Stewart's Tropicana 400 win marred by pit brawl

JOLIET, Ill. -- Tony Stewart's first victory of the year didn't have much drama. His crew took care of that in the pits.

Stewart ran away with the Tropicana 400 on Sunday, but the win was marred by a wreck with rookie Kasey Kahne that touched off a fight in the pits between the two teams' crews and led owner Ray Evernham to call for the 2002 series champion to be suspended.

Stewart dominated the race, leading 160 of 267 laps on the 1 1/2-mile track. He took the lead for good on lap 241 and beat Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson by 2.925 seconds.

It was Stewart's first victory since last October. But in typical Stewart fashion, it was marked by controversy. He even was booed in victory lane.

Kahne was leading the race with Sterling Marlin second and Stewart third as the field bunched up for the green flag on lap 127. There were several cars not on the lead lap in front of Kahne.

After the restart, Stewart passed Marlin on the outside, but his Chevrolet got too close to Kahne's Dodge and tapped the back end. Kahne started spinning, sliding headfirst into the wall while Stewart darted out of harm's way and into the lead.

"Obviously the 20 (car) was in the back of me and put us up in the wall," Kahne said. "I don't know why he would do that. He had the car to beat all day. All he had to do was go through a couple more turns and he probably would have passed us."

But Stewart said he didn't intend any harm. NASCAR officials determined the collision was simply a racing accident and there will be no penalties.

"I was right on his butt, but all of the sudden he checked up and I don't know what happened," Stewart said. "That was a bad deal. We could have gotten taken out just as easily. (Kasey's) the last guy I'd want to hurt."

A few seconds after the wreck, Kahne's crew chief Tommy Baldwin charged into Stewart's pit. Baldwin and Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief, shouted at each other, and then members of the crews began fighting.

"I was just talking to Zippy and telling him his driver is a moron," Baldwin said. "They started pushing me and then the official grabbed me. I don't know what happened after that."

The pit crews mixed it up for a few minutes before order was restored.

"He definitely needs to get suspended, and he should have his (backside) beat," said Evernham, owner of Kahne's team, Evernham Motorsports. "That's the problem with him. Nobody has ever really grabbed him and given him a good beating.

"If he doesn't get suspended, maybe I'll do that."