DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Tony Stewart isn’t angling to become mayor of the NASCAR garage.

If nominated, he will not run.

If elected, he will not serve.

Stewart knows NASCAR needs a conscience, but he doesn’t think such a major responsibility should fall on just one driver – especially him.

“I’m not making it a job,” he said. “This is not a job.”

Still, when Stewart saw a serious safety issue developing, he felt it was his duty to speak out to prevent a potential tragedy in today’s Daytona 500.

“This is one of those situations where I felt like I needed to at least say something,” Stewart said. “If I didn’t say something and something else happened, I felt like I didn’t do my part as a driver.”

After a hair-raising ride in an exhibition race last Sunday, Stewart took a public stand against drivers’ increasingly aggressive bump-drafting tactics.

Drivers have discovered that the best way to go faster at Daytona is to push the car in front of them by nudging its rear bumper. But in the search for speed, those nudges evolved into full-on body slams.

After last Sunday’s race, Stewart went on television and said “we’re probably going to kill somebody.” He voiced his concerns to reporters in the media center and in a closed-door meeting with NASCAR officials.

Stewart was looking for a reaction, and he got one. NASCAR announced the next day that they would begin to police bump drafting.

“I’ve had a lot of praise from other drivers, crew members, crew chiefs, car owners, the last couple days over this,” Stewart said. “That’s not why I did it. I don’t feel like I’m in some elected position to be a leader. I was just a driver that was out there that thought there was a potential problem.”

The stand has brought Stewart unwanted media attention this week – not the kind he’s used to.

Stewart, best known for having a temper that equals or exceeds his talent, suddenly is being seen as perhaps the front-runner to fill the leadership void missing since Dale Earnhardt’s death five years ago.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said it is unlikely that any one driver will ever equal Earnhardt as a leader. But Hunter has seen Stewart mature and, to some extent, take on the responsibility of saying what other drivers only think.

“I don’t think he seeks that role, but I think it’s an indication of Tony saying what’s on his mind,” Hunter said. “And I think that’s very, very helpful because Tony has the respect of all the other drivers in the garage.”

Stewart, however, doesn’t buy the idea that a driver must be a champion to speak out.

“It shouldn’t be any one person doing it in the first place,” he said. “Everybody has a responsibility.”

The most logical candidate to fill the post-Earnhardt leadership void is four-time champion Jeff Gordon. Gordon has become more outspoken since Earnhardt’s death, but shies away from embracing a leadership role.

Beyond that, only a few drivers – most notably Jeff Burton, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace, who has retired to become a television analyst – have consistently taken on issues.

Driver Kyle Petty says NASCAR has grown so much in the past five years that it is no longer realistic to expect one driver to lead everyone.

Then again, nobody really has tried.

“There’s not anybody in this garage area that has taken the time to nurture that relationship with NASCAR,” Petty says. “Jeff hasn’t done it. Tony’s not going to do it in a week. Rusty didn’t do it. Nobody did it.”

Stewart doesn’t know if others are speaking their minds to NASCAR. He just knows they should be.

“I can’t speak for all the other guys out there,” Stewart said. “But I just did what I thought was right.”

It worked – at least for one day. NASCAR president Mike Helton gave a warning in the drivers’ meeting before Thursday’s qualifying races, and drivers were more cautious.

But there was more knuckle-headed driving in Friday’s IROC series race, and Stewart doesn’t expect drivers to be on their best behavior Sunday.

“Do I think it’ll be that way with 10 to go in the Daytona 500? Absolutely not,” Stewart said. “But I think (it) at least brought enough awareness. And I think Mike Helton’s talk in the drivers’ meeting not necessarily woke everybody up, because everybody knew what was going on, but I think everybody took what he said to heart.”

Stewart doesn’t want a leadership role in NASCAR, but he’s willing to embrace it at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Veteran Bobby Labonte left Gibbs in the offseason, and Stewart now is teamed with two rookies, J.J. Yeley and Denny Hamlin.

“I feel like I have a responsibility to make sure the other two guys are comfortable, where Bobby was always making sure I was comfortable,” Stewart said.

Stewart figures the young drivers will have plenty of racing questions, but he doesn’t think he’ll have to “baby-sit” them or provide much advice on off-track issues.

Besides, Stewart jokes, “I think I did that part of the program before they ever signed up.”