In this paper, we address the crosslayer problem of joint medium access control (MAC) and routing in ad hoc wireless networks from the novel perspective of stochastic dynamic games. As a starting point to understand the efficient modes of wireless network operation, we look at the basic problem of multi-hop communication over the simple topology of a single relay channel. A stochastic game is formulated for transmitter and relay nodes competing over collision channels to deliver packets to a common destination node using alternative paths. We rely on a reward mechanism to stimulate cooperation for packet forwarding and evaluate the conflicting multiple access and routing strategies of direct communication and relaying through a detailed foray into the questions of cooperation incentives, throughput, delay and energy-efficiency. Under the separate models of selfish and cooperative network operation, we study the interactions among the equilibrium strategies and present a detailed performance analysis based on multiple system parameters that involve the packet arrival rates, throughput rewards, delay and energy costs.