Sunday, July 19, 2009

Busch: Stewart caused Daytona crash

Stewart caused Daytona crash

Kyle Busch is still unhappy about the incident between him and Tony Stewart at Daytona last weekend, saying the two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion "dumped" him out of the lead on the final lap.

Earlier this week Stewart spoke to Busch on the phone about the incident and the current points' leader said at Indianapolis during a press conference that both of them were "on the same page" about what had happened on that final lap last Saturday.

However, speaking on Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway, Busch did not seem to be at ease with the situation yet.

"I really don't have feelings, it really didn't mean a whole lot," Busch replied when asked about how felt about Stewart calling him to clear things up. "I thank him for I guess, checking on me to see if I was alive."

Busch agreed with Stewart's explanation of the incident, which suggested that the Gibbs driver moved twice to block his former team-mate, making contact the second time as the nose of Stewart's car was already on the outside of Busch's Toyota, ultimately igniting the wreck.

But despite that, Busch pointed out that before the incident, Stewart had hit him while driving out of Turn 4, unsettling his car and getting him loose. He suggested NASCAR should act in those cases, and penalise the driver hitting the leader from behind whenever an accident emerges after that.

"I think NASCAR can take a step and look at it and if the second place driver 'dumps' the leader, then black-flag his [butt], he doesn't get the win, you know," Busch said.

"If he's on him from behind and moves him out of the way and there's no wreck then fine, he can win the race. But if you're up alongside the guy and you dump him, then I'd say black-flag him and give the win to the third-placed car."

Busch then reckoned Stewart "dumped" him on that final lap at Daytona.

Meanwhile Stewart avoided controversy, saying he had already cleared the air with Busch on the phone on a 30-minute conversation on Tuesday.

"I talked to Kyle I guess it was on Tuesday that I spoke to him and we had a good conversation with him and that's the conversation I'm going off of," Stewart said. "So that's all I'm going to talk about it."

The Daytona finish was a nearly a carbon copy of the incident that unfolded between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski on the final lap at Talladega earlier this year. Neither time NASCAR has issued any penalties to the drivers involved.

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