With three laps remaining, the Goody's Fast Relief 500 looked like it would come down to Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon to decide which driver would record Rick Hendrick's 200th Sprint Cup win as a team owner.
Then came a caution flag for David Reutimann's stalled Chevrolet and a restart with Johnson and Gordon ahead of Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bowyer dove under Gordon and Johnson in a bid for the lead, the trio connected, and by the time the field got to the second turn, Johnson and Bowyer were in the wall and Gordon and Earnhardt's machines were damaged.
Ryan Newman avoided all the carnage and held off A.J. Allmendinger on the final restart to score the victory, his first at Martinsville and the third he has scored since joining Stewart-Haas Racing at the team's inception in 2009. He overcame a speeding penalty to win the race, the first driver since Carl Edwards in 2007 at Michigan to do so.
Allmendinger held on to take second, the best finish of his Sprint Cup career. Earnhardt Jr. finished third ahead of Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. The top-10 was completed by Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, and Bowyer.
Johnson was 12th while Gordon wound up 14th to continue his miserable start to the season.