Ryan Newman Won’t Deny Secret NASCAR Fine; Reports Say Juan Pablo Montoya Threatened Lawsuit

Ryan Newman wouldn’t elaborate on the report from PRN/Sirius Radio’s Jim Noble that Newman was fined $50,000 for punching Juan Pablo Montoya in the NASCAR hauler at Darlington – but he didn’t deny it when asked for comment on Friday at Pocono Raceway.

Asked specifically whether he was fined by NASCAR, Newman responded vaguely.

“I’ve always said that private things happen privately, and what happens in the trailer stays in the trailer,” he said. “There’s a reason we have private meetings and there’s a reason that NASCAR does things the way they do.”

Pressed further on the issue by the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Utter, Newman said he didn’t want to discuss the matter because it wasn’t a positive for NASCAR.

“When we’re talking about fines – either public or private – there’s nothing really we should elaborate on because it’s not something our sport should be proud of,” he said. “To me, it’s something for you (media) guys to write, but it’s not something that’s good for our sport. So it’s not something we want to keep talking about.”

Newman’s comments came on the same day that both Noble and Utter reported via Twitter that NASCAR fined Newman because it was threatened with legal action by Montoya’s lawyer.

“It was only after the threat of a lawsuit that NASCAR issued the ‘secret’ $50G fine to Newman,” Noble tweeted on Friday morning. “Once NASCAR informed the JPM reps that Newman had indeed been fined, threat of legal action dropped.”

Utter expanded on Noble’s report via Twitter, tweeting that Montoya’s lawyer was “on hand at Darlington for contract discussions” with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Montoya’s lawyer then went to the NASCAR hauler after the punch, Utter reported.

Newman said he didn’t know anything about the threat of legal action by Montoya.

“Every other sport, to my knowledge, has (fines) – whether it’s golf, basketball, football, whatever,” Newman said. “I don’t know how they handle it – whether it’s publicly or privately or both – but I’ll just say it’s a negative aspect of our sport, and we should all be talking about the positive things.”

If Montoya did indeed threaten legal action for getting punched, it will only further sour his reputation with NASCAR fans – who already boo him weekly. Montoya is viewed as a hothead on the track who takes revenge on his competitors even for minor incidents.

Threatening to sue a fellow driver for getting punched as a result of his actions won’t do him any favors in the public eye.