Newman Battles to Hard-Fought Top-Five at Phoenix

Ryan Newman drove his No. 39 Quicken Loans/U.S. Army Chevrolet to a hard-fought fifth-place finish in the AdvoCare 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway in unique fashion: He crossed the start-finish line backward. As the field came to the checkered flag, Newman was one of several cars that hit oil spewed by another racecar that had wrecked exiting turn four on the previous lap. Running through the oil sent Newman spinning and crashing into the inside retaining wall. As Newman ricocheted and spun across the track, his car was like a ping-pong ball as it was hit again by several other cars racing to the checkered flag. But Newman’s backward-and-damaged No. 39 still crossed the line fifth. It was the first top-five finish for Newman since being reunited with former crew chief Matt Borland just three weeks ago at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It was Newman’s fifth top-five result of 2012 and his eighth top-five in 21 career Sprint Cup starts at Phoen...