• NASCAR

Ryan Newman needed help and was running out of time. Finally, Clint Bowyer provided an opening with two laps to go at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Bowyer's aggressive move Sunday took out race leaders Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson entering the first turn, allowing Newman to slide into the lead, and he held off A.J. Allmendinger and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on another restart for his first win in 23 races.

"We were not a dominate race car," Newman said. "Clint kind of cleared out Turn One for us and we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time."

The reverse was true for Gordon, who led 328 laps, and Johnson, who led 112. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates seemed poised to battle it out to see which one would give owner Rick Hendrick his 200th Sprint Cup victory, and neither had a chance in the end.

"Jeff and I had been the class of the field so I really thought it was going to be a race between the two of us, and it certainly didn't turn out that way," Johnson said.

He wound up 12th, and Gordon was 14th.

Of the restart, Johnson said: "That inside lane is awfully inviting at times to dive-bomb on people. The No. 15 (Bowyer) threw a dive-bomb in there. I'm sure once he got in there, he realized it wasn't the best idea. It turned me around. It turned the No. 24 around."

Gordon angrily sought out Bowyer after the race, and heard the whole story.

"He said he got hit from behind by the 39 (Newman)," Gordon said. "I had nowhere to go. Jimmie had nowhere to go. It was pretty unfortunate. ... I didn't want to see that last caution. We had such a great battle with (Johnson). ... It was going to be an interesting race.

"That's just the way our year's been going. It can't go on like this forever."

NASCAR Sprint Cup

Goody's Fast Relief 500

Sunday

At Martinsville Speedway

Ridgeway, Va.

Lap length: .526 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (5) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 515 laps, 102.9 rating, 47 points, $198,808.

2. (27) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 515, 89.4, 42, $150,610.

3. (14) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 515, 114.7, 42, $116,985.

4. (21) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 515, 99.7, 41, $152,821.

5. (13) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 515, 98.1, 39, $117,949.

6. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 515, 111.5, 39, $128,101.

7. (15) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 515, 91.8, 37, $133,410.

8. (19) Aric Almirola, Ford, 515, 90.8, 37, $121,196.

9. (7) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 515, 105.6, 36, $117,455.

10. (4) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 515, 113.6, 35, $111,999.

11. (28) Carl Edwards, Ford, 515, 74.9, 33, $124,451.

12. (22) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 515, 109.4, 33, $124,071.

13. (26) Greg Biffle, Ford, 514, 78.2, 31, $89,385.

14. (9) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 514, 133, 32, $129,846.

15. (12) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 513, 83.9, 29, $109,668.

16. (17) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 513, 67.3, 28, $106,343.

17. (16) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 513, 80.6, 27, $104,368.

18. (6) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 513, 71.9, 26, $79,035.

19. (2) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 513, 87, 26, $125,971.

20. (20) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 513, 64.9, 24, $110,718.

21. (32) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 512, 62.1, 23, $108,176.

22. (18) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 512, 81.2, 22, $116,435.

23. (10) Joey Logano, Toyota, 511, 66.2, 21, $85,660.

24. (24) David Ragan, Ford, 511, 58.6, 20, $91,518.

25. (25) Casey Mears, Ford, 511, 55.5, 19, $89,218.

26. (11) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 510, 63.4, 18, $84,685.

27. (34) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 510, 52.3, 17, $93,907.

28. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 509, 49.9, 16, $76,060.

29. (31) Landon Cassill, Toyota, 507, 44.4, 15, $102,230.

30. (39) David Stremme, Toyota, 506, 44, 14, $76,760.

31. (41) Hermie Sadler, Chevrolet, 505, 33.8, 13, $80,610.

32. (36) Ken Schrader, Ford, 503, 40.6, 12, $80,460.

33. (40) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 497, 43.6, 11, $80,235.

34. (42) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, brakes, 439, 38.2, 10, $72,110.

35. (29) David Reutimann, Chevrolet, engine, 436, 42.1, 9, $72,060.

36. (8) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 435, 75, 8, $119,218.

37. (43) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, brakes, 359, 33.4, 7, $71,930.

38. (1) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, engine, 256, 88.5, 6, $86,253.

39. (37) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, brakes, 74, 34.7, 0, $69,100.

40. (23) Michael McDowell, Ford, brakes, 60, 32.9, 4, $69,025.

41. (30) Josh Wise, Ford, brakes, 49, 29, 3, $68,975.

42. (33) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, brakes, 30, 32.6, 2, $68,895.

43. (35) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, brakes, 25, 26.5, 0, $68,418.

Top 12 in Points: 1. G.Biffle, 226; 2. D.Earnhardt Jr., 220; 3. T.Stewart, 214; 4. M.Kenseth, 214; 5. K.Harvick, 214; 6. M.Truex Jr., 214; 7. D.Hamlin, 210; 8. R.Newman, 202; 9. C.Bowyer, 192; 10. J.Johnson, 189; 11. C.Edwards, 179; 12. B.Keselowski, 175.

• INDYCAR

Will Power wasted no time disproving his own theory.

Power started ninth, took the lead on a late caution and pulled back in front of Scott Dixon on the double-file restart with 16 laps left to win the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama in Birmingham for the second straight year.

So much for his stance two days earlier that it would be tough for anybody opening outside the top four to win on a course that typically features infrequent passing. Power showed it could be done by making up ground with the help of tire strategy and swift work on pit road.

He started on the faster alternate red-striped tires instead of the more durable black.

"We started on black tires when everybody started on red, and then went to red when everyone was on black," Power said. "That got us a couple of spots. And then just good stops and good strategy calls put me out in clean air so we could use our speed to make some passes."

Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Sunday

At Barber Motorsports Park

Birmingham, Ala.

Lap length: 2.38 miles

(Starting position in parentheses)

1. (9) Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

2. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.

3. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

4. (8) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.

5. (10) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.

6. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

7. (4) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.

8. (14) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

9. (17) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Lotus, 90, Running.

10. (18) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.

11. (13) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

12. (11) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

13. (26) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Lotus, 90, Running.

14. (12) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

15. (5) J.R. Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.

16. (20) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.

17. (15) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.

18. (7) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running.

19. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 89, Running.

20. (21) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Lotus, 89, Running.

21. (6) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running.

22. (23) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 88, Running.

23. (24) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Lotus, 85, Running.

24. (16) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 52, Mechanical.

25. (22) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 45, Mechanical.

26. (25) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Lotus, 0, Mechanical.

Points: Castroneves 86, Dixon 84, Power 77, Hinchcliffe 60, Pagenaud 58, Hunter-Reay 53, Rahal 50, Briscoe 46, Conway 38, Barrichello 37.