Associated Press

Jamie McMurray (1) drives past Juan Pablo Montoya after the two Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammates collided during the Sprint Cup Series race last Sunday in Las Vegas.

Juan Pablo Montoya says he's accepted teammate Jamie McMurray's apology for the wreck that collected both last weekend and that he told McMurray "let's move forward.''

The two crashed while running side-by-side at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Montoya blamed McMurray, his new teammate at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, for the incident and criticized McMurray's driving on the radio to his crew.

Montoya also was critical of McMurray in an interview with Fox during the race broadcast.

Montoya, according to a story at www.autosport.com, said that he and McMurray traded text messages after the race. McMurray texted Montoya: "Hey I'm sorry, I'm sure you're mad at me. You want me to call you and talk through things?''

Montoya said he replied: "Don't worry. It happened. Yes, I was real mad, but let's move forward.''

"It's frustrating,'' Montoya said during a media event before his pro-am celebrity golf tournament in Bogota, Colombia, "because you're teammate is the guy you've got to race the smartest. You have to give each other a lot of respect because you don't want to end up in a bad situation like last Sunday.''

Watchful eye

NASCAR is taking a tougher stance on cars that intentionally pull out of races after only a few laps.

Starting last weekend at Las Vegas, series officials announced that the first Cup car that falls out of the race (not related to an accident) will be held for inspection.

The issue of cars starting and then pulling off after a few laps is not new to the sport but grew last season. NASCAR's extra attention to this matter is a way to regulate those teams that put enough effort into qualifying for a race but make little or no effort to run the full race.

Dave Blaney was running at the finish once in 30 races last season for PRISM Motorsports, a team co-owned by Phil Parsons. Although Blaney's average finish was 41.0 in a 43-car field, he still collected more than $2.3 million in winnings. Joe Nemechek failed to finish 27 of 30 races last season (average finish 39.5) and collected more than $2.4 million in winnings.

Sunday at Las Vegas, Blaney finished 29th, three laps off the leaders. It marked the first time since last year's Coca-Cola 600, where he finished 28th, that he saw the checkered flag.

The first car out of last weekend's race was Aric Almirola. He ran 23 laps. The reason listed for his early departure was vibration.

New look coming

NASCAR president Mike Helton said Monday that series officials are looking to take the rear wing off in the "next two or three races.''

Helton made the comments during a news conference at Texas Motor Speedway.

Most in the garage expect NASCAR to make the switch from the rear wing to the spoiler before the Martinsville race at the end of the month. That would follow open tests at Talladega and Charlotte with the spoiler.

Cited

John Wes Townley, who drives in the Nationwide Series for Richard Childress Racing, was cited for underage possession of alcohol last week in Las Vegas. Townley turns 21 on Dec. 31. A NASCAR spokesperson said series officials have discussed the matter with Townley. ... William Hileman, a crew member on the No. 76 team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, has been indefinitely suspended by NASCAR for violating its substance abuse policy.

Pit stops

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has committed $1 million to build and maintain the Dale Jr. Corral and Amphitheater at the Victory Junction Gang Camp run by the Petty family in Randleman, N.C.