NASCAR Newman's gamble gets fifth victory of season

He gambled on having enough fuel to finish the race and beat Kurt Busch.
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- Ryan Newman saved just enough fuel to take an aggressive run at Kurt Busch.
"I wanted to run down Kurt, but I wanted to save fuel," Newman said. "You don't want to give up a second-place finish for a little greed."
Newman radioed to crew chief Matt Borland asking permission to go for the lead and he was told, "Go for it and we'll see what happens."
It worked.
Newman was able to stretch his final tank of gas 52 laps on the 2-mile oval at Michigan International Speedway to win the GFS Marketplace 400, his fifth victory of the season.
"We were about four laps short and he saved that much fuel," Borland said. "We had about two-tenths of a gallon left. We probably could have made it to turns one or two and that would have been about it."
Made victory lap
Still, Newman had enough gas left to do a slow victory lap and then burn some victory doughnuts before driving to Victory Lane.
Asked if he was worried about running dry, Newman said, "We can talk about it all day, but it don't matter. We made it to the end."
Busch, who also gambled on having enough gas at the end, came a lap short and wound up 18th.
Busch had more problems after the race when Jimmy Spencer hit his car from behind and turned it around on pit road, then went up to Busch's car and allegedly punched him in the face.
NASCAR talked with both drivers and said it would look into the matter further. A spokesman for the Lenawee County Sheriff's Dept. said the department was considering filing assault charges against Spencer.
Most pitted early
Most of the leaders pitted during a caution period on the 149th lap of the 200-lap race, and Busch and Dale Jarrett came back onto the track behind only Spencer, who stayed out.
Busch easily passed Spencer for the lead on the restart on lap 150 and Jarrett moved to second the next time around the high-banked track. Jarrett, a four-time Michigan winner, then took the lead from Busch on lap 152.
But Busch wouldn't let Jarrett get away, finally repassing him for the top spot on lap 157. He stayed there nearly to the end, building leads of up to 3.3 seconds before Jarrett was forced to pit on lap 188, giving Newman the runner-up spot.
On lap 199, Busch slowed and drove onto pit lane for a splash of gas. Newman easily held on to beat Kevin Harvick, who made his last stop on lap 149, to the finish line by 1.652 seconds -- about 10 car lengths.