Stewart's fighting win

But his victory was clouded by an incident on lap 127 when Stewart appeared to tap Kasey Kahne's Evernham Dodge into a spin as the race went green after one of several cautions. Kahne hit the wall and caused a seven-car pile-up. Kahne's Evernham pit crew, led by crew chief Tony Baldwin, were incensed and started a scuffle with Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing personnel, that had to be broken up by NASCAR officials.

"I wish I knew what had happened there," said Stewart. "I don't know whether Kasey [Kahne] got loose and had to get out of the throttle, or whether he checked up, but he lost ground and I checked up and I tried not to hit him. That was a bad deal. I hate it for him and for me."

Kahne was forced to retire from the race and was clearly disappointed. "As I put it into fourth gear, my car turned right, right into the wall," Kahne said. "Obviously, Stewart was right in the back of me. I don't know why he did that, or what happened there.

"He had the car to beat all day. All he needed to do was go through a couple of corners and he would have probably passed us."

Baldwin was livid over the incident and was summoned to see the stewards after the race. "There's no reason to do that stuff," he said. "He gets away with it all he wants, and all NASCAR does is fine him. He's got plenty of money. The guy needs to sit out a race.

"I was going to talk to Stewart's crew chief, [Greg Zipadelli] and tell him his driver's a moron. I got off the pit box, and he started pushing me. Then the official grabbed me. I don't know what happened after that."

Kahne's team owner Ray Evernham called for NASCAR to take action against Stewart who has been involved in other on-track altercations with Kahne and Rusty Wallace in previous races this season.

"NASCAR refuses to do anything about it," Evernham said. "[They] had the perfect opportunity. You've got a guy that does it week in, week out, and nobody's doing anything. He gave Rusty [Wallace] the finger [at California]. NASCAR needs to do something about it before somebody gets hurt."

Veteran driver Dale Jarrett had a strong run to finish third ahead of the winner of the previous two races, Jeff Gordon, who recovered to fourth after a difficult race despite starting from pole.