With the help of a green-white-checkered style finish Ryan Newman ended a 77-race winless drought, going back to the Daytona 500, in 2008 at Phoenix International Raceway.
"It's been a long time I've been to Victory Lane," Newman said. "I'm gracious to be here. This is the most emotional victory I've ever had in my entire career just because it's been so long." It was Newman’s 14th win.
Although Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson, and Kyle Busch all led over 100-laps of the 375-lap race it came down to a restart in the closing laps.
“The last restart: I didn't really know what to expect. The inside, from what I had seen, hadn't been the ideal lane all day. I'm not sure if Jeff didn't get a great restart. I didn't feel I did, but it was just the right place at the right time,” said the winner.
Gordon admitted that he got in trouble. “I just spun the tires on that last restart. And Ryan got a really good one. We both, I thought, kind of spun the tires and so I wasn't too worried, but, man, all of a sudden he shot forward. I was like, oh, man, I'm in trouble here.”
Johnson, who was running behind Kyle Busch at the last caution, might have thrown away the race on a gamble to take four new tires versus the two tire stops most of the other leaders had. He thought since it had worked recently he’d take the risk.
“I was excited to see the caution come out because it was an opportunity to win. I decided; I made the call for four tires. It's the first time that I can remember in a long time that I actually said what I wanted for a pit stop, with the way Martinsville played out and Bristol and last night's race. I knew with the green-white-checkered there weren't a lot of laps, but I felt we might get a caution with everybody racing so hard,” said Johnson.
Johnson continued: “So I made the call for four and made the most of it. We got from 7th to 3rd and just did what we could. So not a bad night at all. Excited to see us stretch out the points a little bit and get another top-5 finish here.”
Busch ended up eighth and left the track without commenting his race.
Denny Hamlin, recovering from knee surgery went the entire race.
"It's been a long time I've been to Victory Lane," Newman said. "I'm gracious to be here. This is the most emotional victory I've ever had in my entire career just because it's been so long." It was Newman’s 14th win.
Although Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson, and Kyle Busch all led over 100-laps of the 375-lap race it came down to a restart in the closing laps.
“The last restart: I didn't really know what to expect. The inside, from what I had seen, hadn't been the ideal lane all day. I'm not sure if Jeff didn't get a great restart. I didn't feel I did, but it was just the right place at the right time,” said the winner.
Gordon admitted that he got in trouble. “I just spun the tires on that last restart. And Ryan got a really good one. We both, I thought, kind of spun the tires and so I wasn't too worried, but, man, all of a sudden he shot forward. I was like, oh, man, I'm in trouble here.”
Johnson, who was running behind Kyle Busch at the last caution, might have thrown away the race on a gamble to take four new tires versus the two tire stops most of the other leaders had. He thought since it had worked recently he’d take the risk.
“I was excited to see the caution come out because it was an opportunity to win. I decided; I made the call for four tires. It's the first time that I can remember in a long time that I actually said what I wanted for a pit stop, with the way Martinsville played out and Bristol and last night's race. I knew with the green-white-checkered there weren't a lot of laps, but I felt we might get a caution with everybody racing so hard,” said Johnson.
Johnson continued: “So I made the call for four and made the most of it. We got from 7th to 3rd and just did what we could. So not a bad night at all. Excited to see us stretch out the points a little bit and get another top-5 finish here.”
Busch ended up eighth and left the track without commenting his race.
Denny Hamlin, recovering from knee surgery went the entire race.