Kenseth's Nextel Challenge

The 90-lap non-counting event was broken into three legs of 40, 30 and 20 laps, with a partial field inversion (top eight) after the first leg. Most teams pitted for tires after the second leg, but Newman and crew made the call to stay on the track, taking the lead for the final 20 laps.

Newman, 2002 winner of this event, gamely held his ground until three laps to go. Under pressure from Kenseth, his Dodge fished slightly, allowing Kenseth by on the inside. Matt then cruised to a joyous reunion with his crew, his wife, and the $1m winner's check.

Newman finished second, followed by Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

That brought a clean, classic ending to an event which had enough of dirty moments. It also brought a clear answer to those who last year questioned the contrasting results of Kenseth (two race victories and the championship) and Newman (eight wins, sixth in points). Kenseth won Saturday night by racing, as if anyone had serious doubts.

"It feels good to still kind of vindicate ourselves after some of the criticism we got last year, although it really doesn't bother me too much," Kenseth said, in about as much of a 'take that' as you'll get from him.

The winning pass was a joy to watch, with two thinking racers duelling for 10 laps with the best they had. Matt should describe it.

"The same places Ryan would get loose, I would get loose," he said. "I just couldn't get a run on him, and when I could get a run on him and get alongside of him, Ryan is very, very smart and knows how to get you in a compromising position where you can't finish a pass, which is what [he] should do. He would just get real close to me and get air off of me and I couldn't finish the pass without sliding into him. I wanted to pass him clean and thought we had the better car with tires on, so I just kept waiting and waiting and trying to get behind him to make my car tighter to build air-pressure in the right-front.

"I got a real good run on him off [Turn] 4, and he was only about halfway to the white line and he started sliding. I had my car right in a spot where a lot of times it will pack air in [opponent's] left-rear wheel well and get him pushing. He started losing the groove, and then he turned sideways and I was a couple inches away from him [and] I knew I was going to clear him, so I just stayed in the gas and cleared him right there."

Newman, appreciating a good, fair fight, came to Kenseth's car afterward and congratulated him.

"His hands were shaking," Kenseth said, smiling. "He could hardly hold his Gatorade, so we both had to race pretty hard for that one. When you can do that and race clean and put on a good show and run that hard, it makes it a lot of fun."

Newman, the leader, admitted he had been caught out on the pit decision before the final leg. He said he might have gone for a two-tyre stop, but that crew chief Matt Borland had determined to leave him out, perhaps hoping that the rest of the field would follow the leader.

"I know Matt made up his mind pretty early," Newman said. "I'm not blaming Tony [Stewart, who was second], but it was basically him that dictated everybody else coming in. It didn't kill us by any means. If we'd had a caution there with about 10 laps to go I think we would have been in pretty good shape, but coulda, woulda, shoulda."

Stewart manoeuvered to victory in the first 40-lap leg, marred by a multi-car crash triggered when Kurt Busch spun out team-mate Greg Biffle on Lap 12. That tangle also brought damage to pre-event favourites Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Biffle had choice words for his team-mate, and Jack Roush, owner of both cars, was none too pleased.

Sterling Marlin, who advanced to the final by winning the Nextel Open qualifier, also suffered damage and finished 18th. Ken Schrader, voted into the main event after the Open, hung in for 13th-place pay.