updated 6:40 p.m. ET July 25, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - Ryan Newman’s long goodbye to Penske Racing isn’t going quite as smoothly as planned.

Two weeks after Newman and team owner Roger Penske announced the current Daytona 500 champion would not return next season — a decision Newman called “mutual” — former Series champion turned commentator Rusty Wallace said Newman was fired.

“He didn’t leave. I’ve read many, many stories that said that,” Wallace said. “Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his offices and said ’I don’t need your services next year.’ Ryan Newman didn’t come to him and say ’I’m leaving.”’

Newman brushed aside the claim by his former Penske Racing teammate.

“I don’t know what Rusty’s grounds are, what he’s trying to prove by saying that. That wasn’t the case,” Newman said. “Roger and I decided mutually to not continue, and it was more my decision I would say. I said our goals didn’t aline and for that reason, and that reason alone we decided to not continue after 2008.”

Newman said Wallace’s comments may have been residue from their frosty relationship while driving for Penske before Wallace’s retirement following the 2005 season.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Newman said. “I know Rusty and I know his personalities, plural, and everybody’s different.”

Newman enters Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway 16th in the season standings and is in danger of missing the Chase for the championship for the third straight year and has been critical of the Penske program recently as it struggles to compete against powerhouse teams like Joe Gibbs Racing.

“We’ve been good, we haven’t been great,” Newman said. “Good gets us close to the chase. Great gets us in it.”

Newman said he’s still sorting through his options for 2009, though he is considered a leading candidate to join Tony Stewart at the newly formed Stewart-Haas team. He has no timetable on when he’ll get a deal done next season, though he admits the longer it drags out, the more distracting the process could become.

“I feel bad for the guys with the Alltel Dodge because I don’t want to take away from them from a performance standpoint,” Newman said. “I don’t think it is when I’m inside the racecar, but when I’m outside the racecar it takes some effort to manage the situation.”

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