"I love you man."

Those were the words I mused Ryan Newman had cried into teammate Tony Stewart's ear during the driver's first Victory Lane celebration in the No. 14 last weekend at Pocono Raceway.

Elated with pride, Newman was the first guy to congratulate Stewart with a full on man hug during the post-race festivities.

“

We are really close. It's a combination that the deeper you got into it, the more you realized how perfect it really was. Just gets stronger and stronger every week.

”

-- TONY STEWART

Not since the Jimmie Johnson-Casey Mears tearful, man hug when Mears won his first Cup race back in 2007 at Lowe's Motor Speedway have NASCAR fans witnessed such a 'bromance' bloom between two drivers.

Like Shrek and Donkey, Sam and Frodo or better yet Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr., Stewart and Newman are in the midst of a notable bromance best described, unofficially, as the admiration and man-affection shared by two heterosexual males which doesn't cross a line or put into question said manhood.

You don't see them spring up very often in the competitive and perceivable too-tough-to-handle arena of NASCAR, but every now and again, tight friendships between teammates are created under special circumstances.

As is the circumstance with Stewart and Newman; both are Indiana natives working on a new team together and have amazed NASCAR fans and competitors with their almost instant success on the track this season. They both like old cars, and if not racing, would rather be fishing.

During an interview after winning his first point race as an owner/driver last weekend, the first to do so in the Cup Series since Ricky Rudd in 1998, Stewart said the relationship between him and Newman just gets stronger and stronger every week.

"He was one of the first people up there to congratulate us when it was over," Stewart explained. "So he goes, 'I'm not really a guy that likes hugging guys,' but gave me a hug and said he was proud of me." (Continued)