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Avondale, Ariz. • A big gamble in the desert heat ended a long victory drought for Ryan Newman.

When just about everybody else decided to take a tire-changing pit stop in the final few laps on Sunday, Newman figured he'd be going in with them.

His crew chief Luke Lambert thought otherwise.

It was a decision that earned Newman a victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, ending his 127-race winless streak.

"Just a heck of a gutsy call by Luke Lambert," Newman said. "It's his first win as a crew chief in the cup series and I think making a gutsy call like that makes it that much more special for him."

While the leaders were in the pits, Newman moved from seventh to first and for the final two laps held off Kyle Larson, the second-place finisher for the third straight race.

Kyle Busch, the leader for nearly all of the final stage of the race, was third on a day when the temperature soared to 97 degrees at Phoenix International Raceway.

Like nearly all the rest of the field, Larson and Busch went to the pits on the late caution caused when Joey Logano's car blew a right tire and slammed into the wall six laps from the finish.

Newman won his 18th Cup race but his first since the 2013 Brickyard 400. He gave Chevrolet its first victory of the season and ended a 112-race losing streak for Richard Childress Racing. When the caution ended, two laps separated him from the win.

"You're on old tires. It's really easy to screw it up," Newman said. "You've got to get your tires cleaned off right, you've to get a good launch, you've got to run through the gear box right, and then you've got to hold everybody off."

Larson, with two new tires on his Chevrolet, came out of the late pit stop ahead of Busch's Toyota. Larson blamed his failure to get that victory three races in a row on "little mistakes or inexperience or whatever you want to call it" —

Sunday's results

At Phoenix International Raceway, Ariz. length: 1.00 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (22) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 314 laps, 0 rating, 42 points.

2. (4) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 53.

3. (9) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 314, 0, 47.

4. (21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 314, 0, 33.

5. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 314, 0, 46.

6. (23) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 314, 0, 32.

7. (27) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 314, 0, 30.

8. (8) Erik Jones, Toyota, 314, 0, 33.

9. (14) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 38.

10. (19) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 314, 0, 29.

11. (16) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 314, 0, 26.

12. (7) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 42.

13. (13) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 314, 0, 24.

14. (3) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 24.

15. (5) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 33.

16. (15) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 21.

17. (28) Aric Almirola, Ford, 314, 0, 20.

18. (17) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 19.

19. (24) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 314, 0, 18.

20. (10) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 17.

21. (18) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 16.

22. (26) Danica Patrick, Ford, 314, 0, 15.

23. (2) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 314, 0, 21.

24. (25) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 13.

25. (11) Kurt Busch, Ford, 314, 0, 12.

26. (20) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 11.

27. (33) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 314, 0, 10.

28. (29) Landon Cassill, Ford, 313, 0, 9.

29. (30) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 313, 0, 8.

30. (35) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 312, 0, 7.

31. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, accident, 307, 0, 16.

32. (39) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 307, 0, 0.

33. (37) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 307, 0, 4.

34. (32) Cole Whitt, Ford, accident, 256, 0, 3.

35. (34) David Ragan, Ford, accident, 204, 0, 2.

36. (36) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, accident, 201, 0, 1.

37. (12) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, accident, 190, 0, 1.

38. (31) Corey Lajoie, Toyota, accident, 115, 0, 1.

39. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevy, transmission, 9, 0, 1.

Race statistics

Average speed of race winner: 104.271 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 0 minutes, 41 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.312 seconds.

Wins: Ku.Busch, 1; B.Keselowski, 1; R.Newman, 1; M.Truex, 1.

Top 16 in Points: 1. K.Larson, 184; 2. B.Keselowski, 178; 3. C.Elliott, 171; 4. M.Truex, 153; 5. J.Logano, 135; 6. R.Blaney, 127; 7. K.Harvick, 123; 8. J.McMurray, 119; 9. Ku.Busch, 105; 10. K.Kahne, 105; 11. R.Newman, 101; 12. T.Bayne, 100; 13. C.Bowyer, 97; 14. Ky.Busch, 97; 15. D.Hamlin, 97; 16. J.Johnson, 93.