With just over 400 laps remaining in tonight's Crown Royal 400, Denny Hamlin holds the top spot. He is far from the curent headliner, however.
Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya have never gotten along in Sprint Cup competition, dating back to Montoya's debut at Homestead in 2006. In that race, Newman sent Montoya backing into the wall in a fireball. They renewed the feud tonight with two seperate incidents. They made contact off turn two to draw the race's first caution, doing damage to the rear of the polesitter's Chevrolet. Montoya subsequently hooked Newman in the right rear entering the third turn (author opinion: the cheapest move in any form of racing, on any type of track), sending Newman backing into the wall.
NASCAR subsequently warned Montoya to stay clean for the rest of the night or he would be parked on the trailer. Newman, for his part, told his team that he would "take care of it after the race."
Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano made contact shortly therafter, sending Logano's Toyota into the wall. Logano, in a profanity-laced radio transmission, placed blame on the five-time defending series champion.