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Stewart gives in Driver unhappy with mandatory restraint system
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- A showdown between Tony Stewart and NASCAR over mandatory use of head-and-neck restraints ended Friday with Stewart reluctantly wearing a Hutchens device. Stewart missed the first 45 minutes of the morning practice at Talladega Superspeedway while he argued with NASCAR over the new requirement, adopted Wednesday as a response to a string of fatal accidents. Stewart, the only one of 43 drivers who had refused to voluntarily wear a HANS or Hutchens device, stood defiantly in front of his car with his arms folded across his chest as Winston Cup director Gary Nelson looked inside his car. As Nelson passed by him, Stewart asked him what he was doing. "Did you get the bulletin about head-and-neck restraints?" Nelson asked. "Yeah, but I didn't get the one about helmets being required," Stewart responded. After a long stare, Nelson informed him a helmet was needed to attach the restraints.
Stewart waited a few minutes, then stormed over to the NASCAR hauler, where Nelson followed him inside for a short meeting. When Stewart reappeared, he went directly to his own hauler, changed into his street clothes and went to his motorhome. Crew chief Greg Zipadelli, cellphone to his ear, went after him and eventually persuaded him to return to the car. Stewart did, turning his back to reporters and photographers as his crew hooked up the Hutchens device. Stewart had an animated conversation with a NASCAR official before climbing into his car, revving the engine and quickly pulling the Pontiac out of his garage stall. The mandate on the restraints came as NASCAR tries to answer its critics in the wake of four driver deaths, including Dale Earnhardt's, over the past 17 months attributed to head and neck injuries. A fifth driver, 25-year-old Blaise Alexander, was killed earlier this month in an ARCA race in Concord, N.C. None of the drivers wore restraints when they were killed, and critics have argued the use of the devices might have prevented their deaths. Since Earnhardt's death in the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR drivers have stepped up the safety initiative, with 42 voluntarily wearing a device on most weekends. Stewart was the lone holdout, citing claustrophobia and questions about the effectiveness of the devices, as his reasons for not wearing one. The issue was taken out of his hands with the mandate, and Stewart has been vocal about his displeasure with it. "I want to wear something, but I haven't found anything yet that I'm comfortable with," he said this week. "It's not that I don't want to wear it, and I'm not being bullheaded about this, but there is nothing right now that I'm comfortable wearing inside the race car."
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