Matt Kenseth's day was ruined when he was touched by Tony Stewart. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Kenseth: Stewart's hit 'an intentional cheap shot'

Matt Kenseth is known as a benign individual, but that persona went out the window during the Daytona 500.

Kenseth was enraged after contact with Tony Stewart sent him hard into the Turn 3 fence and ruined his best-ever chance to win the Daytona 500.

Credit: Autostock

Daytona 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. J. Johnson Chevrolet 2. C. Mears Dodge 3. R. Newman Dodge 4. E. Sadler Ford 5. T. Stewart Chevrolet Complete results, click here Victory LaneJimmie Johnson celebrates a Daytona 500 victory Top finishersNewman, Kenseth, Stewart, and Junior talk about their day Rough racingStewart slides into Kenseth and is sent to the back of the field Multi-car wreckJeff Green spins in Turn 3 and collects several others Gordon and Stewart brush wallGordon and Stewart make contact and brush the wall Early cautionRacing is clean until Truex Jr. finds the wall Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"I thought we had the car to win, honestly," said Kenseth, who finished 15th after rallying from two laps down.

On the 107th lap, Kenseth was on the low side of Stewart when Stewart's Chevrolet appeared to veer into Kenseth's lane, sending Kenseth careening into the infield.

Kenseth's Ford shot back up the track, where a train of cars miraculously managed to avoid hitting him. The hit came after Kenseth had led a race-high 28 laps.

After Kenseth brought his car to the pits, he exited pit road and immediately pulled along Stewart, who had continued unabated after the incident.

Kenseth slowed down and gestured at Stewart, and for that action, NASCAR gave him the black flag, citing a rule that states that cars must properly blend into traffic.

According to Kenseth, Stewart's hit was intentional.

"It wasn't an accident. If it was an accident I could live with it," said Kenseth. "I felt like it was an intentional cheap shot and I would bet anything on that. I would never do that to him, intentionally put someone in harm's way at a racetrack like this."

The accident came one week after Stewart criticized heavy bump drafting during the Budweiser Shootout, saying, "We're going to kill somebody."

"He worried about everybody's safety and taking about people dying and going way overboard with it," said Kenseth. "If you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk. It's one thing to criticize everybody if you're perfect, but not one of us is perfect."

Stewart's publicist said his driver would have no comment about the Kenseth incident, opting instead to release this explanation through the team's car manufacturer:

"Matt always thinks that. I guess Matt didn't think anything when he got me sideways over in (Turn) 2 either," said Stewart. "He should have thought about that first.

"But I got penalized but they didn't penalize him for getting me sideways. He has no room complain. He started the whole thing, and I finished it."

Kenseth theorized that Stewart may have been angry that Kenseth raced him hard in the opening laps, but Stewart said it was Kenseth who was the one to blame.

"Earlier in the race he was shaking his fist to me," Kenseth said.

Stewart replied: "He should have been smart enough to know not to be tucking down our doors in the first 20 laps of a 200-lap race at Daytona."