BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) – Ryan Newman raced to his second straight Busch Series victory Saturday, passing Greg Biffle with six laps remaining and holding him off by 0.766 seconds in the Domino’s Pizza 250.
Newman, the winner last week on the road course in Watkins Glen, has finished in the top five in all four of his Busch starts this season.
Newman, driving a Dodge on the two-mile Michigan International Speedway, started 38th in the 43-car field and quickly moved near the front of the pack. He passed Biffle as the race restarted after the last caution period.
“It was fortunate to have that restart,” Newman said. “My car was probably the best it had been, and his car was probably not as good as it had been.”
Carl Edwards finished third, season points leader Martin Truex Jr. was fourth.
The Michigan race featured 11 full-time Nextel Cup drivers and veteran Bill Elliott, who now runs a part-time Cup schedule. Cup drivers compete at Michigan in Sunday’s GFS Marketplace 400.
Newman blew by Biffle on the race’s last restart. Biffle had dominated the last third of the race, but was worried his right front tire was damaged during the race’s last caution period.
Biffle said he did all he could in the final laps.
“I don’t think I could have gone any faster on the restart,” he said. “I never lifted for two laps, and (Newman) just took off.”
Truex has won six of the Busch Series’ 25 starts. He has 14 finishes in the top five.
Truex rebounded from trouble Saturday. He fell back to 29th after pitting with tire problems early in the race, but slowly worked his way back up through the field.
Truex leads Clint Bowyer by 204 points in the season points standings.
Bowyer finished 30th Saturday after leading 62 laps. His final downfall came when he was assessed a pit stop penalty for having an eighth crew member come over the pit wall more than halfway through the race.
The race had five caution periods for 21 laps. That lowered the average speed to 136.986.
There were 13 lead changes among eight drivers.
The start of the race was delayed about 50 minutes. Rain pushed back the end of qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Michigan.
AP-ES-08-20-05 1859EDT
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