Speedweeks gets off to smashing start

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Speedweeks got off to a volatile start Friday night, with former NASCAR champions Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch at the center of it all.

Stewart and Busch were involved in the second of two wrecks during practice for tonight’s Budweiser Shootout, an exhibition race that kicks off nine days of racing at Daytona International Speedway.

Busch was blocking Stewart, and contact between the two cars sent Busch spinning into the wall. Stewart then turned low and ran into teammate Denny Hamlin.

As Stewart tried to drive to the garage, Busch caught up and twice slammed into the side of his car. Busch then blocked Stewart from exiting the track, prompting some of Stewart’s crew members to run toward pit road. They appeared to yell at Busch.

Both drivers were called into a meeting with NASCAR. Jeff Gordon and crew chief Chad Knaus burst into laughter as Stewart walked toward the NASCAR trailer with a throng of reporters and cameramen in tow.

Fans on an observation deck above the garage area shouted encouragement to Stewart, including, “Get it on, Tony!”

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said officials would meet with them again today. It was undecided whether they will be punished, and this gives NASCAR its first chance to decide how serious officials were when they said last month they will allow their drivers to show more emotion this season.

The confrontation between Stewart and Busch was clearly emotional, but NASCAR was upset with the bumping and banging under caution.

“They made it pretty clear that these two drivers are going to have to really think about what they are doing when they are in that race car,” Hunter said.

It ended a wild two sessions of practice for a no-points, 70-lap dash for cash.

“We are getting aggressive out there for not a lot of money on the line now,” fellow driver Greg Biffle said.

Eleven of the 23 cars practicing for the exhibition were damaged, a possible indication of what’s in store leading up to next week’s season-opening Daytona 500.

The first crash had less emotion, but included more cars.

It started when Clint Bowyer nipped the back of Ryan Newman’s car, sending Newman sliding up the track and collecting several others in an eight-car crash.