Newman claims eighth win at Kansas

Ryan Newman took the lead with 28 laps left to go and held off a hard-charging Bill Elliott to win the Banquet 400 Sunday at Kansas Speedway. It was Newman's eighth win of the season and third in the past five races. Ryan Newman. Photo by ...

Ryan Newman took the lead with 28 laps left to go and held off a hard-charging Bill Elliott to win the Banquet 400 Sunday at Kansas Speedway. It was Newman's eighth win of the season and third in the past five races.

Ryan Newman.

Photo by Richard Sloop.

"We just had to do what we could," admitted Newman, who stretched his final fuel run to 78 laps. "Luckily we made it."

Jeremy Mayfield, Elliott's Evernham Motorsport's teammate, was the leader when Mark Martin and Mike Skinner got together, bringing out the eighth caution of the day. He got a good restart, but couldn't hold off Newman, who dropped down to pass him in turn 4. Mayfield guided his #19 machine to a third place finish.

"We came up just a little short," said Mayfield, who posted his third top-3 finish in the past five races. "They (crew) did a great job today."

Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top 5.

Newman jumped to fourth in the point standings ahead of pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson, who crossed the finish line in sixth place.

"He's the best there is," said Matt Borland, crew chief for the #12 car. "He does a phenomenal job."

Points leader Matt Kenseth suffered a second consecutive disaster when he crashed on lap 69. Kenseth went low to avoid Michael Waltrip - who was spinning on the backstretch - and slid across the grass into the infield retaining wall. His #17 DeWalt Ford sustained heavy front end damage.

Kenseth spent 44 minutes in the garage while his crew made repairs and returned to the track on lap 114. He finished 36th.

"We just fixed it the best we could," said crew chief Robbie Reiser. "We'll just have to bounce back (next week). That's all we can do."

Kenseth, who blew an engine and finished 33rd last week at Talladega, still maintains a 259 point lead over Kevin Harvick in the championship standings. It's the first time that Kenseth has finished outside of the top 10 in two consecutive races this season.

"I still don't know what happened, the next thing I knew I just spun," Kenseth said. "It's been a tough week."

Waltrip had another difficult day at Kansas. He brought out the caution again on lap 202 when he cut a tire and went heavily into the wall. Waltrip, who was coming off a win at Talladega, earned the pole for the Busch race on Saturday and led 140 laps before his right front tire blew with five laps to go.

"We were real loose on new tires," said Waltrip, who finished 39th. "It's a fun track, but I'm tired or wrecking here. I'm looking forward to coming back next year and turning the tables on it."