The battle for the Chase for the Nextel Cup got off to a heated-start at the Sylvania 300 as Ryan Newman<$> took first-place by .293 seconds from points-leader Tony Stewart<$> at the New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday.
The win marked the first Nextel Cup Series victory for Newman since last year, ending a drought for the No. 12 car.
Stewart and Newman shared the lead position throughout the race. Stewart has been on fire, finishing in the top ten for the last thirteen races. He led 173 of 300 laps, but that wasn't good enough for victory. Newman made the pass on lap 299 to the take the win.
Pit stops proved to be the deciding factor in the race. With a race hampered by crashes and 10 caution flags, Newman was able to capitalize with strong races out of pit-lane to keep Stewart at bay in the final stretch. Stewart was hampered by some imbalances in his car which slowed him down and prevented him from making any kind of pass on Newman in the final turns of the race.
In addition to the exciting down-to-the-finish duel between the two leaders, the race had several earlier highlights and drama thanks to crashes and hot tempers between several rival drivers.
Robby Gordon<$> and Michael Waltrip<$> were involved in a collision that sent Gordon's car gliding into the wall. Gordon, whose car was smashed on both ends, retaliated by attempting to crash into Waltrip. After failing to make contact with Waltrip, Gordon exited his car, waited on the track, and threw his helmet at Waltrip's No. 15 car, almost causing a collision between Stewart and Waltrip.
Kasey Kahne and Kyle Bushch also had a run-in on lap 165. After Kahne was sent into the wall by Busch, Kahne retaliated by purposefully driving his car into the front of Busch's car. Kahne was automatically disqualified from the race by NASCAR after the incident.
NASCAR did not suspend the drivers involved, but did penalize Gordon 50 points and a $35,000 fine. Kahne was penalized 25 points and $25,000 and Waltrip was fined 25 points and $10,000.
Rusty Wallace<$> grabbed sixth in the race, followed by Mark Martin<$> and Jimmie Johnson<$> in seventh and eighth respectively. Kurt Busch<$>, who won the Nextel Cup Series last season, had a disappointing race, finishing 35th after crashing his number 97 car with Scott Riggs<$> on the second lap. Jeremy Mayfield<$> and Carl Edwards<$>, both contenders for the Cup also had disappointing finishes, placing 16th and 19th, respectively.
With his victory, Newman moves from tenth up to a tie for third place in the points-standing with teammate Rusty Wallace. <$>He still trails leaders Greg Biffle and Stewart. Matt Kenseth<$> rounds out the top five followed by Johnson, Martin, Mayfield, Edwards, and Kurt Busch.
The Chase for the Cup continues next Sunday with the MBNA RacePoints 400 at the Dover International Speedway.
