Sunday, May 19, 2002
Newman cashes in at The Winston
Second rookie to win NASCAR all-star event
The Associated Press
CONCORD, N.C. — Ryan Newman survived everything thrown at him Saturday night to become just the second rookie to win NASCAR's all-star race.
Newman endured a qualifying race, two elimination rounds, a helmet being thrown at him, two restarts and a furious battle with Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win The Winston — dubbed “Survival of the Fastest” this year — and earn the $750,000 grand prize.
“Man, I had to drive the wheels off of it to win this thing,” Newman said. “It's pretty cool.”
The 24-year-old Newman joined Earnhardt as the only rookies to ever win the event, and Michael Waltrip as the only driver to take the title after making it into the field through the qualifying race.
Earnhardt, the 2000 winner, finished second. Matt Kenseth was third, Kurt Busch was fourth and rookie Jimmie Johnson was fifth.
Johnson, locked in a serious battle with Newman for Rookie of the Year honors, won the first two segments of the event and earned $100,000 in bonuses.
Newman had to win a qualifying race to even make the field at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Then he survived two rounds of cuts under the new format and shrugged off Elliott Sadler throwing his helmet at his car in an earlier round.
He wasn't done yet.
Newman started the 20-lap shootout in fourth place and wasted no time running down leader Tony Stewart, passing him in turn four three laps into it. He had opened up a three-second lead on the field and was on his way to victory when caution came out on lap 84 when Kurt Busch spun out Robby Gordon.
It bunched the field back up with five laps to go. Newman got a tremendous jump on the restart, but NASCAR waved it off and made him come back and try it again.
So he had to do it again, duplicating the start and again pulling away to victory.
But Earnhardt sliced his way through the field and was bumper-to-bumper with Newman over the final two laps. He could have won the race by spinning Newman out, but backed off, allowing Newman to win the race.
“I let off because I didn't want to spin him out,” Earnhardt said. “And that was the end of the race.”
Earnhardt pulled into Newman's pits to congratulate his crew, then ran over to victory lane to offer well wishes to the rookie.
The event was overhauled this year, with each segment turning into an elimination round under the “Survival of the Fastest” theme.
The field started with 27 cars — 25 eligible drivers and Jeremy Mayfield and Newman, who made the race by winning qualifying events earlier in the night.
The field was trimmed by seven after the first segment — four fell out after a wreck — and 10 more were cut after the second, leaving just 10 left for the final shootout.
The format left Johnson, Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Ricky Craven, Matt Kenseth, Newman, Kevin Harvick, Gordon and Stewart remaining in the final dash for the cash.
The field then was inverted for the final sprint, with Stewart starting up front and Johnson 10th.
Johnson and Elliott caught a break following the first-segment accident that knocked four of the big names out of the field. Both were a lap down before the wreck because car problems forced them to pit early.
But they benefitted after the wreck that knocked Sterling Marlin, Bobby Hamilton, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett out of the race.
Marlin, the series points leader, was pointing out his window to signal he planned to head in for the mandatory pit stop. Ward Burton misinterpreted the point and followed him down low on the track, running into the back of Marlin's Dodge and sending him straight into the wall and collecting three other cars.
Marlin, who wrecked the car he planned to bring back here next week for the Coca-Cola 600, didn't know what happened with Burton.
“I don't know what Ward's problem was, I guess you'll have to ask him,” he said. “We were just minding our own business down the back straightaway and he just got against us and turned us head on into the fence. It was pretty uncalled for.”
Before the wreck, Johnson and Elliott were almost certainly going to be eliminated for the race.
The highlight of the second, 30-lap segment was Sadler's helmet-throwing temper tantrum after he spun out and wrecked his car. Angry with Newman for earlier contact, he threw his helmet at Newman's car as it circled by under caution.
Afterward, Sadler apologized for the outburst.
“I'd like to apologize to my sponsor for the way I acted,” he said. “I probably shouldn't have done that but this is The Winston and I wanted to win this thing.”
Also left disappointed was defending event champion Jeff Gordon, who failed to advance to the final segment by one spot.
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Newman cashes in at The Winston
