NASCAR Newman manages adversity for sweep

Low fuel and a flat tire didn't stop Ryan Newman from sweeping the races at Dover.
DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Ryan Newman and his crew chief need to get on the same page.
After winning Sunday at Dover International Raceway, Newman was asked if his seventh victory of the season exceeded his expectations.
"No," he said. "And that's an honest answer."
Across the track, Matt Borland was asked about goals for the team.
"We set a lot of different goals -- poles, wins, top-fives," he said. "The goal for wins was seven, and we hit that today."
If this kind of confusion ever comes to an end, the rest of the Winston Cup circuit could be in real trouble. Among the concerned is Rick Hendrick, who owns cars driven by some of the best in NASCAR -- including once-dominant four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon.
"I thinks it's a combination of a lot of things," he said of his four-driver team that has produced six wins this season, "and Newman is a pretty darn good driver."
Edging Mayfield
Newman overcame a flat tire that cost him two laps, then gambled on fuel and completed a sweep of the races at Dover. But he had to hold off hard-charging Jeremy Mayfield in the process.
"Being able to save fuel from the driver's seat is not really easy to do when you're going fast," Newman said. "We were doing the best we could."
It certainly was good enough.
He went the final 106 laps without stopping, benefiting from two late caution flags that slowed the field for 12 laps. Newman didn't have to race hard to get the first lap back because of NASCAR's new rule awarding a lap to the highest-scored car off the lead lap.
Although it worked out for him, Newman is opposed to the rule.
"I just don't want to see guys get their lap back and not earn it," he said. "Once we got our lap back it was just sort of a fuel mileage race."
For that Newman left the masterminding to Borland. They debated what to do, but the driver trusted the crew chief, and it worked out.
"Part of his job is to make sure that we finish first, and we need to finish in order to finish first," Newman said.
They had help, though -- from the new rule.
Pushed to the end
This was the first Winston Cup event in history in which racing back to the flag stand under caution was prohibited. Newman regained the second lost lap by staying on the track on lap 328. Then, on old tires, he held off Mayfield, who harassed him for 10 laps until Newman opened a five-car-length lead with 15 laps to go.
"He raced very clean," Newman said of Mayfield. "I felt I used up everything in my car."
Mayfield reached the rear deck of Newman's car and got inside twice, but was unable to hold the low line and eventually faded.
"I was not blocking him, but taking up everything in my line," Newman said. "The car was awesome until we got that flat tire."
It came on the 46th lap, giving Newman 354 to recover.
Newman's victory in the $4.6 million MBNA America 400 came 3 1/2 months after his first career win on The Monster Mile. Newman, the only Winston Cup driver with more than four wins this year, now has eight in his career.
Series leader Matt Kenseth finished ninth after starting from the pole, and increased his points advantage to a season-high lead 436 over Kevin Harvick.
Tony Stewart was third in a Chevrolet, followed by Harvick and Gordon.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out and hit the wall in turn two on lap 364 and was taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a bruised foot and slight concussion.