NASCAR: Incident with Stewart puts Scott in wall

NASCAR officials summoned Tony Stewart to the Sprint Cup hauler after the Southern 500 on Sunday night following an on-track altercation that wrecked Brian Scott.

The incident occurred on lap 203 as Scott, who was running four laps down, slid in front of the three-time Sprint Cup champion. Stewart then made contact with the left rear of the younger driver – who felt he was in a no-win situation with the polarizing veteran.

"I was trying to let Tony go there and I think he got inside of me and got loose there," Scott said. "I was pointing him to the inside to let him go. Apparently he got mad at me."

Scott left open the possibility that Stewart mistook his waive-by for another gesture given their relatively clean history racing against each other.

"I have a lot of respect for Tony and he has always raced me really clean," Scott said. "I am not sure what he thought was going on there. I am not sure if he thought I was trying to hold him up there, I wasn't. I was trying to let him go. I even pointed him to the inside. Maybe he thought I was giving him the finger or something.

"I will talk with him. We will figure it out. It is a tough race. The Southern 500 is a tough race. Everybody is slipping and sliding a lot. It is getting to the point where people's tempers are getting short."

Stewart was forced to retire early with overheating and engine issues. He and his crew chief Mike Bugarewicz were summoned to the NASCAR hauler after the race but the driver said the incident wasn't intentional.

"I'm curious to see why NASCAR called me over there," Stewart said. "I just got into the left rear of him. I didn't think that was worth getting called in the hauler for. It was 40 laps into a run. We were on old tires and sliding around. I got underneath him in two and for some reason he ran us through there, so I got loose and wrecked him.

"I'm surprised I didn't wreck too."