Tony Stewart: 'I Can't Believe The Other Drivers Fell For That 'Safety' Crap'

DAYTONA BEACH, FL—2005 Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart, who consistently preached the importance of safety in the weeks leading up to the Daytona 500 only to be involved in several on-track incidents during the race, said Tuesday he simply couldn’t believe that anyone was taken in by his “safety crap.” “I mean, come on, this is me we’re talking about here,” said Stewart, who admitted to purposefully sending Matt Kenseth spinning down the track directly in the path of other drivers while on his way to a fifth-place finish. “Everyone should know I don’t give a damn. I knocked Matt out of the way, I took a good run at Jeff Gordon, and if by-God Jay Leno and his pace car had gotten in my way, I’d have wrecked his ass, too.” After receiving a reprimand from NASCAR’s public-relations department for his comments, Stewart promised he would henceforth conduct himself in a manner befitting a champion, adding only, “Suckers.”