stewart warns he'll wreck blockers all seasons

But he's not sorry for starting the tit-for-tat incidents that began when Stewart intentionally spun Vickers earlier within the race.

"I probably been with them coming because I dumped him earlier, but I dumped him because he was blocking," Stewart said. "If anybody really wants to block all year, that is what I'm going to carry on doing, to allow them to handle it however they want."

This is a standard refrain from Stewart, who has grown increasingly frustrated with a insufficient on-track etiquette. He complained after last week's race at Michigan that drivers were "a bunch of idiots" on restarts.

"I've been complaining concerning the way guys have been racing all year," Stewart said. "I like Brian, I am not holding it against him at all. I do not care whether it was (teammate) Ryan Newman, I'd have dumped him too. When they wish to block that is what will happen to them each time for the rest of my career."

Vickers denied blocking Stewart, and certainly didn't think he'd done anything to warrant Stewart starting the seven-car accident.

"I wasn't blocking him. That may have been his perception from where he was sitting," Vickers said. "It's pretty early in the race to worry about blocking someone, or wrecking someone."

Vickers said he'd to maneuver when Kyle Busch discontinued course and attempted to come back to the track, and Vickers was limited due to slower cars in front of him.

"I think when he sees the replay and he realizes why I went low ?a if he examines it out of my front windshield ?a he'll understand it had nothing to do with him," Vickers said. "It had to do with (Busch) almost wrecking me, and a couple of other guys running slow up top.

"It's unfortunate. He earned his bed at that time, and he needed to sleep inside it."

Vickers did, however, think the problem was over.

"The way it, we are all good. We're all square," Vickers said. "He wrecked me, and that i dealt with it."

___

DALE DOESN'T FINISH: Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't any fan of Infineon Raceway, and that didn't change Sunday after an earlier wreck ultimately ended his race.

Earnhardt was collateral damage in a seven-car accident triggered when Tony Stewart moved Brian Vickers out of his way in the entrance to Turn 11. The damage included a hole in Earnhardt's radiator, and his engine eventually blew, leading to just his second DNF since 2009.

"I'm not really a big fan from the place, but maybe one of these days," Earnhardt said, noting the physical nature "is just the way the road is. That's the way the race continues to be for some time, and you know what you sign up for when you be visible on Friday."

Next is Daytona, where Earnhardt could snap his three-year losing streak. But he surprisingly wasn't looking forward to that race because of the alterations in the drafting style. Long keen on pack racing, Earnhardt doesn't enjoy the two-car tandems ?a despite the fact that he pushed teammate Jimmie Johnson to a victory at Talladega in April.

"I'm not looking forward to going to Daytona, avoid the way the drafting can there be," he explained. "But we'll just have to find out if we can get lucky out there. What's after Daytona? I'll be glad to go there."

___

MAD MAX: Max Papis continues to be steaming over a late-race move by Jacques Villeneuve that took away Papis' opportunity to win the Nationwide Series race on Saturday at Road America.

Papis traveled to Sonoma after his 23rd-place finish to help coach Joey Logano throughout the Sprint Cup race. After, he admitted to still being annoyed with Villeneuve, a former F1 world champion whom Papis has known for a lot more than Two decades.

"You have to enter into the activity with more humbleness," Papis said. "For me, what he showed was zero respect toward my 5 years of attempting to get it done. That's what people think, they are able to enter into NASCAR and kick everyone's (butt), and that's not the case. To me, it had been a big disappointment for that reason attitude."

Papis was, however, extremely happy with Logano's sixth-place finish. He's been working with Logano in the last month, and tested with him two weeks ago at Road Atlanta. On Sunday, he was about the team radio helping guide Logano.

"I told him he knows what he has to do. My job only agreed to be to provide him extra motivation, guiding him, ensuring he was not greedy," Papis said. "I told him when I went testing, 'You have the ability to get it done, you need to know when you should use all your stuff or otherwise.' I think what I have been in a position to coach him and guide him is much more up in the brain and just making sure that he really believes in himself.

"I really was proud to determine he never quit."

Papis would take no credit for Logano's career-best run, but Logano gave it to him.

"Max may be the man," Logano said. "Everything he does, he just makes total sense. He's just carried this out for such a long time they know exactly what to do available. Him being another driver you can really connect with what he's saying. I thought it was great."

___

TRUEX TURNAROUND: Martin Truex Jr. thought he was experiencing deja vu when he was spun consequently 11 for that second consecutive year. But he bounced back to finish eighth ?a his second top-10 finish in the last three races.

"We had a great car. It had been fast. Just received spun out once," Truex said. "Still a good day for all of us. We'd a fast car. Everything held up."

Truex actually worked his way into the very best four and thought he had a go at beating Busch. But he ran down his tires at the end, and dropped four spots within the final few laps.

"We thought for some time there i was likely to possess a shot for the win, I simply ran the tires off it," he explained. "I desired to win. I thought we'd something for Kurt."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. These components may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.