Stewart fined $10,000 for post-race collision

The two drivers were battling for third place on the last lap when Gordon's Chevrolet gave Stewart's Pontiac a nudge, sending him spinning into the wall. Stewart then sped round the race track on the cool down lap and, as Gordon's Chevrolet entered pit road, Stewart pulled up behind him turned into the rear quarter-panel of the car, spinning him around.

"We just went in the corner on the last lap together," said Stewart of the first collision. "My spotter told me he was looking low. By looking at the [video] tape he was a little further [alongside] than that. But, I didn't see him at the door and I know that any time the roles have been reversed he is expecting me to lift.

"It's just racing. It's just Bristol. It's part of the deal. The reason we ended up in the [NASCAR] trailer [after the race] is because I spun him on the pit lane and that was wrong. I could have hurt somebody, in all reality. I apologise to Home Depot and all of our sponsors for doing that because that wasn't right," he added.

Gordon and Stewart were involved in an incident on the second lap of last year's race at Watkins Glen. Gordon confronted Stewart at the team's transporter after that incident and vowed to slam him into the wall the next chance he got, although the two raced each other the rest of the season without any incidents.

When asked about Stewart spinning him out on Sunday, Gordon replied: "That didn't surprise me one bit."

Stewart took responsibility for the actions and wants put the incident behind him.

"I've got no hard feelings against Jeff and I don't think he has any against me," said Stewart. "We both are open wheel racers that are stock car racers now, and we're both aggressive and we both want to win and we both want to get every spot we can get every time we're on the race track. We just had a meeting of the minds in the last quarter of the last lap after a 500-lap race."



In the Sixties and Seventies, two of the most famous numbers in racing were 43 and 21. Richard Petty drove the number 43 to a record 200 NASCAR Winston Cup victories while many of David Pearson's 105 wins came in the number 21 for the Wood Brothers.

Those two numbers were emblazoned on top of the scoreboard in the closing stages of Sunday's Food City 500 as Elliott Sadler drove the number 21 Wood Brothers Ford to victory over John Andretti's Petty Enterprises number 43 Dodge.

"I think Elliott should respect history and he should have let the 43 in front of him," joked Andretti. "I know the 21 won a lot of races, but I think the 43 won 200. I know history, and that's the first thing somebody said to me. I'm just real happy for that team. They've had a lot of lows, and I know what those lows feel like. You get a win, and that fixes a lot of things."



Former champion Dale Jarrett is the NASCAR Winston Cup points leader with 871 points. The Ford driver, who won the 1999 title, has a 45-point lead over Jeff Gordon. Sterling Marlin is third, followed by Johnny Benson and Steve Park.