Wallace says Roger Penske made the decision for Newman to leave
INDIANAPOLIS - It appears the bad blood that existed between Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman as teammates at Penske Racing isn't gone.
Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wallace said the perception that Newman and team owner Roger Penske mutually agreed to part ways next season was inaccurate. Instead, Wallace claims Newman was let go by Penske because of criticism toward the team for its performance this season.
Told of Wallace’s claims, Newman stood by his statements and questioned Wallace’s motives for saying what he did.
"He didn’t leave [Penske],” Wallace said Friday. “… Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his office and said, ‘I don’t need your services next year.’ Ryan Newman didn’t come to him and say, 'I’m leaving.’ That’s exactly how it went down.”
Newman disputed that version of events.
“I don’t know what Rusty’s grounds are, or what he’s trying to prove by saying that,” Newman said. “That wasn’t the case - point blank. Roger and I decided mutually to not continue and it was more my decision than it was his, I would say. I’ve said our goals didn’t align and for that reason and for that reason alone we decided not to continue after 2008.”
And thus almost three years after Wallace’s retirement from racing, the two former teammates whose once frosty relationship was well publicized appear to be at odds again.
"Was he conscious when he said it?" Newman said. "I guess it is [still bad blood] because it's not true. It doesn't matter to me. I know Rusty. I know his personalities. Plural. Everybody's different."
Wallace said that Penske wasn't happy with some of Newman's criticism.
"Roger doesn't like anybody telling him his equipment is junk or he doesn't like this or doesn't like that," Wallace said. "Obviously Ryan and I never got along real well, that's for sure. You guys all know that. This guy will give anybody anything they want – engineers, whatever. Ryan knows that, and we hyped up for ever and ever how he is the engineer for years and years and they can't get that car figured out.
"I talked to Roger and he didn't like it. He didn't like all the negative stuff. I don't know exactly, but I knew they needed to move on quick."
Newman doesn't deny that he spoke his mind to Penske.
"Nobody likes to be criticized as a driver, nobody likes to be criticized as an owner, but constructive criticism is part of what I have to do as a driver," Newman said. "If I don't feel like I have good equipment or as good equipment as the guy who is ahead of me, then I speak up. That's a racer. That's just the way it is.
"You have to be able to stomach a percentage of that, whether you're a car owner or a crew chief or a guy changing tires. That's part of it. And I would expect the same thing in return."
So did that lead to his pending departure at the end of the season when his contract expires?
"I don't think that it helped anything, but I don't think that anything I have ever said is anything but the truth," Newman said.
According to Wallace, Penske not only took issue with Newman’s criticism of his team’s performance but Penske was also upset that until last week, Newman had been undecided on his future plans for much of the season.
“He needed to move on and find a driver rather than Ryan saying, 'Well, I don’t know if I want to come back or I might or I might not,'” Wallace said. “Roger’s not like that. He’s not going to be held hostage by somebody else. You’re either in or you’re out.
"There’s no waffling and Ryan was waffling. And Roger just said, ‘I’m not waiting, I’m moving on and that was it.’”
