A final lap caution flag in a green-white-checker finish in Sunday's Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway cut Ryan Newman's victory bid a half-lap short and relegated him to a second-place finish.

"In hindsight, I still wish we had the last lap on the outside of the 48 [Jimmie Johnson]," Newman said after the event that produced a record 21 caution flags for 127 laps in the 506-lap race on the half-mile track.

"I know I would have had a shot at him [if the yellow hadn't waved]. I had my nose at his left-rear tire at the start/finish line getting the white flag. I would have liked to have said that 'Yeah, I could've passed him on the inside.' He went into turn three and drifted up and over-braked and got loose and drifted up and gave me an opportunity. I didn't think that was going to happen. He was really strong. I think he struggled a little more on restarts. I thought mine was really good on restarts, but it just never happened."

A two-tire change during Newman's final pit stop with 157 laps remaining in the scheduled 500-lap race vaulted the Alltel Dodge Avenger driver into second behind then leader Jeff Gordon. The five position gain coupled with seven caution flags in the final 100 laps provided Newman with the opportunity he needed to challenge for the victory.

The late race caution periods were "a good thing because we were better on the restarts," Newman explained. "We had two tires versus four tires and we're at a little bit of a disadvantage there. The restarts kind of equalized our situation. The two tires [pit strategy] was definitely a great call, strategy-wise, to get us track position."

Newman remained second until Johnson passed him for that position prior to the beginning of the 15th caution period on lap 442. Johnson wrestled the lead from teammate Gordon on lap 457 and relegated him into a duel for second with Newman.

When the race restarted on lap 491 following the 19th caution flag, Newman executed a bump-and-run on Gordon to take over second before the 20th caution period began on lap 497, It was that caution period that forced the race into a green-white-checker finish and provided Newman with one more shot at Johnson.

When the green flag waved on lap 505, Newman was on Johnson's bumper, and he looked to the inside as they headed for the first turn on the final lap. However, a lapped car had spun and was sitting sideways in turn one and Newman had to back off and go high to avoid the disabled car. The yellow flag waved for the 21st time as Johnson and Newman raced down the backstretch, freezing the field and ending Newman's victory bid.

While Newman, who started 12th, challenged for the win, teammate Kurt Busch experienced a frustrating day. After starting 11th, Busch ran in the top 10 for the first 100 laps and remained in the top 20 for the first 150 circuits. But on lap 167 his day soured. That's when Busch smacked the first-turn wall after the heat from his Miller Lite Dodge Avenger's braking system caused the bead to melt on one of his car's tires. That removed Busch from victory contention, but he regained his lost lap thanks to being the "Lucky Dog" recipient later in the event. Still, it was a very long and frustrating day for the Miller Lite team.

"We were OK at the start of the race, then we got back in traffic and got messed up a little bit," crew chief Pat Tryson said. "We had the tire go down and got a lap down, then bent the suspension. We were able to get the Lucky Dog and get back on the lead lap -- twice. There, at the end, we got hit on the restart and busted our transmission. I guess that is just the nature of the beast right now. Nothing seems to be going our way."

The incident that ended Busch's day occurred when Michael Waltrip got into the rear of Busch's car on the restart. The impact lifted Busch's Dodge just as he was shifting gears, resulting in the car's transmission getting stuck in second gear. The incident left Busch 31st in the rundown and dropped him to 10th in the standings with four races remaining in the season.