Stewart likely to be let off hook, Montoya under review
Quote selected text Published April 24th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Tony Stewart is not expected to be fined for skipping the post-race press conference last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, but Juan Pablo Montoya may be for an obscene gesture made on camera prior to a Busch Series practice.
NASCAR officials are reviewing whether to penalize the former Formula One star who made the gesture at a cameraman following him from Nextel Cup qualifying to the Busch garage for practice.
According to officials at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Montoya thought the cameraman was a person who has been shadowing him as part of a documentary for more than a month and that the gesture was all in fun.
There is nothing in the NASCAR by-laws differentiating between using an obscene gesture or word in fun or anger.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 25 driver points and fined $10,000 in 2004 for using an inappropriate word on live television after a win at Talladega.
Meanwhile, NASCAR officials plan to speak with Stewart and remind him of his post-race responsibilities. Stewart left the Phoenix track without fulfilling his media obligations because he was upset with a second-place finish.
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Ehh? Wasn’t his gesture made during practice inside the car and the SPEED in-car camera caught it? Or was the cameraman inside his car….reason enough to give him the birdie.
“Or was the cameraman inside his car….reason enough to give him the birdie. “
How many other drivers make gestures, we at my house have come to calling it a “NASCAR hand gesture” by the way. How many of them have gotten fined or docked points? I ask that one little question.
Oh PLEASE!! I don’t give two shits aabout the damn finger! Opps I’m bad. Bad word.
I thought by now that NASCAR , whether if be on FOX ,Speed, or ESPN, would use the 7 second delay to prevent such things from being shown. I hate to point out the obvious,but someone has to do it.
Yeah Tony shouldn’t get penalized, but its pretty stupid that he wouldn’t talk, why not, he finished 2nd, which is good. I hate him, and always will.
As for Montoya, i didn’t see what happened??????
Tony has it right. Nascar has been doing phoney cautions for years now.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two-time champion Tony Stewart likened NASCAR to professional wrestling and accused it of using bogus caution flags to shape races in biting comments made on his weekly radio show.
“I guess NASCAR thinks, ‘Hey, wrestling worked, and it was for the most part staged, so I guess it’s going to work in racing, too.’ I can’t understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they’re stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.”
– Tony Stewart
Stewart’s appearance on his Tuesday night show was his first since skipping a post-race press conference in Phoenix. He dominated Saturday night’s race but lost after a late exchange of leads with winner Jeff Gordon. Stewart said he refused interviews to avoid bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.
“It’s like playing God,” he said on his Sirius Satellite Radio program. “They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It’s happened too many times this year.”
Stewart, who said he was fighting a fever and left the two-hour show early, went on to say fans are complaining about debris cautions and NASCAR isn’t listening.
“I guess NASCAR thinks, ‘Hey, wrestling worked, and it was for the most part staged, so I guess it’s going to work in racing, too,’” he said. “I can’t understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they’re stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.
“I don’t know that they’ve run a fair race all year,” he said.
NASCAR officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Stewart led a race-high 132 laps at Phoenix but lost the lead while pitting under the final caution, which came for an accident. He used an impressive three-wide pass to re-claim the lead, only to swap it right back to Gordon, who drove away to victory.
Stewart called it the only legitimate caution of the day.
“To me, it’s not all about the money, it’s about the integrity of the sport,” he said on his radio program. “When I feel our own sanctioning body isn’t taking care of that, it’s hard to support them and feel proud about being a driver in the Nextel Cup Series when they’re throwing debris cautions.”
He has had a frustrating start to the season, dominating several races but failing to find his way to Victory Lane. He was the class of the field at Daytona and Bristol, only to lose those races because of a wreck and mechanical failure.
He also lost a race in Atlanta when a debris caution came out while he was leading with 25 laps to go and the field pitted. Jimmie Johnson passed him for the victory with three laps to go.
Stewart was so frustrated after wrecking in Texas two weeks ago — an accident caused by hard racing with Juan Pablo Montoya and criticized because Stewart ultimately wrecked Dale Earnhardt Jr. — he threatened retirement.
The 35-year-old Stewart had calmed by the time he hosted last week’s radio show, when he said he talked of retiring out of frustration.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press