Tony Stewart vs. Kenny Irwin - 1999 NAPA AutoCare 500

In the 1999 NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville Speedway, longtime friends from Indiana in the sprint car ranks, Tony Stewart and Kenny Irwin, found each other on the racetrack several times. That eventually lead to confrontation on the track. The first caution of the day occurred on lap 30 when Stewart got into the back of Irwin and spun Irwin out. It was unintentional contact. On lap 133, Kenny got into Tony off of turn 2 while trying to pass him. Tony did not like that and retaliated by spinning him out in turn 3, bringing out the second caution of the day. Then, it escalated on the restart on lap 148 as Irwin spun Stewart out, this time sending Stewart into the wall and collected an innocent Brett Bodine. Tony was incensed, storming out of the car, throwing his heat boots, and was almost dragged out by Irwin's car. After Irwin had to replace his right front hub later in the race, Brett Bodine showed his frustrations to Irwin when both cars were parked behind the wall together. Brett was on the lead lap and was probably going to have a top 10 day, something his self-owned #11 Paychex Ford never saw in 1999, if he wasn't collected in the middle of his struggle with Stewart. All of them were able to get back out, but all of them finished 39th or worse. I am surprised NASCAR didn't step in and penalize Irwin or Stewart for causing multiple incidents. This was in an era that was not 'boys, have at it' and NASCAR would penalize drivers sometimes for retaliatory crashes. This was also the first time I saw Tony's temper come out. Little did I know that his temper would come out pretty much in a regular basis for the eventual 3-time Cup champion. Video is for awareness purposes only. All credit to NASCAR and ESPN.