Newman toughest in second win of season

DOVER, Del. -- Ryan Newman was a pain in the ... well, arm ... to the MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 field at Dover International Speedway.

Newman had to drive without power steering for nearly the entire second half of the race Sunday at the tough, high-banked 1-mile concrete oval.

VIDEO CLIPS Newman holds off all challengers in the closing laps Play video Bobby Labonte earns his fifth straight top-five finish of 2003 Play video Jeff Gordon scores his eighth top-10 in the last nine races Play video Ryan Newman becomes the first Dodge to win at Dover since 1975 Play video Jimmie Johnson loses his chance at three straight Dover wins Play video Several cars are involved in a crash on the second lap Play video Marlin spins into the inside wall with help from Gordon Play video Several cars are involved in a spin on lap 211 Play video

But Newman is a tough kid, too, born of the Indiana short-track clay. He overcame the power-steering problem and powered away from Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart on a late restart to win for the second time this season.

"I'm definitely tired," Newman said. "My arms hurt, my back hurts, and I'll be really sore tomorrow and probably Tuesday. But it pays good money to win, you know?"

On about lap 230 of 400, smoke starting coming out from under Newman's No. 12 Dodge. Newman hasn't exactly had the luck of his hometown college, Notre Dame, this season, so things didn't look good.

Newman, though, knew it was "only" a power-steering problem. He was most concerned that NASCAR not black-flag him for the smoke, knowing that once the fluid burned off, he would be OK.

"This is one of the hardest places to have that problem and overcome it, but we had a fast race car, and I wasn't about to pull it in the garage and say, 'That's it,'" Newman said. "Our team is no different than anybody else. They're a great bunch of guys, and the same things happen to everybody.

"It's who can fight through it the best, and they've done a great job of doing that. I think it showed up today."

Newman won at Texas Motor Speedway in March, but in the four races after that, finished 38th or worse, suffering a myriad of problems. He bounced back to win the pole at Lowe's Motor Speedway last weekend, and ended up fifth in the Coca-Cola 600.

And, now, Newman becomes the second two-time winner on the Winston Cup series, joining Kurt Busch in that category.

Gordon overcame an early-race run-in with Sterling Marlin to finish second, with Bobby Labonte third and Tony Stewart fourth. Johnny Benson posted his best finish of the season by coming home fifth.

Rusty Wallace was sixth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven, Robby Gordon and Terry Labonte.

One of the turning points of the race had nothing to do with Newman. On lap 140, Stewart pulled into his pit stall to make a stop. But his right-front tire was outside of his pit box, and after the stop was completed, NASCAR held him one lap.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli vehemently complained, but to no avail. Stewart was relegated to 32nd on a restart on lap 142.

"It would be one thing if (the NASCAR official) was out there to tell us to get back, but he wasn't," Zipadelli said. "That's what I was upset about. ... If you come over the line, they tell you to stop and go back, and you're OK. I can't see from where I'm at, and the tire changer didn't say anything.

	Greg Biffle (16) and Casey Mears get together early in the race. Credit: Autostock

"We weren't over the line. We were on the line by an inch. What are you going to do? A rule's a rule."

Stewart, though, didn't give up. He had one of the fastest cars on the track, as shown by the 67 laps he'd led up to that point, and rallied to race Newman to get back on the lead lap.

But Newman, a fellow Indiana native and former Sprint Car driver, wasn't about to give Stewart the lap back. The duo raced hard to a caution flag on lap 202, but Newman held Stewart off.

"From what I was told, he screwed up in the pits and pitted outside of his box," Newman said. "He had to take the one-lap penalty. That's not a piece of tape or a blown tire or something like that. That's his own screw-up. We did what we could to keep him a lap down, knowing he had a fast race car. Thankfully, I think we did, seeing he came all the way back and finished (fourth)."

Stewart was upset and tried to push Newman up the track in turn 1. Newman said he knew what was coming and got out of the way.

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"He tried to bump me," Newman said. "I had to run clear up the race track. I guess it's just kind of typical. He was pretty upset, and I'd be upset, too. But he had a fast race car, and he would have done the same thing to me, I believe, if the roles were reversed."

Stewart eventually got his lap back and roared through the field to become a factor. By the time he got to the front, Newman, Gordon and Bobby Labonte had established themselves as the top contenders.

Newman kept the lead after a series of green-flag pit stops on lap 370, but Gordon wasn't far behind. The two were held up by the lapped car of Jeff Burton, and Gordon made a couple moves, but Newman held him off.

That let Stewart inch closer, and when Casey Mears and Greg Biffle got together on lap 389, the race seemed primed for an exciting finish.

On the restart, however, Gordon tried to get underneath Newman but slipped. Stewart tried to get underneath Gordon but slipped. Labonte took advantage to go by Stewart on the outside, and that was it.