Matt Borland: "We had a really good car and were running in the top three all night. Unfortunately just got caught out on that one pit stop. That put us two laps down." Credit: Autostock

Newman sneaks into Chase in nail-biter finish

RICHMOND, Va. -- Two laps worth of fuel.

That was all Ryan Newman had in the tank after Saturday night's Chevy Rock and Roll 400. That was enough, however, for Newman to secure a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

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Newman's chances at getting in the Chase probably should not have come down to less than a half-gallon of gas. He was one of the strongest cars on the track but was pinned two laps down after an ill-timed caution following his pit stop.

With more than 100 laps to go, Newman appeared to have plenty of time to make it up, especially since he immediately made up one lap by staying on the track and was the first car one lap down -- and in line to get the free pass.

But the caution never came. The nail-biting in his pits did, however.

As the laps clicked off, Newman was barely in the top 20 in the race and barely in the top 10 in the points standings. Newman knew where he was on the track but didn't know about his points position.

With about 25 laps to go, Newman radioed his crew.

Matt Borland Credit: CIA Photostock

"What's the word?" Newman asked crew chief Matt Borland.

"We're in right now by six points."

"Uh, oh."

"We're running short on fuel."

"Uh, oh."

Uh, oh is right. Jamie McMurray, who was behind Newman in the points standings, was running seventh, while Newman was 20th. If Newman happened to drop a couple spots on the track or McMurray happened to pass a couple of cars, Newman would be out of the Chase.

Tony Stewart got past Newman for 19th, but there was a gap back to the next car. With fuel running low, Newman had to conserve as much as he could.

"At that point, it was our only shot at it," Borland said. "We had gotten a lap down. That was our only way to maybe make back some of those positions."

They didn't make up any positions, but they didn't lose any more either. Had Newman run out of fuel, he could have dropped to 25th or worse, back to the last car one lap down.

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"It was about as tight as you could get it," Borland said. "Luckily, we were on the good side of it. It's not the way you want to do it, that's for sure."

But Newman and Borland will take it.

"Tell him we'll take the championship by two laps," Newman said as Borland spoke to a reporter.

"That sounds good," Borland said.

Winning the title will take some more good runs like Saturday night, minus the bad luck. And, no, Borland said he didn't feel lucky to finish the race with less than a half-gallon of fuel left in the tank.

"We had a really good car and were running in the top three all night," Borland said. "Unfortunately just got caught out on that one pit stop. That put us two laps down. We made one of the last back up and were in the process of making the other one back up. That's where we ended up."

Because they didn't catch a caution.

"Cautions never came like they usually do here," Newman said.

Credit: Autostock

There were 10 yellows in the first 300 laps, but zero when Newman and his team needed it. Those kind of breaks will be needed in the final 10 races if Newman wants to win the championship.

"Everybody is in the same boat now," Newman said. "It's just who gets to be a survivor. I feel good about it, but like I've said, it doesn't matter if it's this race or one in the last 10, any little thing can take you out -- any person, little debris, bad luck just like tonight getting caught a lap down.

"We won the battle, but we haven't won the war. We'll get our guns polished up for the last 10 races and do what we have to do as a team to stay focused and take the right racecars to the right race tracks and make the right calls. The driver will try not to make any mistakes and make sure we don't have any DNFs, engines failures and mechanical problems and go from there."

A minor slump knocked Newman out of the top 10, but the team rebounded with two consecutive top-five finishes before Richmond. His season wasn't as good as last year, when he won eight races, but there is still plenty of speed left in the No. 12 Dodge. "We haven't had some of the performances, but I think we've got a lot of potential going into these last 10 races," Newman said. "We'll just have to do our best and see what happens."