A fish story: The one that got away

Martinsville Speedway publicist Mike Smith mixed in a fish tale among his pre-race news releases advancing this week's Goody's Cool Orange 500.

Smith recounted the story of Ryan Newman's discovery of a fishing hole near the Virginia track. It seems Newman, an avid fisherman who won this year's Daytona 500 and heads back to Martinsville eighth in Sprint Cup points, stumbled across Philpott Lake, built and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. First he fished off the bank near a boat ramp, then he bummed a ride with a stranger.

"He didn't even know who I was at first,"

Newman said. "But we had a good trip." Lately, Newman's been bringing his own boat, but his fishing luck hasn't been so good.

"[Philpott] is a real difficult lake to fish," said Newman, whose career catch was a 10-pound, 6-ounce largemouth bass caught in a pond near Atlanta Motor Speedway. "It's really deep, and it has really clear water. I haven't had good luck there, but I have caught some fish, just not a lot."

 

But when Newman's talking about the one that got away in Martinsville, he's probably referring to the Cup race last fall.

Newman passed Jeff Gordon for second place late in the race and was closing on eventual winner Jimmie Johnson when a late caution allowed Johnson to prevail. "Certainly there was some disappointment," Newman said.

"If I could have run that last lap, I might have won, but we'll never know." No love in Nashville

Kyle Busch's recent string of bad luck in the Nationwide Series followed him to Nashville Superspeedway last week.

Busch qualified his No. 20 Toyota on the pole for the Pepsi 300 and led four times for 125 laps, but he spun while leading with a little more than 60 laps left. "Driver error" he called it.

He drove to the pits for fresh rubber and rejoined the race in 20th place, two laps in arrears. He moved up to 16th in the final laps.

After finishing second in the first two races of the season, he has had finishes of 31st, 24th, 42nd and 16th.

Wanting it all

Defending Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards, who is second in Nationwide driver points, 11 behind Clint Bowyer, said he'd like to win the championship again this year and do it in a fashion where his team, Roush Fenway Racing, can share the spoils of victory.

Last year, Edwards took the driving title, but the car owner's championship went to Richard Childress' No. 29 team, where the driving chores were split between Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer.

"We ran really well last year, but we didn't win that owner's championship, and that kind of hangs over us," Edwards said. "Personally, I want to win both of them this year. I want to win owner's and driver's championships. I've been thinking about that championship and how we've got to race here for the first half of the season to ensure that we can do that again."

After Nashville, Delana Harvick, owner of the No. 33 Chevrolet driven by her husband, Kevin Harvick, and Cale Gale, is the owner points leader, followed by Childress' No. 2 Chevy driven by Bowyer. Edwards' owner, Jack Roush, is third, 27 points out of the lead.

SPRINT CUP STANDINGS

1. Kyle Busch 782; leader 2. Greg Biffle 752; behind: -30 3. Kevin Harvick 749; behind: -33 4. Jeff Burton 745; behind: -37 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 686; behind: -96 6. Kasey Kahne 674; behind: -108 7. Tony Stewart 656; behind: -126 8. Ryan Newman 635; behind: -147 9. Clint Bowyer 606; behind: -176 10. Kurt Busch 605; behind: -177 11. Matt Kenseth 604; behind: -178 12. Martin Truex Jr. 595; behind: -187