Stewart's arrival at 'Dega not what he had expected (cont'd)

But to NASCAR, it was no joke. Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president for corporate communications, said series officials wrestled for two days with whether to penalize Stewart for the comments made on his radio program. While that's not uncommon in other sports -- NBA players, for instance, have been fined for implying that officials favor certain teams -- NASCAR instead opted for a severe tongue-lashing.

"I cannot say strongly enough how disappointing this was to NASCAR," Hunter said. "To all the people who have helped build this sport over the years and put so much time and effort into it, to have what I would call just some out of the blue comments that attack the integrity of the sport, to me that is jut wrong."

Stewart seemed to get the message. "I know I did a lot of damage," he said. "I'm a lot of times my own worst enemy."

Drivers questioning the timing of caution flags is nothing new -- Ricky Rudd once wondered about the "magical debris caution" that cost him a chance to win a Nextel Cup race at Charlotte in 2000 -- but Stewart boldly leapt over the line of acceptance with his analogy to pro wrestling and his insinuation that the fix was in. Among his fellow competitors, who have experienced their own issues with debris cautions, the issue wasn't the subject matter but the extremes he took to get his message across.

"I didn't agree with his comparison to wrestling, and I didn't agree with him saying NASCAR hadn't run a fair race. I didn't agree with those things. A conversation about cautions is OK to have," Jeff Burton said.

"I think Tony exaggerated when he made the comparisons, which inflamed the issue more than it needed to be inflamed, and made it counterproductive instead of productive. Tony didn't mean any harm by it. He was trying to make a point. Tony's a purist. He's a racer's racer. What he was trying to say was, let's just make sure we're thinking about the racing. It became counterproductive when he kind of exaggerated some of the things. That's my opinion. He didn't mean any harm by it. He meant good by it."

Stewart admitted as much Friday morning, saying his comments were prompted by a root concern for fair competition within the sport (listen here). They were jarringly candid, he added, because that's the way he is.

"You're going to at least know where I stand with something. That's kind of my job with that [radio] show, to say what's on my mind and speak what I think is the truth. If I'm wrong about it, I apologize, and I'm wrong. But Tuesday when I said that, I believed what I was saying," he said.

"It wasn't meant to hurt the France family or anything else. I said those things because I care about the competition in this sport. Yeah, this is how I make my living, but when I'm out there racing, I care more about the trophy than I do the paycheck. The thought of it not being on the up-and-up was something that I was frustrated about. But after having the meeting [Friday], I feel more confident it's not that way, and I wish I would have went to [NASCAR] in the first place."

Gordon, the series leader entering Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega, believes Stewart's comments were born of pure frustration. Stewart had led nearly a quarter of all laps run this season, and was in position to contend for wins at Daytona, Atlanta, Bristol and Phoenix before various circumstances intervened.

"He's been in a position to win a lot of races, and it hasn't happened, and there have been some cautions that have been questionable to a lot of us out there," Gordon said. "But never once did I ever think that NASCAR is trying to fix the race or change the outcome of the race. There may be debris out there, and they don't want to call the caution because they're trying to get conformation of what the debris is."

At Phoenix, Gordon said the issue was a plastic bag that sat on the track for a number of laps, which NASCAR may have been hoping would blow away. Hunter said officials often need several laps to identify an object on the track as something potentially harmful or benign. And Burton is adamant that, despite the contentions of conspiracy theorists in the fan base, the sanctioning body does not issue cautions to benefit one driver or harm another.

"Any belief by teams or by fans that NASCAR does something to help a particular team, that drives me wacko," he said. "I'll quit if I believe that's where we are. I'll just have to quit. I don't believe they throw a caution so Jeff Gordon can win Phoenix. That worked out, and the 24 car got lucky. It wasn't NASCAR's fault. I don't think they throw a caution so the Lowe's car can win at Lowe's Motor Speedway. I think that's ludicrous. If ever believe that it's like that, I'd quit."

In many ways the entire saga is vintage Stewart, a driver who's outspokenness has often landed him in trouble with a series that says it wants its drivers to speak their minds. NASCAR, Hunter said, is not in the business of censoring drivers. But as Stewart proved this week, that tolerance extends only to a point.

"He's like the Rosie O'Donnell right now of NASCAR," Gordon said, comparing Stewart to the politically incorrect comedienne. "Controversy is something that he's been used to, and to me it brings a lot of flair to the sport."

This week, it was a flair NASCAR could have done without. "I think it's very disappointing," Hunter said, "when a very successful guy attacks the integrity of the sport that he's done quite well in."