Some History
There have been a long series of incidents where Tony Stewart let his temper get the best of him going all the way back to his 1999 rookie year when Tony tried to climb in Kenny Irwin's window under caution after an incident in Martinsville. Other incidents include post race run-ins with a number of drivers, a shoving incident in Daytona with Robby Gordon, multiple incidents with reporters... and the list goes on.
In fact, even during Tony's Championship winning season of 2002 Tony was involved in a few incidents on and off the track. These incidents lead to NASCAR forcing him to take anger management classes.
The Old Tony Is Back
Fast forward to 2004 and it seems that the old Tony Stewart is back. After wrecking Brian Vickers during the race in Sonoma, Tony confronted Brian on pit road after the race, climbing in his window to get to him.
Vickers was confused saying "I've definitely never had anybody mad at me for hitting me. That just kind of baffled me."
This isn't the only problem that Tony has had this season. He bumped Scott Wimmer under caution at Bristol for a wreck that wasn't either of their faults. Stewart has blatantly caused accidents in Darlington and California this season and who knows what he was thinking when he charged backwards up pit road after the race in Talladega?
Tony Stewart is running on tilt in 2004. Maybe he thinks that his famous temper flare-ups in 2002 won him a Championship so he needs to get back to the "old Tony" in order to win another? Whatever the reasoning someone needs to sit him down and explain the limits of acceptable behavior to him. At the rate he is going in 2004, he is going to hurt someone.
