Close turned to physical 117 laps into Sunday's Ford 400.

Montoya got into the back of Stewart, who would have none of it. He came down on Montoya, all but scraping the 42 off the right side of Montoya's Chevrolet.

Forty-three laps later, the two were at it again, Montoya drawing a two-lap penalty for rough driving when he rammed the rear end of Stewart.

Neither driver was available for postrace discussion.

"I definitely didn't see that coming," said Montoya's crew chief, Brian Pattie.

"It shows you that (Montoya) is not going to be pushed around. But it didn't help us, and it didn't help (Stewart). We both had a chance to finish in the top five."

Stewart finished 22nd, falling behind race winner Denny Hamlin to sixth in points. Montoya, who lost 32 laps to repairs and penalty, finished 38th.

"Tony was frustrated," said Joe Custer, executive vice president at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Hamlin was penalized one lap for rough driving after an incident with Brad Keselowski in Saturday's Nationwide Series race.

"I think everyone's got a little fight in them, especially when they've been done wrong," Hamlin said. "Maybe they thought (retaliation) was worth it. I thought yesterday that it was worth it."

Hamlin-Keselowski and Montoya-Stewart were an unexpected heavyweight double-bill caused by frayed nerves and a "nothing to lose" mentality with the season down to the final laps.

"I haven't seen all the replays and I don't know what happened first and when," Stewart crew chief Darian Grubb said. "They were racing each other pretty hard and both got frustrated."

The race finished without another road-rage incident between the two after Montoya's penalty. Stewart finished 22nd and Montoya was 38th.

Respected veteran driver Jeff Burton (FSY) said the sport could do without the trash talking.

"What this sport needs is good racing, it doesn't need running that mouth," he said. "I think running that mouth is not what it's all about. Good hard racing is what fans want to see. There's a certain portion of people that want to see people yell at each other, but I think the general population is better off."

Most drivers feel should they self-police the field in the garage and on the track.

"You have your moments where you lose your mind and lose your temper and you just want to run over the top of somebody," Kevin Harvick (FSY) said.

Contributing: Wire reports

Enlarge By Douglas Jones, US Presswire Juan Pablo Montoya (42) exacts revenge on Tony Stewart with a bump in turn four, drawing a two-lap penalty from NASCAR officials.