ESPN Sprint Cup

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Paul Menard leaned against a pit box in the back of his Nextel Cup garage stall on Friday, spitting out sunflower seeds as the sun stayed buried behind clouds at Martinsville Speedway.

"Got a second?" he was asked.

"To talk about the Tony Stewart deal?" Menard replied.

Well, yes.

In case you missed it, Stewart and the rookie out of Dale Earnhardt Inc. are in the midst of a minor feud as the Chase for the Nextel Cup begins the stretch run.

They banged several times coming off pit road at Dover and had a pit-road incident last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The latter prompted Stewart to take a few shots at Menard and Menard's father on his weekly show on Sirius Radio.

"Well, it's a situation and I normally would keep my mouth shut on this, but I just have a hard time doing it today," Stewart said on the show. "You can have your father buy your ride and write DEI a big check, but you can't buy talent.

"And that's what John Menard's been good at his whole life, is just buying success. He's bought his son a Nextel Cup ride and he's just got enough talent to just be in the way most of the time."

Menard has heard only bits and pieces of what Stewart said. He reminded that his father gave the two-time Nextel Cup champion his first Indy Racing League ride in 1996 and sponsored him in 1997 when he won the IRL title.

"I've known Tony for 10 years," Menard said. "He's not a very mature person. Yeah, I wouldn't be here if my family didn't support me. I don't think he would be either if his family didn't support him. You can't get too wrapped up in it.

"I know him well enough to know he's a 50-year-old kid in a six-year-old's body. He's got the platform to say that stuff. Good for him. I hope he feels better about it."

Stewart, in fourth place and 198 points behind leader Jeff Gordon in the championship Chase, was incensed when he ran into Menard and Kasey Kahne as he pulled out of his pit stall at LMS.

He complained that the 31 drivers outside the Chase shouldn't have so much control over how the 12 drivers competing for a title finish.

"He better get used to it, because there are always going to be 43 cars out there, not 12," said Menard, who is 34th in points heading into Sunday's race (1 p.m. ET, ABC).

Menard said it was the responsibility of Stewart and his spotter to make sure he was clear leaving the pit box, not his.

"If he doesn't want to take the blame for it, there is nothing you can do about that," he said.

Stewart left the track Friday without talking to reporters.

Menard was also unhappy about the incident at Dover in which Stewart repeatedly bumped the rear of his car coming off pit road.

"He was just mad we beat him out of the pits," he said.

Stewart was mad at LMS because, according to him, Menard's crew members were "clapping and smiling at us" while repairs were being made. Menard wasn't aware that happened.

"I normally try not to get into guys' cars anymore because I realize that there are crew guys that are involved that work on the thing, so I've been pretty good the majority of the summer about not leaning on guys," Stewart said.

"But after seeing their crew guys clapping, after that I don't really have too much of a problem smiling and laughing if he finds himself backwards in the wall due to somebody else."

Menard said Stewart just needs to grow up.

"He can say what he wants," he said. "But when push comes to shove, I'll be ready for him."

David Newton covers auto racing for ESPN.com.