MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -Juan Pablo Montoya had had it with Jeff Gordon, and when he felt Gordon began crowding him in the turns on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, he got physical. And he made no apologies afterward.
``It's just every time we've been around racing against him, he runs the hell out of me,'' Montoya said. ``He moved me out of the way before, and he was starting to do the same here today. I was running the outside of him, and every time he was just getting wider and wider.''
Montoya's car finished the race with several tired-sized black doughnuts on it.
``It got to a point, it's like, `Hey, I'm here and you're not going to push me around,' you know what I mean,'' Montoya said. ``If you give me room, I'll give you room.
``He wasn't giving me any, so I played the same game. Right at the end we ran together and he gave me some room and I gave him some room. I mean, you can do it.
``Sometimes you've got to set a precedent so people back off a little.''
Gordon had a different view of things, seeing Montoya as the instigator.
``He's an aggressive driver. We've seen it from him before,'' he said. ``I thought I did something to make him mad because I didn't understand why he was just driving into me for no reason. But hey, that is Martinsville. That is kind off the way he drives.''
As the race was winding down, they raced each other clean, both said.
``We're good,'' Montoya said. ``I talked to him afterwards.''
Montoya finished third, Gordon fifth.
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MONTOYA AND GRIESE: Juan Pablo Montoya had said he didn't have much to say about ABC football announcer Bob Griese's ill-conceived comment about him on television Saturday.
But he couldn't resist given the chance to say something after Sunday's race.
During a promotion for ESPN's NASCAR coverage of the race Saturday, a graphic showing the top five drivers in the Chase for the championship was displayed, prompting this exchange:
``Where's Juan Pablo Montoya,'' announcer Chris Spielman asked.
``He's out getting a taco,'' Griese replied. He later apologized twice.
Montoya said he doesn't really care about what Griese said, but added with a grin: ``I could say I spent the last three hours eating tacos, but I was actually driving the car.''
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DON'T ASK, PLEASE: The normally cool Jimmie Johnson is fed up with questions about how comfortable he is with his sizable points lead and only four more races to go.
``I think you guys can all figure it out,'' Johnson said. ``Talladega, there's no telling, and I feel good with the other tracks after that as long as we don't have any mechanicals.''
Later, he said the wild card is stuff he can't control, or foresee.
``The stuff we can control, I feel we're going to be great,'' he said. ``Four good tracks coming up for us. If we have no issues, I feel that we can race for this championship and things will turn out as we want. ... I'm tired of talking about all the what-ifs.''
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CHASERS: Chase participants Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne had forgettable days.
Biffle went a lap down early in the race, rallied to even lead once when he stayed on the track while the leaders headed for pit road but then faded to finish 25th.
Biffle said having Saturday's practice rained out hurt his preparation.
``That happened in the spring, so that makes it tough,'' said Biffle, who started the day seventh, 268 points back. ``Someday when we get to test or practice here, we'll be all right.''
Kahne helped cause three cautions while getting bounced around and finished 32nd.
Each dropped one spot in the point standings, Biffle to eighth, Kahne to 11th.
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CLOCK WORK: The grandfather clocks that Martinsville Speedway has been giving race winners in its premier series since 1964 will have an educational origin beginning in 2010.
The track is partnering with the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center and several area schools to have students design and produce the clocks as part of their curriculum.
Students from Halifax County High School in Virginia and Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsboro, N.C., who are involved with the Wood Product Design and Development Program, will work with other school systems and private sector businesses and companies in the process, learning business skills as they produce a concept for a clock and then the final product.
The first student-produced trophy clock will be presented next March.
By HANK KURZ Jr. AP Sports Writer
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