NASCAR protecting Montoya

Word in the NASCAR paddock is hands-off, or shall we say bumpers off, Juan Montoya. It is well known in NASCAR that they don't like outsiders coming in and winning. Because contact is accepted in NASCAR it just takes a little nudge from a driver behind you to send you spinning. Most open wheel drivers have failed in NASCAR for that very reason. Not so with Juan Montoya. NASCAR wants its diversity program to work and so they want Montoya to succeed, hence why when Ryan Newman put Montoya in the wall late in the Homestead Nextel Cup race Sunday he was immediately summoned to the NASCAR trailer for a stern talking to. In fact Newman admitted to this very thing happening. Photo by CIA Stock photo

AJ Allmendinger, Michel Jourdain Jr, Jacques Villeneuve, etc. – they all remain fair game to the chrome bumper, but for Montoya the word's out – race him clean.

In this Richmond Times story Newman didn't admit to the fact he punted Montoya on purpose, but of course he would not. Rest assured he won't do it again.

Ryan Newman's final night of the 2006 season lasted a little longer than he had planned when he was called to the NASCAR hauler after #30-Juan Pablo Montoya spun into the wall and his car burst into flames. "That's just one of those things," Montoya said. "He came up to me and if that's what he wanted to do, I don't care. I'm not racing for points or anything here." Newman spun into the grass with 21 laps to go and said that was his fault with no help from Montoya, who was beside him when it happened. When Newman was behind Montoya when his car went into a tailspin, NASCAR officials wanted to talk to Newman to find out if it was a payback move. "We were basically going for the same piece of real estate," Newman said when he came out of the hauler. "His bumper went across my nose and it spun him out. This was nobody but racing's fault, in my opinion. I felt bad for the situation because obviously it looked like I was retaliating and that wasn't the case, and that's what we talked about in there." Richmond Times Dispatch