Kevin Harvick wins; Ryan Newman slams his way into final four

AVONDALE, Ariz. — In the absence of brawling, bruises or bloody lips, Ryan Newman still delivered a knockout punch to Jeff Gordon in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

And the controversial manner in which Newman gained the decisive point that broke a tie with Gordon — slamming Kyle Larson's Chevrolet aside on the final lap of Sunday's Quicken Loans 500 at Phoenix International Raceway — promises to keep stoking an ongoing debate over racing ethics and etiquette that has dominated a reformatted NASCAR playoffs whose newfound intensity already had produced two postrace fights.

Though the fists didn't fly Sunday, a certain degree of violence effectively set the field of four drivers racing for the championship in the Nov. 16 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Newman will join Kevin Harvick (who clinched a spot with his third consecutive win at Phoenix), Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the title round because he played rough. Gordon was eliminated, in part, because he wouldn't.

"I guess the only mistake I made all day was showing these guys what I'll do on the last lap when everything is on the line," Newman said. "I think if Kyle Larson was in my shoes, he'd have done the exact same thing. I didn't take him out. He still finished the race. I think in a day or two, he'll understand, if he doesn't now.

"It's hard to rationalize that, but I did what I had to do and tried to keep it as clean as I possibly could. I don't like racing that way, but there's a lot on the line here."

Gordon doesn't like racing that way, either, which is why he didn't force the issue by laying a fender to Harvick's No. 4 Chevrolet despite having three shots on restarts in the final 60 laps (the Hendrick Motorsports driver would have advanced to Homestead if Harvick hadn't won).

"I'm not going to wreck a guy that's racing me clean all year long just to make it into the Chase," said Gordon, who was knocked out of the Chase with Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. "That's not what it's all about for me."

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Despite opening and closing the third round of the Chase with runner-up finishes, Gordon couldn't overcome a 29th in the middle race at Texas Motor Speedway, where he suffered a flat tire while racing Keselowski for the lead in the waning laps.

That sparked a brawl in the pits between their crews that resulted in suspensions for three members of Gordon's team. Several veterans also criticized a perceived lack of remorse by Keselowski's about the aggressive move, which seemed to remain on Gordon's mind after the Phoenix race.

"I hope we taught somebody that you can race clean and still go out there and give it your best," he said. "You don't have to wreck people to make it in the Chase or win the championship."

Of course, Newman will have an opportunity for his first title because his No. 31 Chevrolet drilled Larson entering the penultimate turn of Sunday's race, lifting him to an 11th-place finish.

The Richard Childress Racing driver partially justified the maneuver by noting he and Larson had battled fiercely in last year's Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway.

"He used me up on multiple restarts and literally used me as a wall and a cushion to drive around," Newman said. "We had fun doing it, don't get me wrong, and today was really no retaliation for that, but he can't be too mad after the way he raced me at Eldora."

Hamlin was sitting beside Newman as he recounted the story.

"That's a stretch," Hamlin said with a laugh.

"Well, I'm stretching it, but realistically, man, you've got to do what you've got to do, and that's really what it's all about," Newman said.

Was it an acceptable for Gordon?

"It was acceptable last week, it's acceptable this week," Gordon said. "Don't think that that's not going to come back to you, you know? I mean, I could have taken out Harvick, too, to make it in (the finale), but I didn't."

Harvick, who led a race-high 264 of 312 laps ("Kevin was in another zip code," Gordon said), would have been prepared for it.

"You've got to be ready for everything," Harvick said. "This format has just created that. You have to do things that you normally wouldn't do, and you have to try to make something happen for your team."

This undoubtedly pleases NASCAR chairman Brian France, who added eliminations, points resets changed the championship system this season because he wanted his drivers racing with more desperation in what he views as a contact sport. This week, France endorsed Keselowski's actions at Texas and proclaimed the intensity created by the revamped Chase as a success – a view that was echoed by the contenders Sunday.

"Every race is exciting," Hamlin said. "Every race, it comes down to somebody on a restart or something. This is the best thing that's happened to this sport in a really long time."

A consistent proponent, Gordon said his feelings about the new Chase hadn't changed – yet.

"I'm a little concerned where it could go -- just like last week we found out on pit road where the line is drawn, and I think that it could get to that on the racetrack, as well," he said. "I don't necessarily know that it has gotten there yet, but it's certainly possible.

"I think it's incredibly intense. This is the most interest we've had in this sport in a long time, so obviously it's been good. I feel like the only thing I don't like right now is the fact that I'm not in it next week."

Follow Ryan on Twitter @nateryan