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The potential race winners included Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch, who were both running in the top three when their hopes were crushed; and Tony Stewart, winner of the most recent TMS Nextel Cup race, who had a top-10 car for most of the race.

The first of the two cautions, at Lap 240, came when Stewart and Juan Montoya, who were racing for ninth and 10th, respectively, came together in Turns 3 and 4.

The dispute left some ill feeling among the two fiery competitors and the Colombian, Montoya, shaking his head after parking his No. 42 Dodge. ÒI donÕt know,Ó Montoya said. ÒHe [Stewart] just got really close to me, he got me loose, I went into him and he spun.

ÒI tried to pass him three or four times and he never gave me room. I went in a little different and got really loose, and I donÕt know what

Stewart, whose temper is legendary, shook a verbal fist after he exited his No. 20 Chevy post-race. Apparently, he was also upset with Montoya, who competed in his eighth career Nextel Cup ra

ÒHe just got inside of us and wrecked us - itÕs just racing, I guess,Ó Stewart said of the spin. ÒWhen youÕre a rookie you do stuff like that so itÕs just part of racing.

ÒHe pulled [a rookie mistake] before that. He was racing, trying to get by [when Stewart wrecked]. You earn respect by doing things that are smart out there and trying to pull out of line with 110 laps to go coming to the green flag doesnÕt make much sense.

ÒIf you race people with respect you get respect. If you do stuff like that and try to race people before you get to the start/finish line [you donÕt get respect].

ÒThen when I raced him, I raced him. And he took us out. ThatÕs just what happened. I think he was [too aggressive] on the restart. IÕve kind of adopted a Matt Kenseth motto.

ÒIÕm going to race people how they race me. When you do something like that and try to get me in a bad spot on a restart, if youÕre racing that hard in the beginning then why shouldnÕt I race him hard?

ÒIÕve got the same right to do the same thing but he took us out.Ó

Montoya, who finished eighth for his second career top-10 finish, said he tries to give all his competitors respect, but he had no intention of just moving over.

ÒI donÕt think Chip [Ganassi] hired me to run 20th every weekend, and I didnÕt come here to run 20th every weekend,Ó Montoya said. ÒIs [contact] going to happen? Yeah, itÕs going to happen a lot of weekends, but our aim is to run up front.

ÒI think anybody thatÕs seen me race knows that IÕm not going to back down. I respect everybody. Anybody who has a run at me IÕll give them enough room to race, but [the wreck with Stewart was] just racing.Ó

Stewart, who persevered to finish 25th, two laps down, softened a little, within moments of his first tirade, but ended by saying it would take Montoya a while to get back in his good graces.

ÒHonestly, I donÕt blame him [because] you canÕt expect him to learn everything in four or five weeks,Ó Stewart said. ÒHeÕs got more talent than anybodyÕs ever had over there on that team and heÕs got the best shot to do good on that team right now with the exception of David Stremme. ÒStremmeÕs got a good shot, too. Maybe Ganassi doesnÕt pay [Montoya] to run in the back but you might want to be just a little bit more patient, just long enough to learn everything and how everythingÕs done over here.

ÒHe didnÕt make friends with me [Sunday] so he wonÕt get any help from me in the future.Ó

The side-to-side contact caused Stewart to spin into Turn 4 and collect Jimmie Johnson, who had fallen back from second about a dozen laps earlier when his No. 48 ChevroletÕs engine started to lie down.

ÒI expected [Stewart] to spin out of the way, I didnÕt expect him to stay in the way,Ó Johnson said. ÒAt this point I am just trying to stay out of the way and not get rear-ended. Unfortunately I ran right into Tony.

ÒI couldnÕt see through the smoke. Tony had a lazy spin on the inside and I knew he wasnÕt going to get on the apron. I figured heÕd come back across the track so I went as low as I could.

ÒI could see [Johnny Sauter] coming hard behind me in my mirror. I tried to keep moving so he wouldnÕt rear-end me but unfortunately [Stewart] didnÕt slide up out of the way.Ó

The mishap epitomized StewartÕs frustration with his carÕs handling, which he overcame to the tune of being listed in the top 10 at nine of the 12 checkpoints before the fateful incident on Lap 239. ÒI donÕt know if we had a winning car but we had a solid top-10 car, no problem,Ó Stewart said. ÒIt was a totally different racecar than [Saturday], obviously.Ó

FORT WORTH, Texas Ñ Let the rumors begin.

At perhaps the most crucial crossroads of his driving career in which heÕs negotiating partial ownership of the team his father created, Dale Earnhardt Jr. got a taste of what itÕs like to drive for the competition on Sunday when he finished the final nine laps in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Earnhardt had the dominant car midway through the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, getting around Jeff Gordon on Lap 153 for the lead, a position he held three different times for 96 laps.

When Kurt Busch moved by Earnhardt to take the point on Lap 249, it was the first time anyone passed the 8 car for the lead while on the racetrack.

And Kyle Busch had a front-row seat for it all, less than a second behind the front two cars battling it out.

ÒHowÕs that Miller Lite taste? Tastes great,Ó Kyle Busch yelled as his brother moved around Earnhardt to take the lead in a front-row battle of the beer sponsors.

It was the highest the younger Busch had gotten as he babied his car, picked off positions and made minimal changes to the machine that was brand new to him. HeÕd wrecked his backup in practice on Saturday and was forced to start from the rear of the field.

Third place for the hard-charging Busch, however, was as high as he would get.

Four laps after celebrating his brotherÕs move to take the point, BuschÕs radio went wild again when his spotter tried to lead the driver through a blur of smoke that Tony Stewart produced while slipping around on the frontstretch Ñ his second spin of the race Ñ just after being lapped.

ÒTrying to wreck in front of you. Watch it, watch it!Ó BuschÕs spotter said on Lap 253.

But it was no good. Earnhardt slowed his No. 8 Chevrolet because of the smoke from StewartÕs wreck, but Busch didnÕt get his bow tie slowed before he plowed into Earnhardt, sending the 8 car spinning across the start/finish line.

The damage to BuschÕs car appeared much worse than that of EarnhardtÕs as he pulled directly to the garage.

ÒDonÕt even worry about it, load it up,Ó Busch radioed to his team. But nobody listened. Busch took his car to the garage, got out and disappeared while the crew went to work immediately on what looked to be an unfixable car.

Meanwhile, EarnhardtÕs crew worked on his machine during the caution and kept their driver on the lead lap before finally retiring to the garage on Lap 301.

ÒWe struggled a little bit after the wreck,Ó Earnhardt said once he climbed from his car. ÒWe thought we could get the car back out there and run good, but there were some issues with the handling and finally the motor broke.

ÒNormally when you tear a car up and spin around, you can throw the motor backward and do some damage there but thatÕs not what happened. We just havenÕt had any luck and one of these days itÕll be our day and weÕll be able to celebrate.Ó

Eight laps later, the No. 5 crew had put all the pieces together to get the car back on track. All but one.

ÒWe ainÕt got no driver,Ó a crewman said over the radio.

Team members from the No. 5 searched for Busch but never found him. ThatÕs when jackman Rick Pigeon approached his buddy Earnhardt and asked if he would finish the race in the 5 car. Earnhardt asked crew chief Tony Eury Jr. about the situation. Eury gave the go-ahead, and Earnhardt got in the car to finish the final nine laps of the race.

ÒPig [Pigeon] is my buddy, and I have a couple other friends on this team,Ó Earnhardt said. ÒThey asked me to do it so I wasnÕt going to say no.Ó

When Earnhardt crossed the finish line, he thanked his newly adopted crew.

ÒI could tell that it was a real nice car before we had the accident,Ó Earnhardt said. ÒI really appreciate them asking me. I was honored. It means a lot to me.Ó

By finishing the race in BuschÕs car, Earnhardt was able to pass Jimmie Johnson in the finishing order as the 5 car completed two more laps than the 48. The 37th-place finish gave Busch three more points in the raceÕs final tally, although Busch fell two positions to seventh in the standings.