JOLIET, Ill. -- He's either been very bad or very good. There's been little middle for Ryan Newman in his sophomore Winston Cup season.

He's been upside-down at Daytona and Talladega, lost his brakes at Martinsville, said adios to his engine at Michigan. All told, he had six finishes of 39th or worst in the first 15 races (including five DNFs), dipping as far down as 27th in the weekly Winston Cup standings.

Then there's the other side of the coin, which once again landed right side up for Newman on Sunday at the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. He won his third race of 2003, tying Kurt Busch for the series lead and remaining one of only two multiple race winners on the circuit as the series heads into the second half of the season.

He watched as his closest challenger in the final laps, Kevin Harvick, ran out of gas with less than three laps to go. He also held off other late challenges from both runner-up Tony Stewart and third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson.

And yet, after all that, Newman still failed to move up even one measly place in the Winston Cup standings. He left Chicago in the same position in which he came -- 16th. What does the guy have to do to make some headway this season?

To say this has been one wild and wacky season for Newman and the No. 12 Dodge is an understatement at the very least. But for at least one day on Sunday, things were much more palatable for the native of nearby South Bend, Ind.

"You've got to have everything in the equation to be able to sit where I am right now," Newman said after Sunday's race. "You can't just have a good race car or good pit stops or a good engine or whatever. You've got to have it all. Last year we had it all (to win at Chicago, where he won the pole but finished fifth). We just didn't put it together at the end. This year, fortunately, we were able to put it all together for the end."

Newman remains the only Dodge-powered Winston Cup driver to reach Victory Lane this season. While that's frustrating for other Dodge drivers, including teammate Rusty Wallace as well as veterans Sterling Marlin, Bill Elliott, Ward Burton, Jimmy Spencer, Kyle Petty and others, Newman basked in Sunday's final outcome.

	Newman led 67 laps at Chicagoland on Sunday.

"We just had a good piece to work with," Newman said. "The track position, strategy, fuel mileage, having a Dodge, a lot of things went towards our success today. I'm just happy to be able to win for everybody at Penske (Racing). The guys back in the shop laid the foundation for what we do as far as building the house on the weekend. We came here and got it all up in one weekend today."

Ironically, the car he piloted to Victory Lane on Sunday was also the same one he rode to a win at Dover (Del.) last month.

"We didn't make drastic changes to the car today," Newman said. "The durability was strong and we didn't have any problems with it. (Harvick) had a fast race car, but when we got out in clean air, that made a lot of difference. I was really worried about him until I got out in clean air. We stretched the fuel mileage as far as we could. Fortunately, we were able to capitalize on everything. They changed the track on me up there (New Hampshire International Speedway, which hosts the next Cup race), but we'll go up there and see if we can win again next week."

Harvick continued to draw closer to Newman's bumper in the latter stages of the race, at one time coming within about one car length of overtaking the 12 car for the lead. Harvick had more than enough motivation, seeking his third consecutive win at Chicago, having won the first two races in the event's history.

But with clean air in front of him and Harvick's gas tank growing empty, Newman was able to pull out to a commanding lead. With no late caution flags to bring about a much-needed pit stop for fuel, Harvick had no choice but to race as hard as he could at the end, eventually coasting into pit road on fumes with two-plus laps remaining. There went any chance for a last-lap win, any chance for a three-peat and any chance for his first win of 2003.

"We had a great car until we ran out of gas," Harvick said. "The car started out loose, and then got tight towards the end of each run. That's what happened there at the end with Ryan. I couldn't get up to him because the car was just too tight off the corners. We all thought we had the pit strategy worked to perfection. Before we came in (when he ran out of gas), we took a gas and go that we thought would make up for about six laps that we thought we'd be short. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way for some reason. We ran out of gas and that was it."

Added Newman, "I know Kevin. He runs really hard. With three laps to go or two laps to go, there was no way he was going to make up 10 car lengths and be able to get around me unless something huge happened."

Newman's penchant for bad luck this season decided to skip over to teammate Rusty Wallace in Sunday's race. Wallace worked his No. 2 Dodge through the field, eventually reaching as high as second in the race, only to wind up with transmission problems that relegated him to a disappointing 32nd-place finish.

	“	You've got to have everything in the equation to be able to sit where I am right now. You can't just have a good race car or good pit stops or a good engine or whatever. You've got to have it all. ”
		— Ryan Newman

And if there's anybody who can commiserate with Newman about frustration, it's his elder teammate. Wallace has not won a Winston Cup race in more than 27 months, was penalized 15 seconds in Sunday's race for having too many crew members over the wall during a pit stop, dropped from ninth to 11th in the standings after the race and finished the first half of the season with just one top-five and six total top-10 finishes.

"A lot of things happen in this sport, a lot of ups and downs," Wallace said. "I'm frustrated that we locked up that transmission. I'm more frustrated that we had a big miscue in the pit area. That's cost us a lot this year, and it costs us again today. If I had track position, I could have won today. It's just hell to pass out there. If I could have got up front, I could have won."

Well, Wallace didn't win -- didn't even come close, for that matter -- but his teammate did. And that's perhaps the best saving grace of all for a pair of drivers who can only hope the upcoming second half of the season is a lot more kind and favoring to them than was the first half.

As Newman put it after the celebration died down Sunday evening, "A race track never owes you one. You can say that, but it never owes you one. You earn what you get."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@Yahoo.com.