RICHMOND, Va. - Ryan Newman said his constitutional rights, or whatever they are called, are not being quashed by NASCAR. That said, no matter what his standing in the Chase for the Championship, it reeks.
Newman, one of the few persistent dissenting voices of the new system to determine the champion, said he has not been instructed by officials - as was the rumor recently - to quiet down. (He actually said he had not been told personally by NASCAR.)
"You can say the word "stinks,"' said Newman, who earned the 10th and final spot in the Chase on Saturday night, "but I've always said I don't think it's fair for everybody, and the points system should be fair for everybody."
Besides, Newman said, it's a free country, even if NASCAR is the France family's kingdom.
"I always figured with freedom of speech you can say what you want," Newman said. "It probably wouldn't be their place to slap my hand, seeing as how it is one of the ... what do they call those? Constitutional rights. Politics isn't my big thing. Bottom line is, I say what I believe and everybody knows that."
Newman contends the new system is unfair because once the top 10 drivers are locked into the playoff, no others can race into the top 10 and improve his position, which translates into prestige and money.
WATCH OUT: NASCAR president Mike Helton warned in the drivers meeting that "we will officiate this race like we officiated the previous 25" and "it remains NASCAR's discretion whether it's racing or not." With so much at stake, and with the venue being a 0.75-mile track on which incidents (bumping, accidents, fighting) requiring adjudication traditionally are numerous, the heavy-handedness of had come under scrutiny.
OKAY BY ME: Helton decided not to park Jimmy Spencer for spinning out Casey Mears and starting an accident that knocked out then-points leader Jimmie Johnson on Lap 178. He said replays indicated it was a "racing accident."
"I was fighting hard to get (the lap-back award)," Mears said. "I had passed ( Dale Jarrett) and he was beating the heck out of me because he didn't want me to pass him and Jimmy Spencer came up and started doing the same thing. I was trying to race clean. I didn't want to hurt any of the guys running for a championship."
MISTAKE: Two bad pit stops likely cost defending series champion Matt Kenseth a chance for victory. On Lap 269, his crew left a wedge wrench in the No.17 Ford during a green-flag stop. Kenseth had to come back to have it removed and fell to 28th after the ensuing pit cycle. On Lap 392, he had climbed to 13th before stalling on pit road and falling two laps down.
ID PLEASE: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld led the Pledge of Allegiance before the race. Rumsfeld said he was an occasional racing fan who attended his first stock car event in 1948 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
SPARK PLUGS: All 10 drivers in the Chase for the Championship have won a race this season, led by Jeff Gordon's five. ... Mike Bliss (fourth in the race) had his career-best Nextel Cup finish. His previous best was ninth at Talladega in October, 2000. ... Carl Edwards (sixth) had his third top-10 finish in four career Cup races. ... Matt Kenseth has ranked in the top 10 in driver points for 61 straight races.
