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January 20, 2005
Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman Still Not Talking
From Jayski's: Rusty and Ryan still not talking: #2-Rusty Wallace, 48, and #12-Ryan Newman, 27, had a falling out last fall at Martinsville Speedway. They haven't talked about it since, and the animosity between them has festered. Their strained relationship is generating a fair amount of banter and media attention during Daytona testing. During a Dodge dinner Tuesday night, Wallace was asked if he received a Christmas present from Newman. He laughed, raised an eye and gave a definite ``no.'' A week earlier, Newman was asked how things are going with Wallace. ``We're just peachy,'' he said wryly.(more at the Tampa Tribune)(1-20-2005)
I don't understand how Penske can allow this to continue. Teammates need to be able to share information and work together at certain tracks. Yes, their crew chiefs can do all the talking for them but I think there still needs to be a level of civility between teammates. No one has to be best buddies and it's okay if they don't like each other but I think they need to be able to talk if need be.
What's strange to me is that the incident didn't seem to be that big of a deal to me. It's not like Ryan wrecked Rusty or called him names. I can understand Rusty being frustrated and wanting to express that he felt that things should have gone differently but this seems to take things way too far. I think it's even more ridiculous because I believe Rusty owns part of Ryan's team. So it would seem that would be even more of a reason for the two to be on speaking terms. The only thing I can think of is that there is other bad blood between the two that isn't known publically.
Posted by silverdsl at January 20, 2005 11:03 AM