MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Teammate means nothing in NASCAR with a race on the line, and Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman proved it Sunday.
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The Penske Racing teammates were running second and third to Jimmie Johnson in the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway when the race went back to green for the final time with seven laps to go.
Wallace, the only one of the three not contending for the season championship, tried a move to the outside of Johnson on the restart, going into a second groove where no one had succeeded all day.
Johnson rebuffed his attempt, and Newman, seeing an opportunity to take second, pulled alongside his teammate on the inside, sparking a physical duel between the two that could have cost them both dearly.
Newman prevailed, as the inside car had in that situation all day, with Wallace eventually getting pushed high into the outside lane in turns three and four as Newman raced on. Neither was amused when it was over.
"I don't guess Rusty and I are on speaking terms right now," said Newman, who eventually relinquished second place to Jamie McMurray.
"I was underneath him and I know he came down on me," Newman said. "I wasn't going to give him anything so he got loose and lost a bunch of spots. Then he came up and hit me after the race. Our car was faster than his at the end. I'm not sure if he was aware of that, but he will be."
Wallace, seeking a season sweep at Martinsville, faded to 10th.
"I told him to stay out of my way and I could win the race, but he didn't do it," he said of Newman. "There's nothing I can do about it. I'll talk a little bit. I want to see what he was thinking."
Told that Newman said his car was faster, Wallace snapped: "I guess that's why he ran through the quarterpanel."
The exchange was one of many in a crash-filled race. It featured 17 caution flags for 125 laps - one fourth of the race total.
