NASCAR WCUP: Stewart tangles with Robby Gordon during practice at Daytona
16 February 2000
Posted by Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ON THE INCIDENT WITH ROBBY GORDON ON TRACK) "Everybody knows how the draft works. You need to get a half a car on a guy, then suck up to him and it pulls you up. He went by and I went to do the same thing, and about the time I got up past his bumper - he didn't make a hard left or anything. But, he moved down to the bottom, and there wasn't anyone in front of us, so it wasn't like we were trying to get a draft on anybody else. I finally got to the apron where I couldn't go down any more. He clipped the nose and off he went.
"If he thought he was clear, then that's what we have spotters for. So, maybe his spotter made a mistake, because if he knew he wasn't clear then he wouldn't have come down. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I'm worried about the 125 now. I got my car fixed and I went back out, and worried about what the car was doing. The car is driving a lot better than it did before that, so he may have fixed something for me."
(ON THE INCIDENT IN THE GARAGE) "You guys saw what happened. You decide. I'm not going to elaborate on that. I've got better things to do with my time than talk about that." (WERE YOU SURPRISED HE CAME TO YOUR GARAGE STALL) "No, I'm not surprised. That doesn't surprise me a bit. I told him what happened, but I've got a race to worry about tomorrow. I'm not worried about him. If he is a professional like he says he is, then it's all over with and it's done now. It's not a big deal."
DAVE BLANEY, NO. 93 AMOCO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ON THE INCIDENT DURING PRACTICE) "The left front went down. Everybody got in a big pile and slowed up. We were trying to dodge to miss each other and I got together with another guy. I just rubbed against another car, but I cut the left front, I guess. I felt it start coming apart at the end of the back straightaway and got it slowed down a little bit, but I still couldn't turn. We were just going into one and it got all piled up for some reason, and I was trying to dodge somebody and they were trying to dodge me and we got together a little bit. I didn't think it was enough to hurt anything. But, a couple laps later, I could feel it shake apart, and couldn't get it slowed down enough. It could have been a lot worse."
BILL DAVIS, OWNER, NO. 93 AMOCO PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ON BLANEY'S INCIDENT DURING PRACTICE) "It's too bad, because we just lost all that practice. But, they'll come back and recover from it. But, this is the last practice before the 'Twins' and you want to run well in the 'Twins' to get that good starting spot for the race. But, the car will be fine. They'll recover from that. But, we've got a good time to fall back on, just in case something like this happens. The same thing could happen tomorrow. But, they're going to be in the Daytona 500 no matter what happens and they'll have a respectable run."
Text provided by Al Larsen
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