By Stephen Hawkins
The Associated Press
AVONDALE, Ariz. – The victories used to come often and seemingly so easy for Ryan Newman. A long time ago.
So when Newman finally made back it to Victory Lane, a surprising triumph in the desert to end a 77-race Sprint Cup winless drought and get his first win driving for Tony Stewart, it was that much more satisfying.
“It was tough last year, I’m not going to kid you, when I come to a new organization and it’s the same organization for Tony Stewart and he won all those races,” Newman said. “We knew what we needed to do to make our team better. And I feel that we’ve done that. We proved that.”