RICHMOND, VA. ? Ryan Newman dominated a late long run and then held on through three restarts — the last with four laps to go — to win Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.

Newman, whose crew said he might not have enough fuel to finish under the long green-flag run that started with 77 laps to go, got a break when a Robby Gordon crash with 19 laps left caused a seven-lap caution in the Chevrolet 400.

He appeared to be pulling away from Kevin Harvick when the race went back to green with 14 laps to go. But he lost that edge when debris on the track caused the yellow to fly for the 12th time, setting up the nine-lap dash to the finish.

Again Newman was pulling away, but Ricky Rudd, running third, nudged Harvick on the frontstretch, sending him slamming in the wall. That brought out one more yellow and one more chance for Newman to be caught.

On the single-file restart, Newman’s Dodge pulled away from that of Jeremy Mayfield and he got his series-high sixth victory.

Rudd finished third in a Ford, followed by that of Jeff Burton and the Dodge of Rusty Wallace.

Afterward, Rudd and Harvick parked side-by-side on pit road and crew members gathered to try to keep them apart.

The drivers exchanged words as Harvick jumped on Rudd’s hood — crumpling the sheet metal — and Harvick wound up throwing what appeared to be his head and neck restraint device at Rudd. Both drivers were summoned to the NASCAR hauler.

They had tangled on the track when Rudd won this race two years ago, with Rudd later comparing Harvick to a “bull in a china shop.”

“This stuff after the race is kind of ridiculous,” Rudd said after climbing from his car, claiming that Harvick seemed to be having a problem with his car before the crash and that he tried to avoid him.

“He must have had a problem,” Rudd said. “He put on the brakes and I got in the back of him. It wasn’t on purpose.”

Harvick, who wound up 16th, didn’t see it that way, contending Rudd hit intentionally.

“If he’s going to take a cheap shot at us, he’s going to get one back,” Harvick said.

Matt Kenseth extended his points lead to 418 over Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 441 over Harvick with 10 races remaining — a nearly insurmountable advantage if his consistency continues. It Kenseth’s 20th top-10 run in 26 races.

Hearn wins pole for IRL race

Joliet, Ill. — Richie Hearn expected to be in California this weekend, doing a six-hour go-kart endurance race with his father and a bunch of buddies. No offense to them, but he’s much happier being where he is.

Just 10 days after Team Menard hired him for the IRL’s Delphi Indy 300, Hearn won the pole Saturday in record time. His lap at 223.159 mph was the fastest ever in qualifying at the Chicagoland Speedway.