One week ago, Tony Stewart shocked both NASCAR and the media by stating the rough driving exhibited in the Bud Shootout at Daytona could translate into a driver fatality in the Daytona 500.

On Sunday, Stewart did his best to make that prophecy come true.

The 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion was involved in a number of mind-numbing bumping incidents, the most serious coming when he sent Matt Kenseth’s Ford into a 190 miles per hour slide-for-life spin on the back straight on Lap 107.

Up to that point, Kenseth clearly had the car to beat leading 27 circuits on the 2.5-mile Daytona oval.

Stewart, meanwhile, had a pair of questionable judgement driving incidents prior to the Kenseth crash, the first coming when he refused to lift out of the gas as Jeff Gordon slid up in front of him as the pair exited Turn 2 on Lap 47.

Both cars made contact with the outside retaining wall damaging each machines.

While Gordon gracefully took credit for part of the blame for the crash stating his car pushed up into the Stewart’s path, Stewart could have easily missed Gordon by just rolling out of the throttle.

Later, backstretch camera angles show Stewart swerving and side slamming eventual winner Jimmie Johnson after Stewart apparently thought Johnson had blocked him.

That was nothing, however, to Stewart’s run in with Kenseth.

While it was impossible to gauge intent at the time, there is no denying Stewart’s car abruptly swerved into Kenseth’s mount sending it flying into the wet, infield grass as the pair hurtled down the back straight.

Kenseth’s car slid out of control, somehow not digging into the soft turf and flipping wildly as has been the case in numerous similar instances at Daytona.

Kenseth then avoided further disaster when his car slid – nose and driver’s side exposed – into on-coming race traffic where it was miraculously missed by a number of other competitors.

For his role in the incident, NASCAR penalized Stewart putting him to the tail end of the longest line on the restart. He went on to finish fifth, involved in yet another incident with Kyle Busch in the late going for which Busch was penalized.

Kenseth, meanwhile, had a possible Daytona win taken away and somehow soldiered to a 15th-place finish.

After the race, Stewart admitted on national television that Kenseth got what was coming to him after Kenseth nearly wrecked him early in the race.

"He should have been smart enough to know not to be tuckin' down our doors in the first 20 laps," Stewart said when quizzed about the incident by a television reporter. "He started the whole thing and I finished it."

Replays of the earlier Turn 2 incident showed Kenseth raced to the outside of Stewart and never touched him as Stewart got loose exiting the corner.

Clearly, there was a difference of opinion here.

What also is clear is Stewart – based on his post-race comments – intended to wreck Kenseth later in the race.

How messed up is that?

How can Stewart tell the assembled media that he’s worried about the safety of his fellow competitors and then intentionally - by his own post-race admission - send one of them into a death-defying spin less than a week later?

Stewart got a lot of ink out of his safety concern statements after the Bud Shootout with many in the media hoarde anointing him the new safety spokesperson of the sport.

Meanwhile, NASCAR’s bluster about punishing the offenders rang hollow as Stewart’s actions – despite knowledge of intent at the time – drew the least possible penalty.

If this is laying down the law, what kind of message is this sending to the rest of the competitors in the race?

Clearly, drivers and spotters had to feel they could get away with almost anything and still be in a position to win the race – just as Stewart was - after the slap on the wrist by the NASCAR braintrust.

As a regular NASCAR event spotter, it’s this writer’s opinion that Stewart should have been sent to the penalty box (remember the penalty box?) for at least two laps – maybe as many as five – for the incident with Kenseth.

Simply stated, no matter how pissed off you are at somebody on the race track, you as a driver or spotter should NEVER - let me repeat that as strongly as I can - NEVER - intentionally send someone into 190 mph spin.

Not at Daytona, not anytime, not for any reason. You certainly don’t do it because that driver got you loose coming off the turn almost 100 laps ago.

It’s no secret that I’m a Matt Kenseth fan. I’ve known him since he was 13 and I've told countless people that I "discovered" Matt chronicling his early racing career by writing the first-ever stories about him.

Additionally, I produced a book on Tony Stewart in 2004. This isn’t about playing favorites.

I like them both – Kenseth as a man and Stewart as perhaps the most talented racecar driver of his era. I’m not acting out some Matt versus Tony fan passion play here. This is not in the least personal. 

This is about clean racing and not needlessly endangering someone's life.

On Sunday, Tony Stewart forgot his responsibility to both and totally overstepped the line between being driven to win and outright stupidity.

Perhaps it’s time for someone to re-enroll Stewart in those anger management classes he was required to take after some other “Terrible Tony” incidents a couple of years ago.

If Stewart is willing to risk killing somebody because they made his car a little loose an hour or so ago, the courses obviously didn’t take.

Stewart might also want to think about saying something different the next time he champions himself to the media as the sport’s safety crusader.

After his Daytona 500 post-race admission that he intentionally wrecked Kenseth and NASCAR’s subsequent toothless penalty for the action, it appears all of that bluster from both earlier in the week was little more than lip service.

Considering the potential life-threatening consequences of Stewart’s actions and NASCAR’s lack of strict punishment for those actions in Sunday’s race, it’s a miracle we’re not discussing the latest racing fatality today.