"I wasn't super concerned," said Newman, who led NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series with eight wins last year, but hadn't won in the first 14 races of 2004.

"We've had some great runs and my mistakes have kind of killed it, but nobody on our team doubted we could still win races," he added Sunday after coming from a lap down to win the DHL 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Newman had not finished better than third this year and it didn't look like this was going to be his day, either, when the radiator on the front of his Penske Racing South Dodge became blocked by trash early in the race. The engine overheated, forcing Newman to make a green flag pit stop on the 22nd of 200 laps. More