Ryan Newman came out victorious after today’s Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway. He had started the race in 14th, but found himself in the right place at the right time following a late race caution the lead to a green-white-checkered finish. For the restart, he was lined up on the front row alongside Jeff Gordon, and quickly took the lead, which he held until the checkered flag waved. This marked Ryan Newman’s 14th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win, his first in Phoenix.

Jeff Gordon, who held the first place position coming into the final restart, finished second, with Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Juan Montoya rounding out the top five. A.J. Allmendinger, today’s pole-sitter, finished back in 15th, while Kevin Conway, the leading rookie in the field finished 33rd.

As for the crowd that wasn’t able to finish the race, a number of causes were to blame. Travis Kvapil who finished 36th, had engine troubles, while Joe Nemechek had electrical issues and finished 38th. Max Papis (40th) and Michael McDowell (43rd) both suffered from overheating, while Johnny Sauter (41st) had brake problems, and Dave Blaney (42nd) had rear gear troubles.

Results of the 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway:

Pos  #  Driver               Make      Laps  Status
 1  39  Ryan Newman          Chevrolet  378  Running
 2  24  Jeff Gordon          Chevrolet  378  Running
 3  48  Jimmie Johnson       Chevrolet  378  Running
 4   5  Mark Martin          Chevrolet  378  Running
 5  42  Juan Montoya         Chevrolet  378  Running
 6  17  Matt Kenseth         Ford       378  Running
 7  99  Carl Edwards         Ford       378  Running
 8  18  Kyle Busch           Toyota     378  Running
 9  33  Clint Bowyer         Chevrolet  378  Running
10  20  Joey Logano          Toyota     378  Running
11  47  Marcos Ambrose       Toyota     378  Running
12  88  Dale Earnhardt Jr.   Chevrolet  378  Running
13  29  Kevin Harvick        Chevrolet  378  Running
14   7  Robby Gordon         Toyota     378  Running
15  43  A.J. Allmendinger    Ford       378  Running
16  12  Brad Keselowski      Dodge      378  Running
17  56  Martin Truex Jr.     Toyota     378  Running
18  77  Sam Hornish Jr.      Dodge      378  Running
19   6  David Ragan          Ford       378  Running
20   0  David Reutimann      Toyota     378  Running
21  82  Scott Speed          Toyota     378  Running
22  16  Greg Biffle          Ford       378  Running
23  14  Tony Stewart         Chevrolet  378  Running
24   1  Jamie McMurray       Chevrolet  378  Running
25  31  Jeff Burton          Chevrolet  378  Running
26  78  Regan Smith          Chevrolet  378  Running
27  71  Bobby Labonte        Chevrolet  378  Running
28 190  Scott Riggs          Chevrolet  377  Running
29  98  Paul Menard          Ford       377  Running
30  11  Denny Hamlin         Toyota     376  Running
31  19  Elliott Sadler       Ford       375  Running
32  37  David Gilliland      Ford       374  Running
33  38  Kevin Conway (R)     Ford       371  Running
34  46  Terry Cook (R)       Dodge      367  Running
35   2  Kurt Busch           Dodge      366  Running
36  34  Travis Kvapil        Ford       309  Engine
37  83  Brian Vickers        Toyota     288  Running
38  87  Joe Nemechek         Toyota     281  Electrical
39   9  Kasey Kahne          Ford       276  Running
40  13  Max Papis            Toyota     214  Overheating
41 135  Johnny Sauter        Chevrolet  161  Brakes
42  55  Dave Blaney          Toyota     160  Rear Gear
43  66  Michael McDowell     Toyota     149  Overheating

The next race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be the Samsung Mobile 500 held at Texas Motor Speedway on April 18, 2010.

Related Links:
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Series Information, Schedule, Standings, Past Champions, News, Videos

Matt Kenseth won the “Super Bowl” of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Daytona 500. The 200 lap race had to be cut short due to rain and in the end, the leaders had only completed 152 of the scheduled laps. Just before the race was called official, the field was frozen under a red flag and was never able to be restarted. Once the red hit the track, it only took officials minutes to decide that the race was over.

Kevin Harvick took the second finishing position, with A.J. Allmendinger coming in behind him for a third place finish. Fourth and fifth were reserved for Clint Bowyer and Elliott Sadler respectively. Kyle Busch, who dominated the early portions of the race, was involved in a wreck at lap 123 and was forced to settle with 41st.

Neither rookie in the field had a good first race of the season. Scott Speed finished a lap down from the leaders in the 35th position and Joey Logano took last place (43rd) after suffering from a mid-race collision.

The series will return to Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 2009.

For the full results from this race, please use the following link:

2009 Daytona 500 Results

For the current standings, click here:

2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Standings

The first race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the Budweiser Shootout, held at Daytona International Speedway. Though it wasn’t a points event, it was the first opportunity to see many of this year’s Sprint Cup competitors. The race itself saw several cautions, leaving many of the teams with a DNF. In the end, only 13 of the 28 entered cars had finished the race without incident.

Kevin Harvick took the checkered flag in his Chevrolet Impala SS, with Jamie McMurray (Ford) and Tony Stewart (Chevrolet) finishing in second and third respectively. Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) finished fourth and A.J. Allmendinger (Dodge) ended up with the final Top-5 finishing position. The highest placing driver in a Toyota was Kyle Busch who finished 10th.

For the full results from this race, please see the following page:

2009 Budweiser Shootout Results

Since this was a non-points event, there are no standings yet for this series.