Newman Picks Up Upset Victory in Phoenix

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Ryan Newman won the Camping World 500 from Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Newman stayed out under a late caution, and he was able to fend off Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch over the final two laps to win.  Newman said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to hold off the cars with newer tires.

“I called for two tires and [crew chief Luke Lambert] called for none,” Newman said.  “I’ve won more races with no tires than I have with four.”

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Newman’s win is the first win for Richard Childress Racing since November 2013 when Kevin Harvick went to victory lane at Phoenix before leaving for Stewart-Haas Racing.  Newman said he was happy to return to victory lane for the first time in 127 races.

“I lost count, that’s how long it’s been,” Newman said.  “We had a good car all day and we kept it out of trouble.  We collected in the end.”

Kyle Busch dominated the final segment of the race, but after Joey Logano blew a tire with five laps to go, Busch was stuck back in fifth on the final restart.  Busch said he was excited to come out of Phoenix with a good finish.

“We got a top 5, that’s what we set out to do here today,” Busch said.  “It was just too many cars that stayed out.  Overall we should be proud of our run today and we move on.”

Larson finished second for the third-straight race after he was unable to chase down Newman over the final two laps.  Larson said he was excited to leave Phoenix as the point leader.

“It’s really cool to be the point leader right now; that was a goal of mine going into today,” Larson said.  “I wish I wouldn’t have gotten sideways there in the middle of one and two…I probably would have got [Newman] going into three and four coming to the white.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ryan Newman

2. Kyle Larson

3. Kyle Busch

4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Daniel Suarez

8. Erik Jones

9. Jimmie Johnson

10. Denny Hamlin

11. Martin Truex Jr.

12. Chase Elliott

13. Clint Bowyer

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

15. Jamie McMurray

16. Ty Dillon

17. Aric Almirola

18. Austin Dillon

19. Trevor Bayne

20. Kasey Kahne

21. Paul Menard

22. Danica Patrick

23. Ryan Blaney

24. Michael McDowell

25. Kurt Busch

26. AJ Allmendinger

27. Chris Buescher

28. Landon Cassill

29. Matt DiBenedetto

30. Reed Sorenson

31. Joey Logano

32. Timmy Hill

33. Derrike Cope

34. Cole Whitt

35. David Ragan

36. Gray Gaulding

37. Matt Kenseth

38. Corey Lajoie

39. Jeffrey Earnhardt

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