Newman-Montoya meet but feud isn’t settled by NASCAR

McClatchy Newspapers

DARLINGTON, S.C.

Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya apparently are nowhere near settling their differences.

The drivers met Friday inside the NASCAR hauler at Darlington Raceway before the Sprint Cup Series practice and became engaged in a physical altercation, several sources confirmed.

NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp admitted “it did not go as well as we had hoped.”

“NASCAR did meet with Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya today before the first Sprint Cup Series practice. The drivers were given their final warning and are fully aware that we will be watching this very closely,” Tharp said.

After Friday’s qualifying for the Southern 500, Newman and Montoya were asked about how their meeting went with NASCAR.

When asked about the incident, Montoya said, “I’m not going to tell you [expletive]. Let’s leave it at that. What happened in the trailer was between me, Ryan Newman and NASCAR. That’s it.”

Told NASCAR said the meeting did not go well, Newman said, “With conflict everybody has varying opinions and I’m just trying to put the whole situation behind us and move on to this weekend’s race.”

Asked if he punched Montoya, Newman replied; “That’s speculation.”

The meeting was in response to the drivers’ confrontations on the track last weekend at Richmond, Va.

Montoya said he has had problems with Newman in the past.

“It just adds up. It gets to a point where too much is too much and I felt it had to stop. You know what I mean?” Montoya said. “I could have done it a lot more aggressively and completely knocked him out of the race, but that wasn’t really the plan.

“I just felt he could have given me about an inch and nothing would have happened. I’ve been wrecked by him a couple of times.”

Asked if he thought Montoya would cross paths with him again, Newman said he wasn’t sure.

“We race, we race hard. You never know,” he said.