.
Kenseth, speaking just before Stewart, said that Stewart must have driven through the grass to get to his left rear quarter-panel to trigger the crash.
"At the finish line, I could see that Tony was getting a run and I was going to try to stay on the bottom," Kenseth said. "I came across the second part of the tri-oval, I thought on the grass, and right before we got to the corner, my spotter told me he was looking inside.
"As soon as he said that, I moved up but we made contact and I got turned around."
Stewart, who watched the interview on TV while changing clothes in the front of his transporter, fired back.
"I had a pretty definitive view from what I saw," Stewart said. "I got a run on him, like he said, so at least he got that part right. You can see by the camera view that he went into the corner a whole lane-and-a-half low. You don't go into the corner that way, so obviously he was blocking there.
"If he's going to complain about me being under there. ... I was there, and any other weekend, that might be acceptable, but it's the Nextel All-Star Crashfest."
Later, Kenseth said that it was possible he came down into Stewart.
"Maybe he was way in there and I squeezed him off, I don't really know," he said. "I didn't think he could get in there that well to have that good a run, but he must have."
Stewart agreed with that assessment.
"I think he screwed up on this one," he said. "If he thinks I got under there and caused this, he's screwed up in the head."
The two also got together at Daytona in February, with Stewart running Kenseth down to the grass at one point after tangling with the Wisconsin driver. Kenseth wound up in the Turn 3 wall after that run-in.
"Tony is always mad at somebody," Kenseth said. "I'm not going to go out and do the name-calling like he does every week. He's always mad at somebody.
"If he was under there and I cut him off and made a mistake, then I made a mistake. There's nothing else I can do about that right now."
Stewart and Kenseth were involved in the biggest crash of the night, triggered when Kasey Kahne slipped loose underneath Mark Martin and sent both to the wall. Stewart was clobbered by Jeremy Mayfield just behind the left front wheel, while Kenseth had more cosmetic damage.
Both cars were repaired and running quite well before the accident. Stewart had made up a lot of ground with a torn-up racecar, and was looking for more when the accident occurred.
Kenseth finished 11th and Stewart 12th in the final rundown.