Racebeat (06/01/03)
by Rich Romer

DOVER, DE--NASCAR Winston Cup: Ryan Newman was a pain in the ... well, arm ... to the MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 field at Dover International Speedway. Newman had to drive without power steering for nearly the entire second half of the race Sunday at the tough, high-banked 1-mile concrete oval. But Newman is a tough kid, too, born of the Indiana short-track clay. He overcame the power-steering problem and powered away from Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart on a late restart to win for the second time this season. On about lap 230 of 400, smoke starting coming out from under Newman's No. 12 Dodge. Newman hasn't exactly had the luck of his hometown college, Notre Dame, this season,

so things didn't look good. Newman, though, knew it was "only" a power-steering problem. He was most concerned that NASCAR not black-flag him for the smoke, knowing that once the fluid burned off, he would be OK. Newman becomes the second two-time winner on the Winston Cup series, joining Kurt Busch in that category.

Gordon overcame an early-race run-in with Sterling Marlin to finish second, with Bobby Labonte third and Tony Stewart fourth. Johnny Benson posted his best finish of the season by coming home fifth. Rusty Wallace was sixth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven, Robby Gordon and Terry Labonte. One of the turning points of the race had nothing to do with Newman. On lap 140, Stewart pulled into his pit stall to make a stop. But his right-front tire was outside of his pit box, and after the stop was completed, NASCAR held him one lap.

NASCAR Busch Series: Joe Nemechek took advantage of Matt Kenseth's late-race blunder and became the first driver in 17 years at Dover International Speedway to win a NASCAR Busch series race from the pole. Winston Cup points leader Kenseth dominated the race, but missed a shift on a restart on the 155th lap of the MBNA 200. He was hit by Brian Vickers and tried to finish with rear bumper askew and left rear fender bent upward. But Kenseth spun out on lap 179, giving fast-closing fellow Cup racer Nemechek the lead. Nemechek's task was made easier when the cars restarted the crash-filled race in single file twice in the final 10 laps on The Monster Mile. The last came after Martin Truex Jr. spun, and the event was red-flagged. But Scott Riggs was unable to close the gap in the final three laps under green, and his Ford finished nearly a half-second behind Nemechek's Chevrolet. Nemechek knew what Riggs was up against.

Kenseth led 160 laps, easily outracing any challenger as he attempted to win for the third time on the high-banked concrete oval. After Kenseth's blunder, NASCAR suggested to his crew that the car be brought in for examination, but they declined and he continued. He made a great save when he spun leaving the second turn and wound up fourth, but was disappointed. Nemechek certainly noticed as he steadily closed the gap before the mishap. He also had to manhandle an unstable car.