Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne Talk Out Differences After Atlanta Incident

Ryan Newman lost 18 crucial points after Kasey Kahne bumped him late in the Atlanta race as a retaliation for an earlier incident.

So after parking his car, Newman stood and waited for Kahne to pull up to the team hauler so the drivers could discuss what happened.

Newman leaned into Kahne’s window and began a conversation, which continued after Kahne climbed from his damaged No. 9 machine.

The talk ended with smiles and no threat of physical violence – much more amicable than Newman’s recent clash with Joey Logano.

“That’s racing, man,” Newman said. “He and I are friends. We’re good. ... He was frustrated and tried taking it out on me. I asked him if next time we could just talk about it first, that’s all.”

Kahne was upset because Newman got into the back of him late in the race, which cause the No. 9 car to get loose and collide with Kurt Busch. Kahne was third at the time of the incident but instead finished 32nd.

“...I feel like he lost us about 20 spots today,” Kahne said. “He said he got hit from behind and that forced him into me, so that’s racing, but either way, we’re the one that took the big shot there.”

Newman said he bumped Kahne “a millisecond” after Kyle Busch bumped Newman’s No. 39 car, which got Newman slightly out of shape.

But Newman had been trying to assist Kahne by pushing him past Kurt Busch, he said.

“It was me trying to help him out, and it causes accidents once in awhile,” he said.

Kahne said the two drivers were “fine” despite the incident.

“We don’t have an issue with each other, it’s just that when you get racing sometimes it gets you mad,” Kahne said. “He lost about four spots from me rubbing him a little bit and I lost about 25 or 30 from him rubbing me, so he got me a little better.”

Indeed, Newman dropped from fourth to eighth after the contact, which is worth 18 points. Will Newman, in 13th place, need those points to make the Chase?

“We mathematically have a chance, and for an engineering guy, that means something,” Newman said. “I can only try my hardest. That’s what I did tonight. Can’t expect to make it all up in one shot.”

Newman also had an incident with Greg Biffle, which he explained by saying Biffle cut across his nose.

Biffle took partial blame but added, “He certainly didn’t cut us any slack. He could have cut us some slack and let us go there.”

Still, Biffle wasn’t worried about his Chase chances – the driver only needs to beat one driver in Saturday’s Richmond race to make NASCAR’s postseason. With start-and-park drivers factored into the equation, that shouldn’t be a problem.

“We’re pretty much locked in,” he said.

Photo: Jeff Gluck / SB Nation