Judging from his final laps in Sunday’s Subway 500, Ryan Newman’s desire to end a two-year victory drought trumped any deferential treatment of Nextel Cup contenders.
As Jeff Gordon debated whether to bump teammate Jimmie Johnson from the lead, Newman never considered another option as he stalked both of them. With a Dodge that was stout all day, Newman took the decision out of Gordon’s hands with a solid move inside his Chevy on lap 494 and tried to catch Johnson before a wreck during a green/white/checkered flag finish left him with his third runner-up effort this season.
“I know I would have had a shot at him, ” said Newman, who spent most of the day in the top 10 after starting 12th. “I had my nose at his left rear tire at the start/finish line getting the white flag. I would have liked to have said that, ‘yeah, I could’ve passed him on the inside. ’ … I think he struggled a little more on restarts. I thought mine was really good, but it (the opportunity) just never happened. ” Gary Graves, USA TODAY
Newman said he didn’t feel as though he had a top car until he drove his way there. He took the No. 12 to the second position past Gordon with nine laps to go after he got in the rear of Gordon, something that raised the specter of a non-Chase driver having a detrimental effect on the Chase. But Gordon—who saw his points lead trimmed to 53—maintained his composure.
Gordon even had a bit of a laugh with Newman when Gordon entered the media center, playfully lunging at Newman in mock anger.
“I wasn’t very good on short runs there, and I just couldn’t get down into the corners; and Ryan looked like he was pretty good there on the shorter runs, ” Gordon said. “I kind of held him up. He got me up the racetrack and then I gave him room and we slammed pretty good there. K. Lee Davis, ESPN.com
Jeff Gordon had a couple of flies in the ointment Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
One was his teammate Jimmie Johnson, the other was one of his protégés—Ryan Newman.
While the sold-out crowd was hoping for a repeat of last April’s thrilling finish between the Hendrick Motorsports teammates when some bad blood erupted after Johnson edged Gordon for the win, it never materialized.
And Newman had something to do with it.
Gordon was running second behind Johnson as the laps wound down until the 495th circuit, when Newman used a little of the patented bump-and-run tactic to get around Gordon for the second-place spot. Pete Pistone, CBSSports.com
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