NEWMAN'S OWN; Ryan Newman holds on to win Dover.

Byline: AL PEARCE

It was hard to tell whether Tony Stewart was more furious at MBNA Armed Forces 400 winner Ryan Newman or at NASCAR in general. Either way, the reigning Winston Cup champion was steaming and in no mood for pleasantries following the 400-lap, 400-mile race at Dover International Speedway.

Newman beat Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Stewart and Johnny Benson for his second win this season, the third of his career. He started from his series-leading fourth pole and led four times for 162 laps, including the last 33. He seemed headed for a relatively comfortable win until a late-race caution bunched the field and gave everyone one more shot. All that, Newman pointed out, after he lost power steering in his Penske South Dodge with 180 laps remaining.

"I'm definitely tired and I'll feel it even more on Monday and maybe Tuesday,'' the 25-year-old racer said. "My arms hurt, my back hurts and my neck hurts. Because of it, I couldn't even scrub my tires [before restarts]. But we had a fast race car and I wasn't about to pull into the garage and say, `That's it, guys.'''

Stewart dominated the early stages, running top-five and leading twice for 67 of the first 139 laps. But he was penalized a lap for stopping barely outside his pit box during yellow-flag pit service at 139. "We weren't over the line,'' said crew chief Greg Zipadelli. "We were on the line by an inch. But what are you gonna do? A rule's a rule.'' Stewart restarted a lap down in 32nd ...