NASCAR to penalize foulmouthed Stewart

UPDATE This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today. NASCAR fined Tony Stewart $25,000 and penalized him 25 points today, a result of him using inappropriate language in an interview after he won Sunday's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Stewart now has 2,599 points and remains in fifth place in the series points. Stewart’s car owner, Joe Gibbs, was penalized 25 car owner championship points because of the infraction.

07/30/07 Tony Stewart, excited over winning at the track he cherishes more than any other, got a little carried away in his post race interview. The expletive he uttered could cost him a penalty later this week. Stewart was celebrating his second win the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday when he uttered the obscenity on ESPN. While NASCAR officials would later say they thought there was a network delay protecting the driver, ESPN officials said delays are only used on replays of radio conversations, not live victory lane interviews.

"It was an unfortunate incident that we did not anticipate," said ESPN officials in a statement.

NASCAR officials said they will address the issue at the beginning of the week. Vice President Jim Hunter said there could be a penalty or a loss of points.

He also said that NASCAR would talk to ESPN officials.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was penalized 25 points and $10,000 at Talladega in 2004 for also using a similar term in an interview. Hunter said there's a simple solution to the problem.

"The drivers should clean up their language in my opinion," he said. "There are a lot of young kids who look up to these drivers. I'd prefer they use the English language. Scenedaily.com