Ryan Newman wins Martinsville NASCAR Sprint Cup race after last-gasp drama

The Stewart-Haas driver emerged an unexpected winner, claiming the lead ahead of the final restart after a first attempt to finish the race under green ended with a multi-car incident ignited by contact between Michael Waltrip Racing's Clint Bowyer and the leading Hendrick Motorsports duo of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

The race looked set to give team owner Rick Hendrick his 200th Cup victory after Gordon had led 329 laps, with Johnson also leading 111. Gordon had just reclaimed the lead from his team-mate four laps from the end, when David Reutimann's car stopped on track, forcing the caution to come out.

Hendrick cars were running one-two-three at the time, but as strategies unfolded, Earnhardt pitted as others for fuel and two tyres, while his team-mates remained at the front to try and fight it out between themselves, as they had for most of the last quarter of the distance.

However, on the first green-white-chequered attempt, Bowyer got a better restart than both Hendrick drivers and from behind his Toyota got bumped by the Hendrick-powered Chevrolet of Newman before braking for Turn 1. The MWR Toyota dived aggressively down the inside of Gordon and Johnson and the resulting contact caused them all to spin.

The chaos left damage to both Hendrick cars, leaving them out of contention for victory. The squad's fourth car of polesitter Kesey Kahne had previously retired with an engine failure.

On the final restart Newman seized his opportunity to grab his first win of the season, holding off the charging Penske Dodge of AJ Allmendinger in the final mile of racing to give Stewart Haas Racing its third win in the first six races of the season.

Allmendinger's second place was his best career finish in Cup thus far, despite having started the day feeling ill and needing a visit to the Infield Care Centre.

In some consolation for Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt crossed the line third and moved up to second in the Cup standings, while Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr rounded out the top five.

Results - 515 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       3h26m12.000s
 2.  AJ Allmendinger     Penske Dodge                     + 0.537s
 3.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet               + 1.147s
 4.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                + 1.277s
 5.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                   + 1.559s
 6.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                     + 1.730s
 7.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           + 2.447s
 8.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                       + 2.967s
 9.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                     + 3.827s
10.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                  + 17.795s
11.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford               + 18.430s
12.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet              + 28.538s
13.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford                 + 1 lap
14.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet                + 1 lap
15.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                        + 1 lap
16.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet          + 2 laps
17.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota             + 2 laps
18.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota                   + 2 laps
19.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet              + 2 laps
20.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet      + 2 laps
21.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet      + 3 laps
22.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 3 laps
23.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                     + 4 laps
24.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                   + 4 laps
25.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                     + 4 laps
26.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet              + 5 laps
27.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                        + 5 laps
28.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 6 laps
29.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                        + 8 laps
30.  David Stremme       Inception Toyota                 + 9 laps
31.  Hermie Sadler       Childress Chevrolet             + 10 laps
32.  Ken Schrader        FAS Lane Ford                   + 12 laps
33.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet               + 18 laps

Retirements:

     Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                439 laps
     David Reutimann     Baldwin Chevrolet                436 laps
     Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                     435 laps
     JJ  Yeley           Robinson-Blakeney Toyota         359 laps
     Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet               256 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      74 laps
     Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                      60 laps
     Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                    49 laps
     Scott Riggs         R3 Chevrolet                      30 laps
     Reed Sorenson       Turn One Chevrolet                25 laps