Newman's rise more grit than glamour — but it's working

The 36-year-old may be the least flashy of the remaining competitors still in contention for this year's championship, but yet another timely performance last weekend at Martinsville Speedway has him second in the standings with two races remaining before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Newman finished third at the 0.526-mile track, tied for his best result of the year, behind the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon. He's three points back of Gordon, the series points leader, and has five consecutive finishes of eighth place or better.

"(The new format) has played to our advantage mathematically, no doubt," Newman said. "We were the 16th seed coming in without a win. We've not won yet. We were tied for the lead in the points with four races to go. So mathematically it has played to my advantage, as it has others, but probably mine mostly."

Even a rare mistake can't ruin the momentum the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team has generated.

Following a caution on Lap 188, Newman was busted for speeding on pit road -- coincidentally, so was the No. 24 of Gordon. That sent the No. 31 back to 31st in the lineup, setting the stage for a rally that was more grit than glamour.

Newman's progress through the field after that penalty Sunday was slow. He was 25th on a Lap 277 caution, 13th after a Lap 386 caution and finally back into the top 10 by Lap 400.

On the final pit stop following a red flag on Lap 488, Newman's team gambled on two tires. He restarted eighth, and had never cracked the top five in the race until the final lap.

"The strategy of two tires there at the end worked out good for us," he said. "It was the right number of laps with the guys that stayed out, and we kept the guys behind us that had four tires. It was a great team effort. I put our team in a hole when I sped on pit lane, which doesn't happen very often. It cost us a lot of track position."

Perhaps equally as important as Newman's outstanding day was that Earnhardt won the race. Junior is no longer in the Chase, and those in the Eliminator Round automatically qualify for the four-driver championship round at Homestead with a victory this round.

That means at least two of those four heralded spots will be determined by points. For a driver that hasn't won this year, but whose average finish (13.0) ranks fourth in all of the Sprint Cup Series, it's setting up to be an ideal scenario heading to Texas Motor Speedway.

"I mean, it's played to our advantage the entire time as far as not having a win, not having bonus points," Newman said. "But that doesn't mean it's going to be from the drop of the green in Texas or from the drop of the green in Homestead."

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