Newman 'mum' on secret fine

Ryan Newman speaks before the media Friday at
Pocono Raceway. Credit: Karel Zubris for Skirts and Scuffs
For the second Pocono race weekend in a row, Ryan Newman found himself in the media's hot seat regarding a "secret" fine by NASCAR. But where Newman acknowledged last August he had been fined secretly by the sanctioning body, the driver of the No. 39 car made no such admission Friday.

"I've always said that private things happen privately, and what happens in the trailer stays in the trailer. There's a reason we have private meetings and there's a reason why NASCAR does things the way they do," Newman said.

The speculation over a "secret" fine concerns an incident between Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya that allegedly happened in NASCAR's hauler at the beginning of the Darlington race weekend. The two drivers were involved in an on-track incident the previous week at Richmond. When the two were in the hauler with NASCAR officials, Newman reportedly punched Montoya.

While no fine was announced, speculation rose this week after NASCAR fined Richard Childress $150,000 for punching Kyle Busch after the Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas.

Newman said Friday that the continuing emphasis on such fines puts a black eye on the sport and hurts public perception.

"When we're talking about fines, whether it's private or public, there's nothing we should elaborate on because it's not something that our sport should be proud of or elaborate on," he said. "To me, it's something for you guys (the media) to write about but it's not something that's good for our sport, so it's not something we want to keep talking about, first of all.

"Every other sport has it, to my knowledge, whether it's golf or basketball or football, whatever, I don't know how they handle it, whether it's publicly or privately or both, but, I'll just say this, it's a negative aspect of our sport, and we should only talk about the positive things."

Earlier in the week, NASCAR would not confirm the fine. NASCAR Spokesman Kerry Tharp told the Associated Press, "Anything relevant to discussions that NASCAR has with competitors in the hauler will continue to stay between NASCAR and the competitors, and NASCAR will always work to protect that bridge of confidence."

Newman was previously fined in secret by NASCAR last year after comments made after the April Talladega race. Newman confirmed the fine in July at Pocono Raceway.
Newman 'mum' on secret fine Newman 'mum' on secret fine Reviewed by Rebecca Kivak on Friday, June 10, 2011 Rating: 5