Stewart dropped to 26th
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
July 9, 2001
3:11 PM EDT (1911 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart ended Saturday night in hot water, and a minor hole in the Winston Cup point standings, after NASCAR officials penalized him 20 spots in the final rundown of Saturday night’s Pepsi 400 for driving his Home Depot Pontiac below the yellow line marking the bottom of the race track, then ignoring a black flag.
Stewart’s car passed below the yellow line between the short chute coming off Turn 4 of the 2.5-mile trioval and the start/finish line with four laps to go while battling for second and third with Johnny Benson behind race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., who went on to win the race.
Earlier in the same lap, Stewart’s driving tactics were called into question by Dave Blaney when he was accused of nearly causing what would have been a massive pileup at the end of the backstretch.
Stewart was put on the black flag board one lap later but he kept his car on the track and finished the race in sixth.
NASCAR’s penalty, however, dropped Stewart from there to 26th, the final car on the lead lap. The difference in the two spots was 65 points, which didn’t effect Stewart’s unofficial fourth place standing in the points.
Following the checkered flag, results for positions beyond the top-five were delayed for nearly 80 minutes while Stewart, crew chief Greg Zipadelli and team owner Joe Gibbs met with NASCAR president Mike Helton, Winston Cup director Gary Nelson and race director David Hoots to review tape and discuss the incident.
In the end, NASCAR ruled Stewart had driven below the line to gain an advantage and, per an announcement that was made in the pre-race drivers’ and crew chiefs’ meeting, was shown the black flag to call him to pit road for a stop-and-go penalty.
Stewart exited his car and declined comment, going straight to his motor coach in the drivers’ lot. After a short period there, he convened in the NASCAR hauler’s office, then left the track, again without comment.
“He’s a fierce competitor, no different than myself,” Zipadelli said. “To us, we didn’t think it was fair -- but if you look at it the way they are, it’s almost cut and dried.”
Zipadelli said Benson changed lanes in his No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac and forced Stewart to alter his line and cross the yellow stripe.
“We were penalized for being forced below the yellow line -- it was either go below the line or cause a wreck,” Zipadelli said. “There’s not much choice there. What do you do, spin the 10 car out because he was moving from one lane to another, which he didn’t have a right to do?
“It’s three laps to go and we’re racing for million dollars. I wouldn’t expect my driver to lift in those circumstances.”
Benson, who is still trying to win his first race and fell back to 13th at the finish, didn’t comment on the incident, but his crew chief, James Ince, said Stewart was in the wrong.
“Nothing happened, other than the fact that he (Stewart) tried to pass down through the infield,” Ince said. “It was almost pretty big there at the end with him. There is a gas pedal on the right and a brake in the middle. It was pretty clear in the drivers’ meeting where the yellow line was. We didn’t tell him to go below it.”
Blaney, who ended up finishing 21st after running second with less than five laps to go, was equally disgusted.
“I was right on the bottom of the race track and he must have ran across the apron and smashed into the side of me,” Blaney said. “It turned my car clear sideways and I had to lift and catch it.”
It cost Bill Davis Racing a potential pair of top-five finishes as Blaney’s teammate Ward Burton finished fourth.
“It was the stupidest thing I’ve seen on his part,” Blaney said of the frequently controversial Stewart. “I don’t know what he was thinking. You can’t get away with it (and) it messed both of us up. It was just a wasted opportunity to do something good.”
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