Is Tony Stewart Ever In The Wrong?

After tapping his teammate Denny Hamlin on lap 14 of the Pepsi 400, Tony Stewart denied responsibility for the incident.

You gotta love Tony Stewart. He is debatably the most talented drivers in the garage. But man, the words that come out of his mouth often baffle me.

After the lap 14 accident with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart had this to say.

"The No. 11 just stopped for no reason, right in the middle of Turn 4. I'm sure he was getting tight because for three laps in a row we were catching him through the center and the exit of the corner...All of a sudden he just stops on the exit of [Turn] 4 in front of 42 cars and I guess expects all of us to drive around him. I don't know. It's tore up two really good racecars...he tried to crash us on Friday in practice and didn't get it done so he finished it off [Saturday]."

He even went as far as to hint that Hamlin is not a good teammate.

Basically, he wrecked Denny Hamlin, and then publicly chastised the second-year driver. While it is true, Hamlin's car appeared to slow down due to handling issues, Stewart could have taken notice, radioed to his spotter to 'let the 11 know that the 20 is faster and for him to kindly yield. Later in the race in the race, the 20 will return the favor'. Instead, Stewart rear-ended Hamlin, and sounded ridiculous all throughout his interview. He sounded like the junior high class-clown who never accepted blame for firing spitballs.

Hamlin did something most drivers would not have done. He took the high road and accepted blame, even though it was clearly not his fault. The sophomore driver has been criticized this season for throwing his crew under the bus at Darlington, however, he showed some class by not firing back at Stewart.

Hamlin and Stewart have the potential to be the 1-2 punch that Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have become. They would be wise to work together throughout the second-half of the season.

Just an observation here, but Denny Hamlin has performed a tad better than Tony Stewart...could that be why Stewart harbors resentment towards his younger teammate? We saw a similar scenario at Penske Racing a few years ago when the new guy came in and won and the past champion was not all that thrilled about it.

And speaking of Hendrick Motorsports teammates, I will delve into that issue later this week.

autoracing@suite101.com