Collision leaves Stewart all bent out of shape

LOUDON, N.H. -- As Tony Stewart's crinkled No. 20 Chevrolet teetered back to the garage, battered by an early tangle with Ryan Newman during yesterday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300, a roar went up from the crowd at New Hampshire International Speedway.

During the restart after their run-in, Newman had another incident that sent his No. 12 Dodge back -- literally, as he traveled pit road in reverse -- to the garage.

Call it NASCAR karma.

``I got wrecked by Ryan Newman," said Stewart, the defending Nextel Cup champion. ``Everybody races each other different. There's guys that are really good at giving and taking. There's guys that aren't. Ryan's one of those guys that's not good at the giving part."

When Stewart drove to the garage on Lap 92 and Newman left the racetrack five turns later, the field lost the two drivers who had swiped the last two checkered flags at NHIS (Stewart won last July and Newman claimed last September's race). And with their poor showings (Stewart recorded a 37th-place finish and Newman took 39th), both drivers tumbled down the points standings.

Stewart is in 11th place, 458 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. Newman dropped one slot to 19th, 823 points behind Johnson and in a near-impossible position to qualify for the 10-event Chase for the Nextel Cup with seven races to go.

Newman's weekend had started in a more promising manner. On Friday, his was the fastest car around the 1.058-mile track in qualifying as Newman won his fourth career pole at NHIS. But yesterday, after leading for 16 laps, the juice seeped out of the No. 12, which faded and fell back into the pack.

Just before the jousting began, Newman pitted and took four fresh tires. Stewart, leading the race at the time, was still driving on old tires and was racing in the outside groove. Newman, two laps down, drove low on Stewart in hopes of gaining a lap when the two cars touched, sending the No. 20 into its race-changing spin.

``First of all, Tony preaches give and take," Newman said. ``Second of all, he's never wrong. We were coming on fresh tires. We were two laps down at that point. I got up into him just a little bit and he pulled down on me a little bit. He didn't give any. I didn't expect him to give any, but it would have been nice if he did. He just basically came down on me and took us both out."

Before the wreck, Stewart had led for 28 laps, outclassing the field like he did last July and for much of last September's race, when he finished second. After the wreck, the Home Depot car was in no shape to continue. As Stewart lobbed expletives over his radio, crew chief Greg Zipadelli ordered his crew to examine the car's nose and caved-in left front.

But it was soon discovered that the car would have to be taken back to the garage. In Stall 2, the crew raised the Monte Carlo while Stewart, after removing his helmet and gloves, nursed a bottle of water and watched the repairs on the damaged radiator and front end.

``At some point, you finally get tired of giving to everybody or to particular individuals when all they do is take, take, take and they don't give back," said Stewart, when asked whether he considered letting Newman pass. ``So when you catch them 30 laps into it and you have to race your guts out to get by him, it doesn't make you really want to pull over and just let the same guy go later on in the race."

Minutes later, on the next green-flag run, Newman was jostled by Michael Waltrip's No. 55 Dodge. Newman went into a spin and was tagged by Ken Schrader's No. 21 Ford, dropping him from contention.

In Stall 10, the No. 12 also went up as Newman remained in the vehicle. The team wrapped tape around the damaged left rear, while crew chief Matt Borland searched for additional damage. According to Newman, some oil had trickled into the radiator, ending any hope of getting back among the leaders.

``He's usually like that here," Newman said of Waltrip, who touched off an incident last September that resulted in a Robby Gordon helmet toss at the door of his Napa Auto Parts vehicle. ``We didn't get wrecked hard enough to get out and throw a helmet at him like it usually happens here."

After Zipadelli's crew finished its fixes and sent Stewart's ride back onto the track, a crew member remained in the garage, sweeping up bits of rubber and sheet metal. Stewart's day -- like Newman's a little later -- was trashed.