Talladega, Ala. ? In a twist of irony, those very debris cautions Tony Stewart railed against nearly saved his race.

But a myriad of other problems, including an accident on the next-to-last lap, relegated Stewart to a 28th-place finish Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. It ended a wild week for the two-time champion, who likened NASCAR to pro wrestling in a damaging indictment of the sport.

He recanted the comments after a sunrise meeting with NASCAR and did his best to be a model citizen the rest of the weekend.

“He’s an emotional guy. He wears everything on his sleeve,” car owner Joe Gibbs said. “I know when they catch him on something like that, he wishes he hadn’t said something he does.

“But we all know in NASCAR, it’s extremely well run, it’s extremely competitive and I think it’s one of the most fairest, competitive things I’ve ever seen.”

Stewart saw both sides of that Sunday.

He was penalized early in the race for speeding on pit road, forcing him to return to the pits during a green-flag run and fall a lap down. He was saved, though, when a debris caution brought out the yellow flag and allowed him to get back on the lead lap.

It was debris cautions that had gotten him so angry in the first place.

After four of them were called in Phoenix last weekend, Stewart used his national radio show to vent his belief that NASCAR officials were calling bogus cautions to orchestrate the races.