Gordon’s comment about hoping someone was taught a lesson about racing clean yesterday was directed at Brad K. I take it that he thinks the move that Newman made to get that 1 point was different then what Brad K did last week. Gordon’s tire being cut last week was bad luck, how could Brad K. plan that and Gordon could have recover for a better finish. Newman planned to bounce off of the 42, hoping that the kid would understand. So, what was the different if any?, other then the factor of fans liking or disliking certain drivers.
In my opinion the two were similar in many respects.
>Both potentially had a Championship on the line.
>These were not quarter panel shots, but they managed to be (give or take) completely underneath their…victims, er, competitors. Still, Gordon & Larson could have occupied the space that Kes & Newman were in (but they did not).
>I am good with both moves, and congratulate Newman on making the Chase.
The differences:
>Larson was not in a position to get into the Chase, pending yesterday’s finish.
>Larson will probably discuss it less.
Ironically, Newman kept Gordon out of the Chase as much as Keselowski did.
BTW–For the record I was pulling for Gordon to make it, but he lost control of his destiny last week.
Bull when you do a slide job, you have no chance of holding the corner then use another car as a cushion taking him out. Chase or no Chase. Larson passed him squeaky clean and Newman showed classless way of making a pass. He’s lucky that he’s so much larger than Larson so no fighting… His large melon which he calls a head has a bully buried inside! 
[QUOTE=Groundpounder;152464]Bull when you do a slide job, you have no chance of holding the corner then use another car as a cushion taking him out. Chase or no Chase. Larson passed him squeaky clean and Newman showed classless way of making a pass. He’s lucky that he’s so much larger than Larson so no fighting… His large melon which he calls a head has a bully buried inside! :)[/QUOTE]Newman also stated that his move was a bit of a payback for Larson using him as a cushion at the Eldora truck race (Larson ran Newman up to the wall off of turn two late in the race).
Larson was interviewed later Sunday after Phoenix, and said he was OK with Newman’s banzai move; he understood that there was a lot on the line for the 31 car.
I think, too, part of Larson gettin’ rooted up out of the groove was probably some inexperience on Larson’s part. He probably knew Newman was gonna shoot the gap underneath, but probably never thought he’d get up in the marbles and tag the wall. Newman didn’t “take Larson out”; Larson still finished just two spots back.
It wasn’t “classless”; it was hard racing to do what he needed to do. Anybody else in that same position would’ve done the same thing.
“Newman also stated that his move was a bit of a payback for Larson using him as a cushion at the Eldora truck race” --Jimmy M
Yep, that seemed kind of cheesy and unneccessary to me.
I figured Larson would brush it off as a racing deal, and he did.
Let us not forget Larson’s win on the Daytona backstretch in a late model, in which he spun the leader out on the last turn in order to win himself.
I was fine with that too.
DW has done spoken!
“Whatever it takes: Ryan Newman did nothing wrong with last-lap move”–Darrell “Boogety” Waltrip
That ought to settle it! 
[QUOTE=OldSchool+;152491]“Whatever it takes: Ryan Newman did nothing wrong with last-lap move”–Darrell “Boogety” Waltrip
That ought to settle it! [/QUOTE]
Ole DW, now I feel better, with what he thinks! 
Funny, he wasn’t so diplomatic and understanding when Rusty spun him during the Winston years ago. I believe that his words were “I hope he (Rusty) chokes on that money…”
Newperson kept Jeff Gordon who had a stellar year all year long, out of the Chase and put his own mid-pack, dull year in there as a contender. Legal per NASCAR yes but shows this format has major flaws.
Go Logano and Hamlin!
I certainly agree that much of peoples perception as to who and how right/wrong is colored by there feeling for who the combatants are. If I was a car owner I would not want a driver who didn’t do what Newman did. This begs a another question, at what point does a driver become simply an employee to carry out the owners best interests.
Newman is the best driver out there right now and has been for a long time. He’s consistently been in the chase every year despite running for underpowered teams. The #31 team has nowhere near the funding/engines of Gordon/Johnson or Kesolowski yet he’s out there beating them week in and week out scrapping for wins whenever he can get them (few and far between). He almost won a couple races this year including Dega, which he lost because he had no teammates to help him out everyone went with the $$$$ - Kesolowski. He’s down there getting dirty wheeling a mod beating the Northern locals who have their entire lives dedicated to modified racing, racing 3-4 mod races a week to Newman’s 3 per year.
At Stewart-Haas he was outperforming owner Tony Stewart, despite the team putting less money into Newman’s cars and engines, and when Danica Patrick joined they stole Newman’s pit crew and gave him a cheaper crew with members brand new to the business.
GO NEWMAN!!
Agreed.
And it is funny, on one hand you have the proponents of the old-old pre-chase point system, and on the other, those that say “But Newman hasn’t won any races!”.
I hope Newman wins the final race, but we will see–both Logano & Hamlin are no slouches, and Kevin “you-really-need-to-fight-Keselowski” Harvick has probably been the most dominant car of the season, overall.
[QUOTE=Groundpounder;152492]Newman kept Jeff Gordon, who had a stellar year all year long, out of the Chase and put his own mid-pack, dull year in there as a contender. Legal per NASCAR yes but shows this format has major flaws.
Go Logano and Hamlin![/QUOTE]Newman? “Mid-pack”? “Dull year”? Newman has had the most consistent year out of any of the sixteen Chase drivers, which is how/why he stayed up there in the points all year long. No engine failures, no big mistakes or crashes all season. More top-fives and top-tens than any of the Chasers.
Well… all this stuff did what NASCAR needed… a boost in TV ratings plus more fans in the stands (Homestead-Miami grandstand seats sold out yesterday)…
This from Sports Business Daily:
After an all-out brawl on pit road following last week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (at Texas), ESPN saw a double-digit increase in the overnight rating for Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. ESPN drew a 2.8 overnight for the telecast from 3:00-6:45pm/et, up 12% from last week and up 21% from same race in 2013 and is best for the penultimate Chase race in at least the last five years.
Yes…
“Winning!”–Charlie Sheen