Top 10 Confrontations of 2001
December 29, 2001
1:49 PM EST (1849 GMT)
1. Tony Stewart and tape recorder, Pepsi 400 at Daytona.
Tony Stewart was black-flagged late in the Pepsi 400 for going below the yellow line, sending him to a 26th-place finish.
After the race, he was involved in an incident with reporter Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal. As Mulhern tried to question Stewart about the black flag situation, Stewart allegedly knocked the reporter's tape recorder out of his hand and then kicked it under a transporter.
Video: Stewart's pass
2. Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, Food City 500 at Bristol.
Late in the Food City 500, Gordon drove alongside Stewart between Turns 3 and 4. Stewart spun, and what had appeared to be a sure top-five finish became a 25th-place result.
On the race's cool-off lap, Stewart drove up behind Gordon on pit road and ran into the 24 with enough force to spin it sideways into the wall that separates the pits from the race track.
Video: The incident
3. Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace, Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond.
During the final restart, Wallace and Gordon got together while both were trying to catch race leader Tony Stewart.
Following the mishap, the two rode door-to-door around the track, pointing at one another. Then upon exiting the cars, they exchanged heated words.
Video: The Gordon-Wallace exchange
4. Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd, multiple races.
Rudd and Wallace first had problems in the Sharpie 500, where Wallace spun out Rudd after the race.
Then, at Dover, Wallace ran over Rudd near the end of the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400.
Video: The Bristol incident
Video: The Dover incident
5. Kevin Harvick and Bobby Hamilton, Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville.
Bobby Hamilton slightly bumped Kevin Harvick while racing for the lead at Martinsville. Harvick responded by booting harder in Turn 3, sending Hamilton spinning. Harvick was black-flagged and finished 22nd.
Video: Post-race comments
6. Jack Sprague and Scott Riggs, Auto Club 200 at Fontana.
Sprague was running among the leaders on lap 27 in the Craftsman Truck Series finale when Scott Riggs dove low on the banked track to try to pass rookie Jon Wood. Wood appeared to bump Riggs, who skidded up the track and slammed Sprague into the wall.
The angry Sprague drove his battered truck slowly back to the pits and, when he found himself behind Riggs, ran into the rear of the other damaged truck.
After the two parked in the garage area, Sprague had to be restrained by officials and crewmen from charging Riggs.
Video: Sprague versus Riggs
7. Greg Biffle and Jay Sauter, AutoLite Fram 250 at Richmond.
During the second Busch Series race at Richmond, Biffle was battling Jay Sauter through Turn 4 when Sauter turned Biffle's Ford around and hard into the wall. The move was widely considered a retaliation maneuver for an earlier altercation between the two that sent Sauter into the Turn 2 wall.
When the two drivers came to a stop following contact with the outside wall, Biffle jumped out of his car and threw a punch at Sauter, who was still in his cockpit.
Video: Biffle versus Sauter
8. Greg Biffle and Shane Hall, Carquest 250 at Gateway
Biffle, who for much of the race had the only car that could contend with Kevin Harvick's, was running second late in the race when he and the lapped car of Hall engaged in a door-to-door battle down the backstretch.
Tired of Hall holding him up, Biffle drove into the side of Hall's car, causing Hall's left front tire to go flat.
Hall took exception; and with fresh tires, he later drove into Biffle's left rear, nearly spinning the No. 60 Ford into the outside wall.
Video: Biffle versus Hall
9. Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick, Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Sears Point.
The decisive pass was set up when Harvick came out of the pits with four fresh tires.
Gordon passed him but Harvick latched onto his rear bumper with fresher tires and worried him like a bull terrier for several laps. For the second straight lap heading into Turn 4, Robby Gordon, thrashing his tires to stay in front of a car that was in effect two miles behind him, slipped wide on the exit of the turn.
Going into the new "Bud Bottleneck" section, Harvick tapped the leader trying to get around him, and both cars slid wide on the exit. Tony Stewart passed them both and went on to win.
Video: Gordon versus Harvick
10. Jeff Gordon versus Robby Gordon, New Hampshire 300 at Loudon.
Robby Gordon brought out the race's final caution when he ran into Turn 1 of the 1.058-mile oval and pushed his nose into Jeff Gordon's rear bumper.
He knocked Gordon into Mike Wallace, spinning Wallace's Ford up the track. An incensed Jeff Gordon ran into Robby Gordon on the backstretch under caution, bringing a one-lap penalty from NASCAR.
Robby Gordon held the lead after the final restart at lap 290 and took the checkered flag 2.008 seconds ahead of Sterling Marlin's No. 40 Dodge.
Video: Gordon versus Gordon
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