Newman fuels controversy with Kansas victory

Elwood · October 6, 2003

By STEVE BRISENDINE, AP Sports Writer

October 6, 2003

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Ryan Newman fueled a controversy with his Winston Cup-leading eighth victory of the year.

Newman's victory Sunday in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway left his opponents wondering how the No. 12 Dodge can go so far -- and fast -- on a tank of gas.

``We're not cheating. We don't cheat,'' said Newman, who last pitted 79 laps from the finish. ``That's basically it. They can think what they want. They can say what they want.''

Newman wasn't the only driver who passed up a pit stop with about 65 laps to go. Still, some drivers couldn't help but wonder how Newman was able first to hold off Bill Elliott, then to do a victory burnout in the frontstretch.

Jeremy Mayfield, who finished third as Dodges took the top three spots, had plenty to say -- even though he stayed out of the pits along with Newman.

``I'm not an engineer,'' Mayfield said. ``But I know that if you've got 22 gallons of fuel in your car, and everybody's got the same length fuel line and everybody's got so much horsepower, it takes so much fuel to make that.''

Newman, who has a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, won for the third time in the last five races.

``It's easier to criticize a winner than a loser,'' he said.

Elliott, who led 115 of 267 laps, didn't show up in the media center after the race. Instead, he issued a statement through Dodge: ``We had a good car, but it was just one of them days.''

Elliott, third after a restart with 14 laps to go on the 1 1/2 -mile tri-oval, got held up momentarily by Mike Skinner's lapped car. Elliott passed Mayfield with 11 laps to go, but could not manage a serious challenge to Newman -- who finished second to Jeff Gordon in the 2001 and 2002 Kansas races.

``You can opt for fuel mileage or you can opt for power,'' said Elliott's crew chief, Mike Ford. ``It's very difficult to get both.''

Ford called allegations of wrongdoing ``purely speculation.''

``I never worked on that car,'' he said. ``I wouldn't know.''

Tony Stewart was fourth, and Gordon finished fifth in an unsuccessful bid to become the first driver to win the first three Winston Cup events at a venue.

``We were about a third-place car most of the day,'' Gordon said after his third straight fifth-place finish. ``I'm pretty happy with how things turned out.''

Points leader Matt Kenseth had his second straight frustrating finish.

After starting 32nd in a backup car following a wreck in practice Friday, Kenseth crashed in the backstretch Sunday. Kenseth was trying to avoid Michael Waltrip's car after Waltrip spun out in the 68th lap.

Kenseth returned to the race in the 114th lap -- 46 laps down. He finished 36th and saw his lead over Kevin Harvick shrink to 259 points -- down from 354 last week and 436 two weeks ago.

``If we keep knocking it off 80 or 100 points at a time, we're going to be in good shape for a couple of weeks,'' said Harvick, who finished sixth.

Last week at Talladega, Kenseth finished 37th after an engine failure.

``This week, it wasn't really bad luck,'' Kenseth said. ``It was poor driving by me and poor decisions with the car. We're doing it to ourselves.''

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who came into the race 30 points behind Harvick, finished 18th to drop 66 points behind Harvick.