Hold the phone: Stewart says NASCAR did the right thing?

MIKE HARRIS

The Associated Press

Thursday, Oct. 04, 2007

Nobody could blame two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart if he was upset after NASCAR waited out the rain last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, a decision that cost Stewart a win and eventually a lot of points in the Chase.

Stewart, stretching his gas to the limit, was out front when heavy rains hit the speedway just past halfway in the race. If NASCAR had called it at that point, Stewart would have been the winner.

Instead, officials waited more than two hours and eventually restarted the race. Stewart, who started the day just two points out of the lead, was involved in a crash, finished 39th and dropped to fourth – 117 points out. On his satellite radio show Tuesday night, he said NASCAR did the right thing.

“You look at it from their standpoint,” he said. “If they call the race, we’re going to leave Kansas City with a 50- or 60-point lead and that could have been the difference between us stealing a championship away from somebody or not.

“NASCAR, in my opinion, did exactly the right thing, did everything they could to get it in.

"It’s the same thing we would have done at Eldora (the dirt track Stewart owns in Ohio). And the reason it was the right decision is let us settle it on the race track. Let us win the championship on the race track.

"Don’t let weather be a determining factor in those last 10 races of who is going to win or not win the championship.”

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