The final race in the Eliminator round where the top four drivers would move on in their quest for a championship with four others being eliminated from this year’s contest. It came down to the final lap for the eight contenders. Kevin Harvick needed a win to advance, and that is exactly what he did. Harvick’s Chevy dominated the race from start to finish, but he enters the last race neutral with +0 points.

Jeff Gordon finished 2nd which put him in a tie with Harvick. Harvick came out ahead due to winning the race, a win that ultimately was the tie-breaker and sent Gordon out of the championship race. Carl Edwards was not a factor at the end of the race as he finished 15th and -6 points down in the chase.

The last corner of the last lap saw two Chevy’s battle for position.

After early race troubles, Denny Hamlin found himself in fifth place with a +10 points, leading the championship contenders on the final lap. Joey Logano was in sixth and +9 points in the chase.

With Matt Kenseth finishing in third needing a second place or better finish and Keselowski finishing -5 points down in fourth place, it all came down to Newman on the last lap.

Newman was following rookie Kyle Larson’s Chevy on the last lap. Larson had fresher tires and seemingly had a better handling car. Newman needed one more position to earn his way into the next round and keep Gordon from advancing. As they entered the final corner on the final lap, Newman’s RCR Chevrolet dove to the bottom of the track, on the apron, way under Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chevrolet.

Newman spent the last three laps following Larson.

It was a dive bomb for Newman, and he had to know that his worn out tires were not going to stick that corner at that speed. Those four worn out tires simply didn’t have the traction to keep the car down low. Fortunately for Newman, Kyle Larson was on the outside of  the RCR Chevrolet. Newman ended up using his four tires… plus Larson’s four tires as he broadsided the younger driver and pushed him out of the way.

While many fans saw this as low-down, dirty driving, we didn’t see it that way. Fans come to see a last lap bump-and-run for the win and this was most certainly a bump-and-run.

It appeared that Newman was not going to catch Larson without a dive bomb approach in turn 4 because Larson had put a small space between his car and Newman’s RCR Chevrolet.

Jeff Gordon fans and even Kyle Larson fans are going to be mad about this pass for the remainder of the season, but let us ask you this: “If that would have been Dale Earnhardt Sr instead of Ryan Newman…what do you think would have happened?