Ryan Newman is in the NASCAR Chase and received an apology from Clint Bowyer for the incidents that happened at Richmond.
Just what incidents Bowyer was apologizing for are unknown.
Newman told ESPN’s SportsCenter that Bowyer called him after learning that Newman would be added to the Chase for the Sprint Cup at the expense of teammate Martin Truex Jr.
The driver of the No. 39 Chevrolet for Stewart Haas Racing said that Bowyer “told me he’d been sick to his stomach the last two days,” and that he was “frustrated in his situation.”
“He had a car that could win the race and when the caution came out, he got a lap down and lost his chance and he was frustrated,” Newman said. “We make poor decisions sometimes when we’re frustrated. I commend him for calling me as a competitor and as a friend — somebody I would have never thought made that decision but did.”
Newman did not go into detail for why Bowyer apologized. MWR’s decision to pit the No. 55 under green or a guilty conscience that his spin may not have been an accident?
Bowyer spun with seven laps to go while Newman was leading the race and on his way into the Chase via a Wild Card spot. After the spin and some questionable pit stragety by MWR’s Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards won the race. Coupled together the actions of Bowyer and Vickers allowed Truex Jr to initially claim a spot in the Chase.
On Monday NASCAR docked Bowyer, Truex and Vickers 50 driver points giving Newman a Chase spot at the expense of Truex. MWR was also fined a record $300,000 dollars.
Tuesday morning MWR tweeted that Bowyer was suffering from poison oak and noted that the driver of the No. 15 car was administered a steroid shot by NASCAR prior to the race.
