‘Smoke’ earns his first top 10 of 2015 at Bristol
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WASHINGTON — Tony Stewart took the blame Tuesday for igniting a five-car crash late in Sunday’s Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up to Cancer at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion said the contact in Turn 3 with Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne on Lap 483 of the scheduled 500-lap event “was my fault.”
“I caused it,” Stewart said. “It wasn’t at all what I had in mind because I’d had a clean race up to that point. Of all people, it was Kasey. I get along pretty good with Kasey and AJ. Those were the last two guys that needed to get in that mess.”
Contact from Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet sent Kahne’s entry sliding low on the backstretch at BMS and into the No. 47 of JTG Daugherty Racing‘s AJ Allmendinger. Casey Mears (Germain Racing) and Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) also sustained damage in the incident.
Stewart’s car suffered little damage, and the owner/driver wound up finishing sixth, his first top-10 result of the 2015 season.
Allmendinger wound up 34th and Kahne 37th as both were unable to return from the accident.
“It wasn’t what I had in mind,” said Stewart, who attended a White House function Tuesday to celebrate teammate Kevin Harvick‘s 2014 Sprint Cup championship.
“Somehow about two-thirds of the way through the corner (Kahne) got slow for some reason. I don’t know if he got loose … but I was kind of diamonding the corner off anyway and when he slipped I got underneath him and it just was a bad spot. And AJ was underneath both of us.”
Kahne said after the incident that he “shot to the top” when he saw an opening in front.
“Then when we got to the corner and I hit the brakes I got hit from behind,” Kahne said. “They said it was the 14 (of Stewart) so I’m guessing he was just mad that I took his lane. He wasn’t there, so I took it. … I haven’t seen the replay … so I don’t know exactly what happened.”
The finish dropped Kahne from fifth to seventh in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings after eight events. Allmendinger fell four spots (to 25th) and Mears (now 19th) lost four spots as well.
Truex Jr., who finished 29th, remains third in points as the series prepares to head to Richmond International Raceway for Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 (FOX, 7 p.m. ET). Stewart gained four positions, and is now 28th in the standings.
RELATED: Full analysis of drivers’ performances at Bristol
“You’re just running like Mach 12,” Stewart said of the fast speeds and close-quarters racing on the high-banked half-mile of BMS. “You’re running so fast around there if something happens …
“Look at Kurt’s deal. He was way back from (Carl Edwards) when that happened. I was right with Kasey when ours happened. Not trying to justify it or anything, I’m just saying that’s how easy it is to get yourself in a bad spot.”
Busch, Stewart’s SHR teammate, was unable to avoid Edwards when the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s Toyota slipped up the track and into the wall just a handful of laps after Stewart’s incident.
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