Newman Earns First Series Win

Ryan Newman led 119 of 125 laps and claimed his first NASCAR Busch Series victory Saturday in the NAPA 250 at Brooklyn, Mich.

Newman passed pole-winner Jimmy Spencer on the second lap and steadily pulled away from the field. He briefly lost the lead to Kevin Harvick after a restart on Lap 52 but stayed in front after passing Harvick five laps later.

Newman beat Harvick to the checkered flag by just over a second. Tony Raines finished third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Mike McLaughlin.

“Yesterday, I knew we had a good car. Just how good it was going to be and what the competitors did overnight to make theirs better was going to be the key,” Newman said.

“Fortunately, we did our homework, pretty much started the race the same way we ended [practice] and just had a great car all day.”

Harvick’s finish left him with a 236-point lead over Jason Keller in the Busch Series standings.

Harvick was a little disappointed, though.

“It’s pretty pathetic when a guy outruns the rest of the field by four or five car lengths down the straightaway like that,” Harvick said. “I can beat Ryan but I can’t beat [car owner] Roger [Penske]. That thing had some steam.”

Newman’s first win came in his ninth series start. He’s running a combination of Busch, Winston Cup and ARCA events this season in preparation of a full-time Winston Cup ride with Penske’s team in 2002.

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Kenny Brack bumped his future team from the front row, winning the pole position in qualifying for today’s Motorola 220 at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Memo Gidley and Bruno Junqueira are battling to stay with Target/Chip Ganassi Racing next season after Brack agreed to bolt Team Rahal and become Ganassi’s top driver in 2002.

Gidley appeared to be on his way to his first CART pole position with Junqueira in second when a drying Road America track allowed seven cars to get past on the last lap of qualifying.

Dario Franchitti’s spinout brought out a red flag, which forced the field in the second group of qualifiers to get only one shot at a fast lap to avoid starting in the back of the pack today.

And at that, they had to weave through the wet and greasy spots.

“In these conditions you can help the car a little, but it’s more a matter of finding the line where there’s the most grip,” Brack said after earning his fifth pole of the season with a lap of 117.969 mph.

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Michael Schumacher is 77 laps away from his fourth Formula One championship and the way he has been driving, winning the Hungarian Grand Prix and the title appears to be a formality.

If Schumacher can keep up the pace and if his Ferrari holds up in the sweltering heat of Budapest, he will be celebrating at the end of today’s race.

The fitness-conscious Schumacher usually is not bothered by the heat and he looked cool Saturday in qualifying, driving only six of the 12 laps allowed but still winning the pole.

Schumacher’s only challenger for the title, David Coulthard, was eight-tenths of a second behind.

Schumacher, who won the Hungarian race in 1994 and 1998, turned the fastest lap around the 2.47-mile circuit, 1 minute 14.059 seconds.

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A month ago, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett were tied for the Winston Cup series lead.

Not anymore.

While Gordon has won the last two races, Jarrett has finished 12th and 31st, falling behind by 265 points heading into today’s Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

Jarrett admitted his chance at a second Winston Cup championship is fading.

“What we’re behind, it’s going to take two bad days for Jeff Gordon,” Jarrett said.

Gordon hasn’t made many mistakes lately while going for his fourth Winston Cup championship. He’s 194 points in front of second-place Ricky Rudd with 14 races left. Gordon edged Rudd in the June race at Michigan, passing him on the last lap and beating him by about a car length.

Gordon will start in 13th position today. Rudd starts third, behind pole-winner Ricky Craven and Bill Elliott on the front row. Jarrett starts 17th.

Scott Riggs outsmarted his rivals to win the Sears Craftsman 175 NASCAR truck series race at Chicago Motor Speedway.

Riggs, who eked out a 0.281-second victory over Dennis Setzer--about a truck-length--chose to take fuel only when he pitted his Dodge for the final time on the 147th of 175 laps at Cicero, Ill. The move boosted Riggs from sixth to second behind leader Kyle Busch, who chose not to pit.

Busch, a 16-year-old Las Vegas high school junior bidding to become NASCAR’s youngest national touring winner, ran out of gas on Lap 163 as the field prepared to restart from the race’s fifth caution.

That gave Riggs his season-leading fifth win of the season, boosting him back into the series championship lead by a single point over previous leader and pole-sitter Joe Ruttman.