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Drivers still hot after Dover
Marlin, Stewart among those upset over track incidents
By DAVID SCOTT
The Charlotte Observer
Tony Stewart is held for one lap on pit road after pitting outside the pit box boundary.
AP
Tony Stewart is held for one lap on pit road after pitting outside the pit box boundary.
Unless a few drivers do some serious cooling down between now and Sunday, there will no shortage of ill feelings as NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit makes its first Pocono stop this week.
After Sunday's MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway, Sterling Marlin is mad at Jeff Gordon. Gordon says he's not angry with Marlin, but he's not backing down. Tony Stewart is really upset with race winner Ryan Newman. Newman says Stewart should just look in the mirror.
It could be interesting at Sunday's Pocono 500.
Marlin took exception to Gordon's bump coming off Turn 2 on Lap 114 at Dover. It was the continuation of a mini-trend for Gordon, who hit Marlin and Ward Burton at The Winston all-star race two weekends ago at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"That's twice in three races. It's getting kind of old," Marlin said. "I don't know what's wrong with the 24 (car), but we need to find out. You've got to give and take in this league, and (Gordon) has done a lot of taking. It's disappointing."
Guess you've got to give Gordon credit for not knocking into Marlin in last week's Coca-Cola 600 in Concord.
"I definitely got into him, no doubt about it," Gordon said of the Dover bump, which took out Marlin's No. 40 car -- one of the field's stronger cars. "I didn't mean to. Sure he's mad. I was mad when I got hit by him one time at Richmond. Hopefully, we'll get past it.
"He's not a guy I really talk to a lot and he doesn't talk to me a lot. I'll imagine we'll see each other on the race track soon."
Then there's Stewart, whose anger-management issues are well documented. Coming off the 2002 series championship, he'd kept his temper under wraps as his team faltered this season, falling from second earlier in the year to 20th heading into Dover.
But when NASCAR docked him a lap for missing his pit box by a few inches while leading with what was easily the field's strongest car, well, a guy can only take so much.
Stewart soon had a chance to get his lap back, and when a yellow flag came, he needed to beat leader Newman to the start-finish line to do so.
One of the sport's unwritten rules says if a race leader can let a driver he thinks isn't a threat to win back onto the lead lap, he should. The way Stewart was running, he clearly could have been considered a threat. Newman certainly thought he was.
Imagine what Newman would be dealing with, had he allowed Stewart back on the lead lap and Stewart won the race. As it was, Stewart finished fourth and moved up to 16th in points, so that would have been a real possibility.
Stewart, who didn't talk to the media after the race, was still able to clearly express his feelings with the following:
• Nearly putting Newman into the wall during the ensuing caution.
• Making an obscene gesture toward Newman's crew during a later pit stop.
• Yelling at Newman's crew chief, Matt Borland, after the race.
"We're racers," said Newman. "We compete against each other and try to be friends, but it's a competitive sport. He's not going to invite me to dinner tonight. There have been times I haven't wanted to invite him to dinner either, but we can get through it.
"To me, it was his own fault. What happened, happened."
Kyle Petty also got into the act after Todd Bodine bumped him out of the race. Petty walked past Bodine's crew chief, Derick Finley, and pointed to his sunglasses -- probably not as a goodwill gesture to help Bodine see more clearly on the track.
Marlin, Stewart among those upset over track incidents
By DAVID SCOTT
The Charlotte Observer
Tony Stewart is held for one lap on pit road after pitting outside the pit box boundary.
AP
Tony Stewart is held for one lap on pit road after pitting outside the pit box boundary.
Unless a few drivers do some serious cooling down between now and Sunday, there will no shortage of ill feelings as NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit makes its first Pocono stop this week.
After Sunday's MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway, Sterling Marlin is mad at Jeff Gordon. Gordon says he's not angry with Marlin, but he's not backing down. Tony Stewart is really upset with race winner Ryan Newman. Newman says Stewart should just look in the mirror.
It could be interesting at Sunday's Pocono 500.
Marlin took exception to Gordon's bump coming off Turn 2 on Lap 114 at Dover. It was the continuation of a mini-trend for Gordon, who hit Marlin and Ward Burton at The Winston all-star race two weekends ago at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"That's twice in three races. It's getting kind of old," Marlin said. "I don't know what's wrong with the 24 (car), but we need to find out. You've got to give and take in this league, and (Gordon) has done a lot of taking. It's disappointing."
Guess you've got to give Gordon credit for not knocking into Marlin in last week's Coca-Cola 600 in Concord.
"I definitely got into him, no doubt about it," Gordon said of the Dover bump, which took out Marlin's No. 40 car -- one of the field's stronger cars. "I didn't mean to. Sure he's mad. I was mad when I got hit by him one time at Richmond. Hopefully, we'll get past it.
"He's not a guy I really talk to a lot and he doesn't talk to me a lot. I'll imagine we'll see each other on the race track soon."
Then there's Stewart, whose anger-management issues are well documented. Coming off the 2002 series championship, he'd kept his temper under wraps as his team faltered this season, falling from second earlier in the year to 20th heading into Dover.
But when NASCAR docked him a lap for missing his pit box by a few inches while leading with what was easily the field's strongest car, well, a guy can only take so much.
Stewart soon had a chance to get his lap back, and when a yellow flag came, he needed to beat leader Newman to the start-finish line to do so.
One of the sport's unwritten rules says if a race leader can let a driver he thinks isn't a threat to win back onto the lead lap, he should. The way Stewart was running, he clearly could have been considered a threat. Newman certainly thought he was.
Imagine what Newman would be dealing with, had he allowed Stewart back on the lead lap and Stewart won the race. As it was, Stewart finished fourth and moved up to 16th in points, so that would have been a real possibility.
Stewart, who didn't talk to the media after the race, was still able to clearly express his feelings with the following:
• Nearly putting Newman into the wall during the ensuing caution.
• Making an obscene gesture toward Newman's crew during a later pit stop.
• Yelling at Newman's crew chief, Matt Borland, after the race.
"We're racers," said Newman. "We compete against each other and try to be friends, but it's a competitive sport. He's not going to invite me to dinner tonight. There have been times I haven't wanted to invite him to dinner either, but we can get through it.
"To me, it was his own fault. What happened, happened."
Kyle Petty also got into the act after Todd Bodine bumped him out of the race. Petty walked past Bodine's crew chief, Derick Finley, and pointed to his sunglasses -- probably not as a goodwill gesture to help Bodine see more clearly on the track.
