Ryan Newman Wins Chevy Rock and Roll 400

Ryan Newman won the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Richmond International Raceway, but the activities after the race overshadowed his sixth win of the season.Ryan Newman won the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Richmond International Raceway, but the activities after the race overshadowed his sixth win of the season.

Two racing incidents near the end of the race caused tempers to flare. With 19 laps to go, Jeff Burton and Robby Gordon got together with Gordon getting the worst of it. Then, with 8 laps to go, Ricky Rudd hit Kevin Harvick in the rear damaging Harvick's Chevrolet.

After the race, both Gordon and Harvick went looking for their combatants. Harvick found his among the top five finishers who must line up in a separate line so that NASCAR officials can do inspection.

Harvick drove up beside Rudd while a crowd of crewmen rushed to the scene to try to stop any altercation. Harvick was visibly yelling at Rudd , but finally gave up and walked across the Wood Brothers Ford (Rudd's ride) on his way out of the area. Rudd was visibly upset, but asserted that he had not meant to get into Harvick, who was running second and on the back bumper of Newman's Dodge.

“Kevin had trouble on the restart and couldn’t get going,” Rudd said. “ He must have slowed down or something and I got into him in Turn 1. It wasn’t intentional.”

Rudd seemed to be more upset with the treatment his No. 21 Wood Brother’s Ford Taurus received.

“This stuff after the race is kind of ridiculous,” Rudd said after finally climbing out of his car. “This was going to be the car we ran next week and look at the hood.” When asked what Harvick had said to him, Rudd replied, “I don’t know. He’s got that little yap-yap mouth; I couldn’t hear what he was saying.”

Harvick had the last word. “He took a (expletive) cheap shot at us,” Harvick said. “If he’s going to take a cheap shot at us, he’s going to get one back. I will guarantee you that.”

Gordon wasn’t happy either. “It was totally immature on his side,” Gordon said. “I gave him plenty of room. We had a shot of winning this deal. I am just disappointed he has to race like that. I know it’s a short track. I guess he felt he needed to dump me.”

Burton admitted the altercation was his fault.

“I messed up, it was 100 percent my fault,” Burton said. “Robby didn’t do anything at all. I went up the track and hit him. I take responsibility for it. I didn’t mean to do it, but it was my fault.”

Jeremy Mayfield, who took advantage of the Harvick-Rudd incident and passed both, finished second. Rudd and Burton rounded up the top five.

Meanwhile back in victory lane, Newman had already completed his burnouts and made it to the celebration without a national television audience. All cameras had been on the Rudd-Harvick confrontation. Newman admitted he was apprehensive at what might happen on the last lap with Mayfield and Rudd so close behind.

“After watching the Busch (series) race (Friday) last night, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen on the last lap, Newman said. “My front bumper is clean. I don’t care about anyone else’s.”

The race started calmly enough with Roush Racing teammates Mark Martin and Greg Biffle leading the field to a start because pole-sitter Mike Skinner had crashed his primary car, the U.S. Army Pontiac, after qualifying. Soon, the cautions started--a total of 15--and tried to rival Bristol Motor Speedway for wrecks. Only 16 drivers were on the lead lap and six drivers finished less than 300 laps of the 400-lap event.

Mark Martin led Lap 1, but soon gave way to Greg Biffle. Jeff Gordon, Jason Leffler, Mike Wallace, Harvick, Terry Labonte, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., also led. In all, there were 14 lead changes among nine drivers. Newman led the most, 125.

Newman, who started fourth, didn’t take the lead until the 276th circuit of the race on the .75-mile track. For the rest of the competition, that was the end of hope for winning the race. He kept his Dodge out in front for the rest of the race fighting off challenges from Harvick, Mayfield, and Rudd.

It was Newman’s series-leading sixth victory of the season and his seventh career win in 70 starts. It was also his first short track win.

Matt Kenseth continued his march toward a Winston Cup championship by extending his lead. Despite having early troubles, he recovered to finish seventh. His nearest competitors, Harvick and Earnhardt, finished 16th and 17th, respectively. Kenseth now has an unofficial 418-point lead in the standings.

The Winston Cup drivers now move on to New Hampshire International Speedway on September 14.