JOLIET, Ill. - Trouble has a way of finding Tony Stewart.

With a car so smooth no one had a chance to catch him, Stewart raced to his first victory of the year Sunday in the Tropicana 400.

But he rolled into victory lane to boos, fallout from a collision with rookie Kasey Kahne that touched off a fight between pit crews and had Kahne's car owner, Ray Evernham, calling for Stewart to be suspended.

"The thing I've learned from this sport in the last couple of years is they like a good guy and they like a bad guy," Stewart said. "Nobody will let my past go away."

A past like Stewart's is hard to ignore. He was racked up more than $100,000 in fines in his six years in NASCAR's top series, and is on probation through Aug. 18 for a for a run-in with Brian Vickers after the race June 27 in Sonoma, Calif. NASCAR also fined the 2002 champion $50,000 and docked him 25 championship points.

Asked if anyone would have cared about Sunday's wreck if he wasn't involved, Stewart said, "Nope. And it's understandable. We've been the hot topic of discussion about this all year.

"But I'm pretty much a black-and-white guy. If I make a mistake, I tell you. A lot of times I'm not proud of what I do, but whatever happened today, I didn't do it."

If only it were that easy.

Kahne was leading the race with Sterling Marlin second and Stewart third as the field completed a caution period and took the green flag on lap 127. All three were bunched tight in a pack with several cars not on the lead lap in front of Kahne.

After the restart, Stewart passed Marlin on the outside and slid in behind Kahne. But Stewart's Chevrolet tapped the back end of Kahne's Dodge, sending it headfirst into the wall while Stewart darted out of harm's way and into the lead.

Evernham and Kahne said Stewart spun the rookie intentionally.

"The 20 (car) was in the back of me and put us up in the wall. I don't know why he would do that," Kahne said. "He had the car to beat all day. All he had to do was go through a couple more turns and he probably would have passed us."

When Kahne checked up, Stewart said he had nowhere to go but Kahne's bumper.

"We didn't need the accident to win the race, we had the strongest car," Stewart said. "That wasn't going to make the race or break the race for us."

Stewart led 160 of the 267 laps on the 11/2-mile oval, running as much as seven seconds ahead. After taking the lead for good on lap 241, he beat Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson by 2.925 seconds - almost 20 car lengths.

NASCAR decided the collision was simply a racing accident. There won't be any penalties.

"If I did something wrong, I can understand worrying about it," Stewart said. "I didn't do anything wrong. Whatever happened, it was a racing incident."

Not in the eyes of Kahne's team. A few seconds after the wreck, Kahne's crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, charged into Stewart's pit. Baldwin and Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief, shouted at each other, and then members of the crews began fighting.

"I was just talking to Zippy and telling him his driver is a moron," Baldwin said. "They started pushing me and then the official grabbed me. I don't know what happened after that."

The pit crews mixed it up for a few minutes before order was restored. The shirt of one crew member was ripped open but no one was hurt. A decision on penalties won't come until later in the week, at the earliest.

Kahne eventually got back in the race, but his 36th-place finish dropped him three spots to 14th in points 676 behind Johnson. Only the top 10 drivers - and others within 400 points of the lead - will be allowed to race for the championship over the final 10 events.

Johnson increased his lead in the series to 105 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 22nd. Jeff Gordon is third, 242 points behind teammate Johnson. Stewart is 302 points back in fourth place.

"(Stewart) definitely needs to get suspended, and he should have his (backside) beat," said Evernham, owner of Kahne's team, Evernham Motorsports. "That's the problem with him. Nobody has ever really grabbed him and given him a good beating.

"If he doesn't get suspended, maybe I'll do that."

Stewart brushed that aside.

"I'm sure he's frustrated, I'm sure his whole team is frustrated," Stewart said.

Stewart had to have been a little frustrated, too, because his masterful driving was all but ignored.

Forced to use his backup car after a hard crash while practicing Friday morning at Chicagoland Speedway, Stewart quickly worked his way through the field after starting 10th. He took his first lead on lap 19, and the race was his from there.

After the Chevys of Stewart and Johnson came the Ford of Dale Jarrett and the Chevy of polesitter Jeff Gordon. Mayfield was fifth in a Dodge.

"I'm just happy that we won a race," Stewart said. "Last time I checked, we were here doing auto racing. Not boxing."