TheSpread.com

Stewart Stews After Texas
Pete Pistone
Managing Editor

Tony Stewart was looking for his second straight win at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

But instead of leaving with a pair of wins, all he got in Sunday's Samsung 500 was a pair of spins, lots of boos and a great deal of frustration.

Stewart's first mishap of the day came when he and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact, causing the No. 20 to spin wildly.

The move didn't earn the rookie Montoya any praise from Stewart.

"I'm going to race people how they race me," Stewart said. "You earn respect by doing things that are smart out there, and trying to pull out of line with 110 laps to go coming to the green flag doesn't make much sense. If you race people with respect you get respect.

"If you do stuff like that and try to race people before you get to the line, then when I raced him, I raced him. And he took us out. That's just what happened."

Stewart was upset with what he perceived to be Montoya's impatience.

"Maybe Ganassi doesn't pay him to run in the back, but you might want to be just a little bit more patient just long enough to learn everything and how everything's done over here," Stewart said. "He didn't make friends with me today so he won't get any help from me in the future."

Stewart's second advanture of the day found him spinning again off turn four, this time collecting Dale Earhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch, who collided behind him.

That incident caused the thousands of Earhnardt, Jr. fans to send a cascade of boos down at Stewart.

"Look at all the Junior fans that are mad at me for," Stewart said. "I didn't even see what happened to Junior. I know I caused it, obviously. I'm trying to get one of my laps back right there. I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. There's no way in hell I would ever do anything to put Dale Jr. in jeopardy.

"It's disheartening when you have 180,000 people booing you every time you come around. That's what makes this stuff not fun anymore. It's not about the racing."

The frustrating day had Stewart pondering his future.

"It's like nothing we can do is right," Stewart said. "If we'd have been the one to do that to someone else, we would be slandered in the media for life for doing it. For some strange way, it will be my fault for some reason. It always is.

"I'm ready to retire. As soon as I get enough money saved to where I can retire, I'd be more than happy to step away."

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