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JOLIET, Ill. — Kyle Busch says Tony Stewart "dumped" him at the end of last weekend's NASCAR race and that Sprint Cup officials should penalize such action.

Tony Stewart, who said earlier this week that he and Busch were "on the same page" about the incident, wouldn't address Busch's accusations Thursday. A few others drivers did. They defended Stewart.

Get past the debate of if Stewart dumped Busch and it leads back to the dangers drivers put themselves coming to the finish in the last two restrictor-plate races and if it's time for NASCAR to act.

Busch crashed last weekend after he and Stewart raced for the win at Daytona. Busch blocked Stewart low. Stewart went high. Busch tried to block, but they made contact, turning Busch and sending him into the wall. Kasey Kahne rammed him and then teammate Joey Logano slammed into the side of Busch's car.

Busch had not spoken publicly about the incident until Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Asked if he was on the "same page" with Stewart, Busch said: "I don't know. I really don't have feelings. (Stewart talking to him) didn't mean a whole lot. I thank him for, I guess, checking on me to make sure I was alive. It is a racing wreck that seems to happen more often than not at Daytona and Talladega on the last lap."

Busch suggested it's time for NASCAR to start officiating such occurrences.

"I think NASCAR can take a step in looking at it and if the second-place driver dumps &ellipses; the leader, then black flag his (rear)," Busch said. "He doesn't get the win. If he's on him from behind and moves him out of the way and there's no wreck, then fine, he can win the race. But, if you're up alongside a guy and you dump him, than I say black flag him and give the win to the third-place guy."

Stewart spoke about 90 minutes after Busch on Thursday and said he read Busch's comments but wouldn't respond to them.

He didn't have to do so. Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne both defended Stewart.

"I would certainly not say that (Busch) got dumped," Gordon said. "I would put more blame on the guy leading (Busch)."

Said Kahne: "That was definitely not Tony's fault."

The Busch-Stewart incident was the second consecutive restrictor-plate race this season to end with the leader crashing after contact with the second-place car coming to the finish. Carl Edwards blocked Brad Keselowski at Talladega. The contact spun Edwards' car, which catapulted off Ryan Newman's car and into the catchfence, injuring seven spectators.

"It's a 1-in-25 chance you'll have a finish like that anywhere else and it's &ellipses; a 1-in-1 chance you're going to have it at Talladega or Daytona," Edwards said.

"Until you make the Goodyear tires give up a little more than they did at Daytona where you have to lift off the throttle or you knock the banking (of the track) down, you're going to finishes like that."

At what point does NASCAR need to address the situation? Maybe soon, according to Greg Biffle.

"You certainly always need to protect (drivers) from ourselves," he said.

Biffle admitted it won't be easy.

"It's the first- and second-place guy trying to get the trophy," he said. "There's no way to fix that. It's just, unfortunately what's going to happen at the end."

Clint Bowyer, who crossed the finish line of the 2007 Daytona 500 upside down, also doesn't see how NASCAR should intervene.

"Kyle did everything he had to do to try to win the race," Bowyer said. "Tony did everything that he had to do to win the race. It's just a bad situation and it ended up bad. Not always does it end up like that.

It has lately.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com