Ryan Newman Scores Wreck-Marred Victory at Martinsville

After what looked like Hendrick Motorsports 200th victory, Ryan Newman claimed his first Ridgeway grandfather clock after the Goody's Fast Relief 500.

The four Hendrick teams ran up front all day long. Kasey Kahne won the pole and was in contention to win until his engine blew. Jeff Gordon put on a driving clinic, leading 328 of the 515 laps around the Virgina paper clip. Dale Earnhardt, Jr passed Gordon to lead three laps just before halfway and Jimmie Johnson proved to be the only driver who could contend with Gordon in the closing laps.

There wasn't much beating and banging and there were no lost tempers.

That is until David Reutimann's bad day turned much, much worse.

With two laps to go, Reutimann's No. 10 Chevy stalled on the frontstrech after breaking a tie rod and losing a motor, which set up a green white checkered finish. When the race went back green, Clint Bowyer divebombed Gordon into turn one, which knocked the No. 24 into Johnson's car and sent all three drivers spinning. You can see video of the mayhem here and hear some post race driver interviews, including Reutimann's side of the story.

Meanwhile, Newman and A.J. Allmendinger slipped through without a scratch.

On the next restart, Newman raced Allmendinger side by side for the final two laps and claimed his first Martinsville win. He also set the rest of America up with free bloomin' onions, courtesy of his sponsor, Outback Steakhouse.

But unfortunately, Newman was an afterthought when the race ended. Everyone from angry drivers to Fox's broadcast "professionals" (I use that term very loosely) were trying to throw Reutimann under the bus for something he could not have prevented.

So congratulations to Ryan Newman on his first win of the year, and shame on Fox for not focusing more on his victory and, instead, setting up Michael Waltrip (Reutimann's former owner) to badmouth his former driver.