As far as we can tell, Tony Stewart is at his best when he has a bit of a temper behind him.

Not always. Stewart can be a pleasant fellow with a witty sense of humor. Observations, however, often reveal his “race face” is no-nonsense and when he is stewing over something he, as often, puts that same simmer into focus.

He just won at Dover which ended a fairly long winless streak. Yes, circumstances set in motion near the end of the race played into it as Jimmie Johnson was called to roll down pit road after a jumped restart. With that, Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya were left to race it out.

Before the race, Stewart seemed short, almost dismissive, for pre-race discussion or interviews. Afterwards, following checkered flags, burnouts, and a side-by-side with the “Monster”, Stewart was even more “Stewartly” with the media.

While he was expressing admiration for his crew and others at Stewart-Haas for hard work all season and the satisfaction of being back in the winner’s circle he was asked about rumors of changes in the organization. This came among the usual banter about laps and strategy and team efforts in pit stops.

Stewart let it go. He kept it cool enough for TV but it was noticeably and effort to hold the language. Basically, he called “bullcrap” on the reports of upsets and changes at the offices and garage of Stewart-Haas Racing. He went on to say he wasn’t going to address these reports in the Victory interviews nut as it was brought it up he took the opportunity to settle it.

“You guys started all that crap.” said Stewart. He went on, “I mean, if you’re going to put something in there that there’s going to (be a) possibility of somebody moving around, you might want to talk to the guys that write the checks, the guys that work there, and find out the facts before you guys go throwing darts on the dartboard.”

“I’ll be honest, it pissed me off because it was a big distraction to my team, my organization. It kept us from doing our job, because people are hearing humors and reading what you guys write, and was totally inaccurate and unprofessional in my opinion.”

In closing out that particular segment, he made other sentiments very clear:

“And when I finally got wind of it was three weeks after it first came out, and I was ticked. I don’t need that crap. I’ve got enough stuff to worry about, keeping three cars competitive and trying to get them in that state and having to deal with a bunch of bull crap that’s inaccurate and speculation; to me at this level is unacceptable.”

“Our organization doesn’t need. It didn’t deserve it. They worked hard enough. And to have to sit there and have people question what’s going on and us have to take that much extra time to try to defuse what you guys planted, was a bunch of crap. And, don’t do it.”

Will this put an end to speculation over the house at Stewart-Haas…? Time will tell. Racing is such a minute by minute reaction that winning is as much opportunity as it is talent. How much any rumors actually caused enough distraction to cost the teams points on any race day may be debatable but from Stewart’s point of view it was very real.

Rumors may persist as is the nature of the mill but Tony Stewart has put himself on record. Circumstances can shift but for now…

Dover was also a good day for Juan Pablo Montoya. He was up front when Johnson blew by the zone on a restart putting the #48 into a penalty. This left Montoya and Stewart for the race to win. Montoya ran across the checkers in the 2nd slot adding to other good results for the #42 this season.

Stewart even acknowledged Montoya’s success this season with the #42 team in post race comments. He noted Montoya’s skill, his winning record in other series and the moves forward by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

Montoya moves to 22nd in points. Stewart’s win moves him to 16th which is still in striking distance of the “Chase” if he can repeat a couple more times. Johnson is still on top.

Jeff Gordon moved up with a third place while Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski rounded the top 5. Keselowski, however, may face some penalty as post race inspections found the #2 to be a bit low in the front.

Tony Stewart only lead the last few laps but they were the ones that counted for the win. Rumors down, this win could be needed shot for moral for the entire Stewart-Haas organization. Montoya can be in motion with more good results as well.

The last two races have turned attention away from the track and onto the folks that bring you the races. At Charlotte, a motion camera caused a red flag on the track. At Dover, Tony Stewart put a red flag on the rumor mill.

The camera, and the rumors, are likely not dead. The racing, however, is very much alive.