| | By Bill Weber
Special to ESPN.com
There are a couple of ways to look at Sunday's incident at Watkins Glen between Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.
|  | | Tony Stewart's choice of words on Sunday could have been a little less R-rated. |
First of all, after every race, there is going to be an angry driver or two -- or more. Most of the time, the issue is settled before the cameras arrive, or in the respective drivers' haulers. And most of the time, it's out of the range of cameras.
So, in that regard, racing is no different than all other sports. Tempers flare.
The one difference, however, between auto racing and other professional sports is that when it gets ugly, and it did Sunday, sponsorship comes into play.
NFL players in preseason "fights" on the practice field, or baseball players charging the mound, don't have to be concerned about the impact on a sponsor that is marketing itself or its products. Those situations reflect on the player and the team. In Winston Cup, it reflects DIRECTLY on the sponsor.
That being said, Tony Stewart is a disappointment.
Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. I like his fire. He's a racer, and a winner.
But his verbal assault against Jeff Gordon was uncalled for and unprofessional. Gordon is a guy with 51 wins and three championships. Stewart is a talented driver with six wins, a great future and a deteriorating reputation.
I like the fact that Tony thought he was victimized. I don't like the way he handled it. He embarrassed himself. He embarrassed his team. He certainly embarrassed his sponsor, again.
His crew worked hard to get his car ready for the race and hard to keep it in the race. Stewart drove hard to finish strong in the race. Nobody will remember any of that. What people will remember is Tony's temper -- not Tony and his talent or his team.
One more thing, and this is important. This incident has been reported by some members of the print media as an "obscenity-laced exchange," or that the two drivers were "trading obscenities". That is incorrect.
I have looked at the tape that RPM 2Night shot. I have asked co-workers to look at the tape. On that tape, Gordon never used a word that couldn't be said in front of your mother in church. The only reasons I am pointing this out is one, because of all the bleeps, you can't hear who is saying what, and two, anyone who says the two were "trading obscenities" is wrong.
The obscenities were all going one way.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon 'discuss' their incident following the race.
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