Stewart to be penalised

Toward the end of Sunday's race at Sonoma, Stewart appeared to spin out the car of rookie Brian Vickers. Afterward, in the pits, Stewart approached Vickers's car, reached in the window, and after a heated conversation appeared to attempt to grab Vickers by the front of the uniform.

Vickers said he was astonished by Stewart's action and said all he had done was to grin at Stewart, wondering at the absurdity of being chastised for having been spun out. Vickers did not otherwise respond.

France indicated that any penalties against Stewart would be handed out before this weekend's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but he stopped short of saying how severe the penalties would be, with some calling for at least a one-race suspension.

"It is a big deal," said France. "We're going to see how big it is here shortly. But his behavior at Sears Point is unacceptable. We will be dealing with that shortly. Tony has to work within the same rule structure and behavioral expectations that we have for all of our drivers. And one way or the other, we will figure that out."

"Tony is not on probation now," he added. "He is like any other driver, and we are going to look at the circumstances open-mindedly."

France indicated he would leave administration of matters, as usual, to NASCAR president Mike Helton, who supervises events day-to-day, but he noted that he would make the final call.

"I'll sign off on anything substantial," he said. "Mike will, as he always does, make his recommendations, and we'll do that as a group. We have talked to Tony, and I'm sure we'll talk again with Tony."

That opened speculation as to who might sit in for Stewart at Daytona, should he be suspended. Stewart protege J.J. Yeley, rookie driver of Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 Busch Series car, would be a possibility, as the team has plans to graduate Yeley toward Nextel Cup toward the end of this season. Veteran Mike Bliss, who drives JGR's other Busch car, also would be a candidate.