Thou Shalt Not Malign Thy Sanctioning Body

This weekend the Nextel Cup series is at Talladega, the longest and fastest track on the circuit. It's 2.6 miles of high banked restrictor plate racing which means much of the field will be 3-wide and bumper-to-bumper all day at 190 mph. It should be a good race to watch.

One car almost didn't get out of the hauler this morning. Former champ Tony Stewart went on his radio show this week and blasted NASCAR for the spate of "debris" cautions we've seen in this season's races. There's a suspicion on Stewart's part (and probably others) that these mysterious cautions occur for the purpose of bunching up the field and making for more exciting racing, rather than protecting drivers from something that might puncture a tire or pose a safety hazard. They seem to happen with great regularity near the end of the race.

Stewart's day in Talladega didn't start out too well because of his comments, as reported at Jayski:

UPDATE 2: Tony Stewart met with NASCAR officials early this morning after a week in which he first skipped out on postrace media obligations following his second-place finish at Phoenix and then bashed the sanctioning body on his weekly radio show. According to the NASCAR entry blank, "the second and third place drivers, and the highest finishing Rookie of the Year candidate, must also report to the media center upon conclusion of the race." Since he left the track without fulfilling his obligation to speak to TV reporters or appear in the media center, Stewart has lashed out at NASCAR on his weekly radio show. Stewart met with officials at 7:00am/et, and NASCAR did not let his Joe Gibbs Racing team unload its car from the transporter until that meeting ended at 7:35am. Other competitors had unloaded their cars and begin work when the garage opened at 7am. Stewart is scheduled to meet with the media Friday.(SceneDaily.com)(4-27-2007)

UPDATE 3: ........The remarks infuriated image-conscious NASCAR officials, who called Stewart in to address the issue at 6 a.m. Friday, the hour the garage opened. "It's a little tender for me to sit down right now," Stewart quipped. But it wasn't a joke to NASCAR, which was expected to announce penalties later Friday. Series officials watched from the back of the media center as a humbled Stewart made his comments, which contrasted starkly with his remarks Tuesday. "To be honest, the group that I spoke with this morning is a group of peers that I trust. If they tell me the stuff is out there, I believe them," he said. "I should have went to them instead of just saying it out in public. That's frustration that's been building up with all these debris cautions." (NASCAR.com)

I'm guessing that the boys in the big yellow trailer reminded Mr. Stewart that this series was around before he showed up and will be around long after he's gone, and that he drives in the series only because they let him. You insult NASCAR at your peril.

I'll bet Tony makes all his media obligations this week, and will be as quiet as a mouse when a caution flies near the end of the race (as it's almost sure to do).