Tony Stewart Overshadows Hamlin
Tony Stewart's latest lapse in judgment overshadows a dominating performance by his teammate Denny Hamlin
It was a transfixing afternoon for two of the three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers.
Once again, Denny Hamlin displayed utter dominance on the 2.5 tri-angular shaped track at Pocono. Hamlin won the pole and led 151 of the 200 laps paced. With his second win of his career, Hamlin has climbed up to eighth in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings, 52 points ahead of 11th place Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"Our FedEx Chevy was so good that it was like no matter what anybody did, whether it was two tires, four tires, no tires, we were the best car on the race track."
Hamlin's 2006 rookie season is beginning to resemble that of his teammate Tony Stewart's in 1999.
Speaking of rookies and Tony Stewart, once again the man they call 'Smoke' played God of NASCAR in determining how drivers should and should not drive. After he assumed that Clint Bowyer calculatingly ran him up the track on lap 31, he tersely swerved into the #07 Chevrolet, which turned the #07 into the #99 of Carl Edwards, ending both drivers hope at a Chase for the Championship appearance.
Last week I ripped into Tony Stewart and his invariable whining about give and take. I was hoping I wouldn't have to duke it out with all of the Stewart fans again, but I am more than willing to if it means I get my point across.
Clint Bowyer, a NASCAR rookie, has raced the veterans clean for the most part, trying to warrant respect- respect that all drivers desire. The only incident that I can recall pertaining to Bowyer in a negative light was when he took out Jason Leffler in the Busch Series race at Phoenix back in April.
Bowyer appeared to have given Stewart plenty of room on the outside, but he slipped up the track and crowded Stewart into the wall. Boo-freakin'-hoo, Tony! You got muscled over by a rookie! Get over it and move on instead of playing God with other drivers' seasons. Even though the Nextel Cup Chase For the Championship was a long shot for both Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards, it wasn't up to Stewart to influence their fate.
Instead of penalizing Edwards a lap, they should have rewarded him a lap for spinning the #20 car on pit road. It's about time someone challenges the playground bully.
"Let me just say this, if it weren't for respect of the sport and the people watching and his team and everything, he'd be out there bleeding right now. That's so frustrating. How can a person make it this far in life being that much of a jerk."
A myriad of fans echo the sentiments of that last sentence quoted by Edwards.
Kurt Busch got punched in the nose because he tried to settle issues with drivers on the track- it's time for someone to send that same message to Stewart. And it should have been Bowyer- and it wasn't like he didn't try. If it weren't for a few track officials, and several crew members, I believe Stewart would have been humiliated by the slender rookie from Emporia, Kansas. Sooner or later someone is going to snap. Testosterone only allows for men to be pushed around for so long.
It would be explicable if it were Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, or Bobby Labonte complaining about give and take, but it's Tony Stewart, the guy nicknamed Smoke.
Quote of the week is courtesy of Tony Stewart's preposterous comments regarding the late Dale Earnhardt
"If the 3 car was here, I don't think we would have the same problems in this series as we have...He always had a way of letting drivers know where they stood and when to move and when not to move."
My take on the matter is if the 3 car was here, Tony Stewart would have learned a valuable lesson a long time ago, and we wouldn't have the same problems that he has caused.
email the author: autoracing@suite101.com
