Rudd Comes To Gilliland's Defense With Stewart

June 1, 2007 4:14 p.m. EST

Buddy Shacklette - AHN Sports Motor Sports Reporter

Sonoma, CA (AHN) - Tony Stewart is a champion, opinionated, fiery and has been hard on NASCAR Nextel Cup newcomer David Gilliland this season.Gilliland, a California native, hasn't even completed the equivalent of a full Cup season, but that hasn't kept him from enduring Stewart's vocal wrath.Stewart and Gilliland have gotten together a couple of times on the track this season, both during a race and in practice.

After Gilliland's No. 38 Robert Yates Racing Ford hit Stewart from behind on Lap 191 at Talladega in late April, Stewart, a two-time Cup champion, was less than forgiving - probably because Gilliland sent Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet careening into the wall.

"There was no reason for that to happen. So, he is just taking it out on us from (Saturday) when he turned down across the nose (in the Busch race). (He) "lucked into his Cup ride," Stewart said. "The original accident didn't bother me near as much as (Gilliland) plowing me in the back after we had already wrecked and we drive a quarter-mile down the race track and I'm going in a straight line. I don't know how else to describe it. That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Gilliland's teammate, Ricky Rudd, who has made a record 890 career Cup starts, was quick to defend his RYR teammate.

"Tony is Tony. What else can you say? You can't question his driving ability,'' Rudd said. "Everybody knows he's one of the best if not the best out there, but he kind of has a habit of running his mouth at the wrong time.''

Last week during happy hour practice Gilliland and Stewart again found each other, albeit this time on pit road.

Gilliland, running his first full Cup season this year, was pitting after a long run with worn tires just as Stewart was entering the track with fresh tires.

"He checks up at the end of the straightaway, and we run into him," Stewart said. "It's really, really easy to see it. They've got two different cameras views of it, and he never stuck his hand out of the window (to signal he was going into the pits). It really screwed up a really good racecar for us. It didn't need to happen. It shouldn't happen."

Because of Stewart's popularity, the incident made news, but that didn't keep the Rushville, Ind., native from rallying for a third-place finish on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Gilliland finished 17th, his third-best finish of the season.

"David got blamed for that wreck, but that wasn't David's fault. No one ever came around and asked anybody else what happened, but the videotape clearly shows what happened and Tony screwed up. He just misjudged his distance and ran into the back of David,'' Rudd said. "David doesn't really have a presence out here. He can't fight that battle, but I can tell you one thing, that was not David Gilliland's fault the other day. But the media seemed to jump on it and wrote it the way Tony spoke it, but, anyway, that being said, David definitely belongs in Cup racing.''