Newman escapes with Pocono win

LONG POND, Pa. -- Late caution flags helped Ryan Newman stretch his gas to the end, allowing him to barely hold off hard-charging Kurt Busch and win Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Newman, who started on the pole, would not have been able to make the final 46 laps without stopping. But crashes involving rookie Casey Mears and Bobby Labonte slowed the field for a total of 12 laps in the Pennsylvania 500.

Newman used the same strategy to win two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway, and Jimmie Johnson won with a fuel economy run last Sunday in New Hampshire. Newman said he wasn't thinking entirely about fuel as Busch made a determined bid after the race went green for the final 12 laps.

"The 97 there at the end, I had to do some stuff to keep his nose in the dirty air," Newman said. "Fuel mileage and track position paid off."

Handling also had a role in the victory.

"I had to line myself up to get off the corners," he explained. "We didn't have great steam down the straightaways."

Keeping it close

Busch never let up in a battle between the biggest winners this season on the Winston Cup circuit.

"It was a great day," he said. "But he was in position to win."

That was because Newman proved again that Pocono is about driving talent as much as anything else. Never was that more evident than in the final few laps.

"I had to check up in turn two just to get a good run in the corner," he explained.

Busch nearly provided the first victory on the mountaintop for Roush Racing -- now a five-car unit -- since the team entered Winston Cup racing in 1988. But every time he pulled within a car-length or two, Newman got away.

"We could get a good run on him through turn one," Busch said. "We had a good car for that.

"We were equal in two and he was better than us in three."

Newman parlayed his series-leading fifth pole of the year into his fourth victory. He and Busch came into the race leading the circuit with three wins apiece.

Newman's Dodge beat the Ford of Busch by .307 seconds -- about six car-lengths --to take the $4.2 million event. He led 88 of 200 laps in just his fourth Cup race on the 2 1/2-mile triangular track.

Newman also won here in an ARCA series race in 2000.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also played the fuel card and lasted to be third in his Chevrolet, followed by teammate Michael Waltrip and the Chevy of two-time Pocono winner Terry Labonte.

"We just needed track position," said Earnhardt, who fell a position after initially challenging Newman for the lead. "I could catch the 12 but after three laps he just drove off."

Earnhardt moved into second place in the standings, passing Jeff Gordon, who was spun out by Dave Blaney on the 124th lap. Four-time series champion Gordon wound up 36th and fell to third in the points.

Points leader Matt Kenseth, among those who made late gas stops, finished 13th. He leads Earnhardt by 232 points and Gordon by 308 after 20 of 36 races.

"They did a real good job with their pit strategy," Kenseth said of Earnhardt's team.

The winner's average speed was 127.705 mph in a race slowed for 36 laps by eight caution flags. There were 18 lead changes among 11 drivers.

Jeff Burton, Joe Nemechek, Todd Bodine, Blaney and Sterling Marlin completed the top.

Tony Stewart, who won in June, had the fastest car in the field, moving to the lead from 33rd on the grid. But he blew his engine on the 154th lap.

Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, three-time Pocono winner Bobby Labonte, blew his Chevy engine before crashing on lap 181.