During 2001-2002, Cup driver Tony Stewart had several negative encounters with the media. One of these included Larry Woody, who went over the incident in depth in his book Along For The Ride.

After the 2001 Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in which Stewart won after a duel with Jeff Gordon. The year before, Gordon had defeated Stewart and the two traded a lot of paint which prompted Stewart to intentionally bump into Gordon on pit road afterward leading to his first of many fines. During the post-race press conference following the 2001 victory, Woody asked Stewart if the 2000 battle had crossed his mind during the closing laps. Stewart asked Woody if he was a "local" and the two traded a few more words before the driver said "Look, if you've got a question I wish you'd go ahead and ask it. I'd like to get out of here sometime tonight!" Woody repeated the question and an angry Stewart (whom Woody described in the book as being "accustomed to intimidating the media" and not used to one of them "refusing to be intimidated and standing up to him".) NASCAR official Danielle Humphrey ended up stepping in between, asking "Any further questions for Tony?" Amazon.com: Along for the Ride: A Collection of Stories from the Fast and Furious World of NASCAR: Larry Woody: Books