Michigan: Newman takes five
Ryan Newman took his fifth Winston Cup win of the year in an incident-packed race at Michigan, passing Kurt Busch with just three laps to go when the Roush Racing star ran out of fuel
Busch had attempted to stretch his fuel out just a few laps too far, and tumbled to 18th in the final order. Newman managed his fuel better, although his tank was virtually empty by the time he crossed the finish line. Kevin Harvick, who won Saturday's Busch Series race at the track, finished second, with reigning champion Tony Stewart third.
The race featured a number of big crashes, the first coming on lap 63 when Busch nudged Todd Bodine into Kenny Wallace. As it slid along the outside wall, Bodine's car became airborne, with Wallace's car, now on-fire, tucked underneath.
Ricky Craven was the cause of the next major wreck on lap 77, when he ran over some debris, and slid into Casey Mears and the outside wall. This brought out the yellow flags, and sent most cars dashing for pit road. However, Penske Racing made a late decision not to bring its two drivers in. Newman was able to dart back onto the track, but when Rusty Wallace attempted to do the same he collected Dale Earnhardt Jr. The DEI driver lost two laps repairing the damage, and eventually limped home 32nd. Wallace continued on, until his engine blew shortly after half-distance.
Earnhardt wasn't the only championship contender to hit trouble. Jeff Gordon could only manage to finish two laps down in 30th, meaning both lost further ground to ultra-consistent championship leader Matt Kenseth, who finished ninth.
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