NASCAR ROUNDUP \News and notes

Newman, Wallace clash: Ryan Newman’s long goodbye to Penske Racing isn’t going quite as smoothly as planned. Two weeks after Newman and team owner Roger Penske announced the current Daytona 500 champion would not return next season — a decision Newman called “mutual” — former Series champion turned commentator Rusty Wallace said Newman was fired. “He didn’t leave. I’ve read many, many stories that said that,” Wallace said. “Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his offices and said, ‘I don’t need your services next year.’ Ryan Newman didn’t come to him and say ’I’m leaving.’ ” Newman brushed aside the claim by his former Penske Racing teammate. “I don’t know what Rusty’s grounds are, what he’s trying to prove by saying that. That wasn’t the case,” Newman said. “Roger and I decided mutually to not continue, and it was more my decision I would say. I said our goals didn’t align and for that reason, and that reason alone we decided to not continue after 2008.”

Montoya’s mood: A year after finishing second to Tony Stewart in last year’s Indy race, Juan Pablo Montoya isn’t planning on puckering up to the bricks Sunday afternoon. “This year in the big tracks, we’ve struggled,” he said. “If you look at the bigger picture, there is nothing to say we’re going to go out here and win.” Montoya’s inconsistent second season in the series has been plagued by a revolving door at crew chief and symptomatic of the struggles of Chip Ganassi Racing, which shuttered Dario Franchitti’s No. 40 team due to sponsorship problems. “I think being realistic, our main goal is get ourselves better,” said Montoya, who is 20th in the points race. “The whole Ganassi organization right now is in a little bit of a hole and we know that but I think we’ve started to understand what we need to do and where we need to go.”

Eyeing the chase: Kasey Kahne enjoys the technical skill required to navigate the 2.5-mile track at Indy, though at this point in the season Kahne and several other drives admit they keep one eye on the track and another on the points standings. Kahne enters Sunday’s race 11th in points, just inside the Top 12 that qualify for the Chase for the championship. While he’d love to win, Kahne knows the possible rewards might not be worth the potential risk. “If you take too many chances, you can get offline and kill your speed, get sideways, spin out or whatever,” Kahne said.

Associated Press