Stewart: someone could be killed

Stewart complained that the bump drafting - where a driver literally pushes the car in front forward by hitting them on the straight - is getting to levels where driver's lives are at risk.

Stewart finished third in the season opening Budweiser Shootout this evening, and claimed that the bump drafting in that race made him anxious about getting back in the car.

The technique was crucial in helping rookie Denny Hamlin to victory in the event, where he was bump drafted by Jimmie Johnson on the penultimate lap, which helped Hamlin get clear of Stewart.

Stewart believes that NASCAR should change the technical rules by next week's Daytona 500 and soften the front bumper of each car, therefore discouraging drivers to hit the car in front because their car would be badly damaged as a result. Currently the cars have reinforced front bumpers for the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega.

"It is out of control," Stewart said. "I was sitting here watching the TV and watching the tribute to Dale Earnhardt who died five years ago, but five years from now we are probably going to have to do another tribute to another driver.

"Because we are probably going to kill somebody from Wednesday through Sunday next week. It could be me, it could be Dale Earnhardt Jr - it could be anybody."

Stewart didn't blame the other drivers and admitted to bump drafting other cars several times himself.

"It's not the drivers are the problem - it's the fact we have quarter-inch steel plates in our front bumpers and reinforced rear bumpers," he continued. "If my idea counts for anything, and I've been racing 27 years, is to leave the front bumpers alone and make the front bumper soft. So you are going to hurt your car if you do that.

"It is not the guys who are doing the hitting - believe me I did my share of bump drafting too. The problem is not that drivers are trying to get people out of control but it is a product of the environment that we are in.

"We are doing it in the middle of the corner, guys are doing it coming off the corner. I got hit so hard by Ryan Newman, but he's not trying to hurt anyone, he's just trying to push along and keep the line moving. But we are going to hurt somebody really, really bad next Sunday if we don't do something.

"I was just trying to save my life out there. I will now up my life insurance policy on Monday morning as soon as the office opens. I'm not anxious to get back into the car on Wednesday for practice if that is what practice is going to be like."

Dale Earnhardt Jr, whose father was killed at the track five years ago this week, reckoned that there was nothing that can be done.

"It is dangerous but they pay us pretty good to do this so I'm not complaining," Earnhardt said.

"Bump drafting is a necessary evil and it is what it is. You can't race restrictor plate races without doing. You have to do it, or else we would just race single file and nobody would turn up to watch that. When the guy behind me can't lift because somebody is pushing him, they don't know they are turning me sideways. The guy three rows back doesn't know what he's doing."