Stewart-Montoya tiff leaves behind trail of wreckage (cont'd)

"The engine was starting to let go on us," Johnson said. "I had a lot of fumes inside the car, we lost a cylinder and we were kind of limping around out there and got caught up in that.

"I was off the pace, just trying to stay out of the way. I saw those guys [Stewart and Montoya] coming and let them go in [Turns] 1 and 2.

"Then, down the backstraight, they were swerving at each other. I figured that both of their tempers were high. I went into the corner and the No. 42 came up the track and clipped the No. 20 and around they went.

"I'm not really sure what led up to that but I can tell those two were frustrated with one another. Unfortunately, we tore up a good racecar in the process."

Only 10 laps after the green flew from his previous spin, Stewart was involved again after making a green-flag pit stop to change tires. On his out from the pits, Stewart had just been passed by leader Kurt Busch when he lost it coming off Turn 4.

"Yeah, I'm coming down on fresh tires and the car was evil all day," Stewart said. "It would jump sideways off the corner and it just wasn't the same racecar it was [Saturday].

"I wish I knew why it was that way. We fought a no-handling car all day and fought it good enough to keep it in the top 10."

Behind Stewart, Earnhardt was punted in a cloud of smoke by the hapless Busch, who had done well to come from the back of the field to the top five after he wrecked his primary car on Saturday morning in practice.

"The No. 20 spun and I couldn't see anything," Earnhardt said. "There's a couple options of things to do there but I figured if I couldn't see anything neither could anyone else and they would slow down.

"I hate it for Kyle [because] Kyle's a good guy. He tries really hard and he was getting his race together and getting in the top three there.

"We were getting really loose at that point. I was just trying to get to a pit stop to change my car a little bit. [Stewart,] I guess he just had a frustrating day. He got out there and lost it."

Stewart felt badly about Earnhardt's dilemma.

"It's like nothing we can do is right," Stewart said. "Look at all the Junior fans that are mad at me. I didn't even see what happened to Junior. I know I caused it, obviously.

"I'm trying to get one of my laps back right there -- I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. There's no way in hell I would ever do anything to put Dale Jr. in jeopardy [but] it's disheartening when you have 180,000 people booing you every time you come around.

"That's what makes this stuff not fun anymore. It's not about the racing."

Earnhardt's crew had its head in the race and effected repairs on several pit stops while the driver continued to pump his men's spirits on his in-car radio.

They kept him on the lead lap and fixed the No. 8 Chevy. But shortly after the race restarted Earnhardt was lapped by leader Kurt Busch. Earnhardt retired 45 laps from race's end.

"We struggled a little bit after the wreck," Earnhardt said. "We thought we could get the car back out there and run good but there was some issues with the handling and finally the motor broke.

"The motor was changing pitch and harmony a little bit during the race. The motor was fantastic [but] I think I turned the motor a lot of RPMs in third gear on restarts because I was spinning tires so bad in second. (Continued)