Stewart stokes rivalry with Edwards/ FOXSports.com
Posted: 13 hours ago

The off-season has done nothing to cool Tony Stewart's temper, or the way he feels about fellow NASCAR driver Carl Edwards. And now Stewart's putting his money where his mouth is.

To be precise, $50,000 of it.

After Stewart triggered a three-car collision at Pocono Raceway in July, Edwards, whose car was involved in the crash, came back at Stewart, asking, "How can a person make it this far in life and be that much of a jerk?"

 

Tuesday night, Stewart responded to Edwards on his weekly talk show on Sirius satellite radio.

Stewart, who has been fined by NASCAR in the past for various incidents, said he's not afraid of his feud with Edwards costing him money. In fact, he said he's planning ahead this year.

"I promise you this and I promise the race fans this: The next time that I hear Carl Edwards tell me that he's going to make me bleed he better be ready to do it right then and there. Straight up," Stewart said. "I don't care what the fine is from NASCAR. I've got $50,000 saved.

"I really don't have that big of a problem with Carl in all reality," he continued. "I told Carl when we talked the last time, I said, 'Listen, I'm going to race you how I race anybody else. I'm gonna race you with respect, but be careful what you say.' "

Stewart suggested Edwards' nice-guy persona might actually be costing him on the track.

"I don't know, but obviously being as nice as he has hasn't gotten him very far because he didn't even win a race last year," Stewart said. "Maybe he ought to try being a jerk this year, see if he can win a couple more races."

Stewart said he called Edwards "Eddie Haskell" after hearing his comments, referring to the character from the TV show "Leave it to Beaver" who was known for being a two-faced, insincere brownnoser.

"He's the type of guy that everybody loves him," Stewart said. "In all reality he's a great guy but it makes you so mad and I had this problem with him a couple times where something happened or he knocked me out of the way or this and that. I'm not the only driver.

"The thing about drivers is they'll talk about it amongst themselves, but you don't dare try to put them on the spot with a driver that they have a problem with because you have to race with that guy 38 weeks a year, normally every week. Eddie Haskell's the guy, and Carl's the guy that he'd come over and he'd have a problem with you on the racetrack and he'd say, 'Man, I am really sorry.' He goes, 'I respect you so much.' And I'm thinking, 'Man, if you respect me so much why did you do what you did to me?' "

 

Gotta love some of the things that comes out of Stewart's mouth. Well let's see if anything comes from this or not. I'm still waiting for the next step in the Kenseth-Gordon feud myself.