Stewart, Kenseth trade words after All Star crash.

Tony Stewart was a contender in the early part of Saturday night's Nextel All-Star Challenge non-points event at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, but a contentious crash with Matt Kenseth on lap 72 sent Stewart to an early exit.

Stewart started eighth and led laps 18-19 during the first 40-lap segment of the three-part, 90-lap race around the ultra-fast 1.5-mile Lowe's oval. When the first segment ended, Stewart was second, meaning that for the second, 30-lap segment, Stewart would start ninth as the top-10 finishers from the first segment were inverted for the second segment.

It was there where Stewart's race began to unravel.

A spin by Michael Waltrip on lap 45 set up a restart on lap 48. There, while coming off turn two, Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin tangled at the front of the field, setting off a chain reaction wreck that collected Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Jeremy Mayfield and Stewart.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli and the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing team patched together Stewart's machine well enough for it to return to the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval without losing a lap. With tape and pop rivets on all four corners of the orange and black Chevy Monte Carlo, Stewart charged to a remarkable third with an impressive three-wide pass off turn two.

A tight handling race car would eventually allow Carl Edwards to catch Stewart, with Stewart having to settle for fourth when the second, 30-lap segment ended.

With no inversion for the final, 20-lap segment, Stewart was in prime position to log a podium finish, and if the breaks went his way, a win.

But just two laps into the final segment, Stewart and Kenseth crashed in between turns one and two while racing for third, triggering an angry exchange of words between the two of them.

With a run on Kenseth going through the tri-oval, Stewart put the fender of his car to the inside of Kenseth's quarter panel. Stewart held his line through the corner while Kenseth pinched him low. The two made contact and crashed into the turn two wall. Both cars limped back to the garage area, too damaged to continue.

Kenseth was credited with 11th while Stewart was slotted in 12th.

"At the finish line I could see that Tony was getting a run and I was gonna try to stay on the bottom," said Kenseth, who also had words with the defending Nextel Cup Champion after the season opening Daytona 500. "I came across the second part of the tri-oval, I thought on the grass, and right before we got to the corner (my spotter) told me he was looking inside. And as soon as he said that I moved up, but we made contact and I got turned around, so I don't know. Maybe he was a way in there and I squeezed him off. I didn't think he could have got in there that good to have that good of a run, but he must have.

"If he was under there and I cut him off and made a mistake, then I made a mistake. There's nothing else I can do about it right now."

"I had a pretty definitive view from what I saw," replied Stewart. "I got a run on him like he said. I got to see the replay, and you could see where they start the camera view that he's a whole lane-and-a-half low. You know, you don't go in the corner that way. So, obviously he's blocking there. But it's the Nextel All-Star crash fest. I think he screwed up on this one. If he thinks I did that and that was my fault, he's screwed up in the head."