Jarrett tired of being nice says team-mate Sadler.

Dale Jarrett's teammate Elliott Sadler has said that Jarrett just got upset at being run into during Saturday's Sharpie 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, adding that the former Cup Series Champion isn't going to be playing Mr Nice Guy anymore.

Sadler's Robert Yates Racing teammate was involved in one of the most contentious crashes of the year so far when he blatantly spun Ryan Newman into a spin on lap 317 of Saturday's 500-lap Sharpie 500. Not only did the accident take out Newman, it also took out the following Kevin Harvick, who was unsighted and ploughed into Newman's spinning vehicle.

After the race the 1999 Cup Champion refused to speak to the media and has remained largely silent ever since. However Sadler, who drives the sister #38 RYR Ford has defended Jarrett's actions even though the delays incurred by the driver of the #88 UPS Ford as a result of his spat with Newman have left him with a major mountain to climb if he is to make the Chase for the Championship.

"I think Dale is just upset that we're all trying to race to get into the Chase, and he's not going to take it any more," said Sadler who, like Jarrett is currently on the outside of the Chase looking in. "I'm not either. We've had a couple guys run over us this year. We're going to stand our ground. You know, we're not going to take it any more. We're tired of being the nice guys and trying to race clean."

Even though Jarrett could face further penalties from NASCAR, which would hinder his bid to make the Chase for the Championship even more, Sadler defended his teammates actions. "You can't let all these guys run over you," he continued. "They're going to take advantage of you, think they can do it every time. Dale just decided he had enough was getting tired of getting run over by these young guys. He just wanted to set an example that he's not going to take it any more. I think that's what you got to do. You got to defend yourself. I mean, some guys will run over you each and every week, just get there on TV with a little smile and say they're sorry like everything's okay. You know, that doesn't stand any more."

With just two races remaining before the cut-off point for the Chase, Jarrett is 14th in points, 78 points behind tenth place driver Jeff Gordon. Sadler meanwhile is 13th overall, 35 markers behind Gordon.