Newman battles from 2 laps back

Monday, March 3, 2003 | 10:10 a.m.

Steve Park started 39th and finished 10th in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 but he didn't have the most impressive run Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

That distinction went to Ryan Newman, who came from two laps down at one point to finish a season-best seventh.

"To come from two laps down at a place like this..." Newman said, obviously impressed -- and surprised -- by his feat. "We earned them, too. Junior (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) helped us out once and it was just a great run for the Alltel Dodge to come back from two laps down and finish seventh.

"We've got a pretty fast racecar. Hopefully we can put it all together for 400 (miles) next time. I wish it had been 500 (miles) today; that's what we needed. If we had another 30 laps, even, I think we could have been right there with them."

Newman fell off the pace when a windshield tear-off from another car got stuck in his car's grille and his Dodge began overheating. But that was only part of his problem, Newman said.

"The motor went to 260 and we had to come in so we wouldn't blow up the motor," he said. "The car was loose at the start but it was manageable loose. Then it got real loose. Then we got that tear-off and that made it real, real loose."

With his top-10 finish Sunday, Newman climbed from 32nd to 17th in the Winston Cup points standings. That gives Newman hope as the series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.

"We had the car to beat at the end, we just weren't in the position to beat everybody," he said. "We moved up to 17th in the standings, and I think that was about a 15-position jump.

"We're still over 300 points behind Michael (Waltrip). We've got a bunch of racing left so we're not going to throw in the towel just yet."

Marlin continued and finished eighth. Johnson eventually got his car restarted and crawled across the finish line in 11th place -- the final car on the lead lap.

"We were slipping back through the pack, racing hard at the end to try to stay in the top 10 and get every point I could," Johnson said.

"I don't really know what has happened at this point. I hope it wasn't intentional but I raced (Marlin) clean with everybody all day long and don't put a tire mark on anyone and then I get turned coming to the checkers and lose two more spots. That kind of bums me out."

The difference between eighth and 11th place was approximately $36,000.

Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton and reigning Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart round out the top five after three races.

Sunday's runner-up, Dale Earnhardt Jr., made the biggest climb in the points as he jumped from 38th to 18th.

Martin, who won the inaugural Winston Cup race at LVMS in 1998, was the first driver to drop out Sunday and he finished 43rd.

"We got lucky last year and didn't break a lot of engines," said Martin, who was second in the championship last season. "Maybe we'll get lucky this year and only have one."

Tony Raines finished 24th, Jack Sprague took 26th, Jamie McMurray was 32nd and Larry Foyt was 35th.