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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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What: Race 12 of 36 on Nextel Cup circuit
Where: Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC
When: May 27, 2007
Laps: 400
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 600 Miles
Purse: $6,569,628

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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Even though he ended up second in the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, Station Casinos in Las Vegas has listed Jimmie Johnson as a 4 to 1 favorite to win the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday evening at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"In the Coca-Cola 600, most of the drivers will be using different cars than what they used in the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge," said Micah Roberts, director of race and sports for Station Casinos-Las Vegas. "Despite the chassis being different, those who were top performers in the non-points race should fare equally well in the longest race of the Cup season."

Driving the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, Johnson will be chasing his fourth Coca-Cola 600 victory in five years when the green flag is waved Sunday evening at 5:40 p.m.

Jeff Gordon, Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, is second on the odds chart at 5 to 1. Gordon ran upfront for much of the Challenge, but slipped back in the closing laps and ended up 11th. Matt Kenseth, who saw his hopes for a $1 million victory dashed by a pit road speeding penalty, is listed at 9 to 1 for the Coca-Cola 600.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin are next on the odds chart, both shown at 10 to 1.

Surprisingly, NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge winner Kevin Harvick is 11th on the odds chart at 18 to 1.

"The belief behind the big odds on Harvick is that over 600 miles he's likely to be closer to what he's shown over the long haul at Texas, Las Vegas and Atlanta than what he showed in the final 20-lap segment of the Challenge," Roberts explained. "His average finish on those three similar tracks this year is 27th."

Since Sunday is such a big day for auto racing enthusiasts with the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500, Station Casinos has tied the two races together, taking bets on which driver will finish higher-Johnson in the 600 or Helio Castroneves in the 500.

"Castroneves is the slight favorite despite all of Johnson's accomplishments at Lowe's Motor Speedway," Roberts said. "The math of only having 33 cars starting at Indy to 43 at Charlotte, coupled with the large gap between the cars at Indy where it appears only five cars have a real shot at winning, give the Penske Racing driver the edge."

At the betting windows, Roberts expects the Coca-Cola 600 to out-write the Indy 500 in dollar amounts by a ratio of nearly 3 to 1.

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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jr. kurt, matt, and so many others....
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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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i love this race! it's one of my favorites every year! 48 baby! but my other favorite will be right up there, as long as he don't run afoul of the "spinning brothers" hee hee.... that'll be the all star winning 29 go kevin go....

WOOHOO cant wait for qualifying Thursday night hope we dont see a repeat of last weeks qualifying

Have FUN SMOKENAces and para414

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The JACK CREW!!!

Team notes: Marathon looms for Cup drivers

NASCAR team reports as the Nextel Cup circuit girds for its longest race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600. The Sunday night race is the first points-paying event of the year at Lowe's Motor Speedway, which hosted the Nextel All-Star Challenge last Saturday evening.

Jeff Gordon

No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Gordon has been to Victory Lane numerous times at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Recently, though, it has only been to congratulate teammate Jimmie Johnson, who has won five of the last eight races there. But Gordon also has experienced success at the 1.5-mile track, including his first Cup Series victory in 1994, his first pole in NASCAR's premier division in 1993 and three victories in NASCAR's All-Star race. Overall, Gordon has posted four victories, seven poles (five straight in this event from 1994-98), 13 top-fives and 15 top-10s in 28 "points-paying" races at the Concord, N.C., track. But Gordon has not won the 600-mile event there since 1998, and his best finish in the last four races at Lowe's has been 24th. In fact, his only victory this century at LMS was in the 2001 All-Star event. "We definitely struggled here for a few years, but we started to see improvement last season," said Gordon. "We ran strong in this event last year but got caught up in an accident late in the race. In the fall event, we were running second or third when we had engine problems. And last Saturday night, I thought we had a shot at battling for the win until the flat tire."

Last week: During the Nextel All-Star Challenge, Gordon ran over a piece of debris while he was running second. The damage to the front valance and tire ruined his chance at a $1 million payday, but Gordon was able to keep the No. 24 car from suffering any more damage. His run, though, created more work for the team. "We hadn't planned on using that car during the '600,' but we were real happy with how the new chassis performed last Saturday night," crew chief Steve Letarte said. "The guys in the shop — who never get enough credit — worked really hard to get this car turned around. We had some crewmembers come into the shop Sunday to assess the damage. On Monday morning, we had a crew in here at 5 a.m. pulling the motor and suspension, and a little after lunch they were prepping it to be painted."

Etc.: The transformation from a "reverse" paint scheme promoting DuPont Performance Alliance to a special DuPont/Department of Defense "America Supports You" paint scheme is the work of a lot of dedicated Hendrick Motorsports employees, according to Gordon. "The people that work in the shops, whether it's at Hendrick Motorsports or at another team, live this sport," he said. "They have so much passion for racing, and this is their livelihood as well. But the real thanks goes to the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country every single day. We are able to race and do what we love because of their hard work and dedication to our country."

Jimmie Johnson

No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Johnson is the likely driver to beat Sunday at Lowe's Motor Speedway as the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races for 600 miles — the longest race of the season. Johnson owns five victories at LMS and has not finished outside the top three in the last eight races there. Johnson finished second in Saturday's All-Star race and is second in the 2007 points race, trailing Jeff Gordon by 231. Johnson's four victories are the most of any driver in 2007. "I feel really confident about coming back and what we need to have," Johnson said. " Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon both had some trouble in the All-Star race, but I expect them to be two of the favorites for the 600. At the All-Star race it seemed like clean air made a difference being in the first two or three cars, but outside of that, when I was running mid-pack I didn't really have a lot for anyone. The cars were pretty equal through the field."

Last week: Johnson finished second to Kevin Harvick in the All-Star Challenge.

Etc.: Don't expect to see Johnson wandering around the garage area at Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. "I'll be watching the Indy 500 on Sunday in the motor home," he said. "I have friends who race in the IRL, and the Indy 500 is one of the races I remember my family gathering around the television set to watch when I was growing up. Indy is sacred ground for racers. I had a lot of respect for that place, but winning our race there last year made me appreciate Indianapolis even more. Prediction? Well, I'd like to see Helio Castroneves get his third victory, but Dan Wheldon is going to be awfully tough to beat on Sunday."

Matt Kenseth

No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing

This week: Kenseth has four career victories at Lowe's Motor Speedway — 2000 Coca-Cola 600, 2004 All-Star Race and two Busch Series wins. Kenseth's win in the 2000 Coca-Cola 600 was the first of his Cup Series career and the first and only time a rookie has won the event. He has five top-fives and seven top-10s in 15 races at Lowe's. "I've always enjoyed the track at Charlotte," Kenseth said. "It's a little quirky, but it used to be one of those tracks where tire wear was a factor, it was all about handling and if you could get your car to handle a little better, then you could really pass some guys and race your way up through the field. But the tire we race there right now is so hard — it's the same tire we had last spring and we couldn't really race then, and I don't think it's going to be better now. You just get incredibly tight whenever you get behind someone. ... We were pretty close to picking up a win last Saturday, but I got a little too aggressive on pit road. I'm not saying we could've won, but we were one of the better cars when in clean air. The promising thing for us was that the car was pretty competitive, at least the most competitive it's been in a while, and we're taking it back there this weekend. If we can get it to turn a little bit better we might have something for them on Sunday."

Last week: Kenseth finished seventh in the All-Star race. "The All-Star race weekend was a pretty good motivator for these guys," crew chief Robbie Reiser said. "They kicked off things on Friday evening by helping Matt win the pole with an excellent pit stop. To me, that's the real pit-stop competition — when you've got to click off a good four-tire stop on a live car, with your driver, with everyone watching and your time depending on it. That's the real deal, and our guys did real good."

Etc.: Kenseth will drive chassis RK-323. It ran at the All-Star race last weekend, leading 36 laps. In '06, it ran 10 times with two wins, five top-fives and seven top-10s.

Denny Hamlin

No. 11 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing

This week: This will be Hamlin's third Cup start in Charlotte, and he'll be looking to forget his most recent outing last fall, when a first-lap accident dented his car and championship hopes all at once. He did return to the track, but the damage was done and he settled for a 28th-place finish. Hamlin's other two starts went much better. An eighth-place finish in only his second career Cup start was followed by an impressive ninth-place finish in last season's Coca-Cola 600, in which Hamlin led three times for 25 laps. "It's a long race, no doubt about it," Hamlin said. "It tests the crews and it tests the drivers. The change in conditions means you have to build a lot of adjustability into the car or you'll end up chasing the track, and that can make for a long day out there. They have always been really good at making sure we have room to work on the car, and that's the way you need to approach this race, maybe more so that any other race during the season. And this is the kind of track where you don't get many breaks, so by the end of 600 miles you are really drained. Last season I know this race took a lot out of me, so I am looking forward to seeing if the changes I have made as far as getting in better shape will help. It has made a big difference so far this season, but between this place and Dover, I am sure I will really notice a difference."

Last week: Hamlin's first All-Star experience started with handling trouble early in the race, then ended when Casey Mears lost grip on the third lap of the final segment and took Hamlin to the wall. "With this type of format (All-Star), you're going to see wrecks, and that's fine, but that's what we got caught up in today. It's disappointing, but we knew we didn't have a top-five car going into the race after our struggles in practice. We are still trying to find the best way to make these hard tires work for us here at Charlotte, and at the same time I still don't feel all that comfortable making my way around this track. Glad it wasn't a points race and we were happy with our pit stops. The new crew is working out really well, so it was a good test as we get ready for the Coca-Cola 600."

Etc.: The No. 11 FedEx Freight Chevy will carry a special U.S. Marine Corps paint scheme this weekend as part of the American Heroes Memorial Day Tribute. The 11 is one of eight Nextel Cup cars carrying the emblem of various branches of the armed services, raising awareness for a nationwide effort to raise funds for military families in need.

Jeff Burton

No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: Burton has won the Coca-Cola 600 twice, in 1999 by .547 seconds over Bobby Labonte and in 2001 ahead of RCR teammate Kevin Harvick. In 26 starts at LMS, Burton has six top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. He finished third there last fall. "We had a good season last year at Lowe's Motor Speedway," Burton said. "We were really fast during the fall race. We were coming on hard toward the end of the race and we didn't have the track position we needed to pull off a win. As the track changed, we had to change the way we set our race cars up. Goodyear came in with different tires, so the grip was way down even though it was a new surface. It was a huge challenge and a difficult race track to figure out. It'll be that way again this weekend. The way the race track is built now, Goodyear has to bring a tire that can live, and that means the grip level is not very good. I will say that at the end of the fall race last year, the speeds were unbelievable. It was really fast, and I expect the speeds to be back up there."

Last week: Burton finished fourth in the All-Star shootout.

Etc.: In addition to his driving duties with the No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet at LMS, Burton, a 24-time race winner in the NASCAR Busch Series, will drive RCR's No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet in the Carquest Auto Parts 300 on Saturday.

Tony Stewart

No. 20 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing

This week: In 16 career point-paying races at Charlotte, Stewart has six top-fives and nine top-10s. His best finish is first, earned in October 2003 at the UAW-GM Quality 500. His worst finish is 42nd, logged at last year's Coca-Cola 600. Stewart has led a total of 478 laps at Charlotte in point-paying races. ... The 600-mile race at Charlotte is the longest race in the series. It begins in the heat of the afternoon at 5:30 p.m. ET and ends a little less than five hours later in the relative cool of night. Having a race car capable of winning means that its optimum handling characteristics are in effect for the race's last 100 miles. Having a race car that scorches the field in the first 100 miles but turns into an ill-handling beast as the sun sets is what all teams aim to avoid. Thus, they work backward, sacrificing strength early in the race for brawn when it matters most — at the checkered flag. Stewart hopes his run in Saturday night's All-Star Challenge at Charlotte will serve as a test session for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. It did, with a respectable fifth-place finish gleaning plenty of information for the No. 20 team to manipulate in preparation for Sunday's four-hour and counting marathon. That leaves roughly 3½ hours of practice time this weekend for Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli to find the proper balance for their Chevrolet. Working backward from lap 400, each minute will prove valuable as they tune their car's chassis to perform at night, in twilight and in the afternoon sun. The Coca-Cola 600 seems to have three segments — daytime, twilight and nighttime. What strategy do you employ early in the race to make sure you're competitive for the end of the race? "Early in the 600 you're running in conditions you're not going to finish the race in, obviously," Stewart said. "You start at what's typically a real hot part of the day, and the track is slippery without a whole lot of grip. You're basically just trying to stay on the lead lap, and with each pit stop you're adjusting your car to keep up with the changing track conditions. You're making sure you keep some adjustability built into your setup, so that when the sun goes down and the track really starts changing, you're able to adjust your car accordingly."

Last week: Stewart is coming off a fifth-place finish in the All-Star race.

Etc.: When Sunday morning rolls around, most of Stewart's attention will be focused on the Indianapolis 500. "I'll wake up in time to watch the start of it and I'll take a shower during the first commercial and watch as much of it as I can, just like I have the last couple of years," Stewart said. "I enjoy the race and I enjoy watching the race. I think it's going to be a tighter field than ever. So I'll be excited to see it just like everyone else will." Stewart was the 1997 IRL champion and remains a huge supporter of the series. "Everybody likes NASCAR-style racing where guys can race wheel-to-wheel," Stewart said. "When I started in the IRL I remember running at Texas with Buddy Lazier, and after the race was over he was yelling at me because we ran side-by-side for three laps. Now they're doing that for entire races at the mile-and-a-half tracks and the fans love it. It's just a good formula. It's brought NASCAR-style racing to open-wheel racing. There's all kinds of open-wheel drivers — whether they come out of midgets and sprint cars or road course backgrounds or whatever — that are coming together in the IRL. I never would've had my opportunity to race at Indy if it weren't for Tony George and the IRL. If it had still been under the old format with CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams), there never would've been a car owner who called me and said, 'Hey, we want you to come up and test for us.' I never would've gotten that opportunity. But I think I proved that with the opportunity, I could do the job. Without the IRL, a lot of guys would never have been able to show what they can do."

Kurt Busch

No. 2 Dodge, Penske Racing

This week: Busch's two top-10 finishes in 13 career races at LMS were also top-fives: a fourth-place finish in the October 2004 race and a second-place finish in October 2005. His best career finish in the 600 was the 11th he recorded during his roll to the 2004 points title. ... Busch prefers not to dwell on the point standings entering the Coca-Cola 600, the 12th points-paying race of the season. But he is certainly aware of the overall importance of the longest — and perhaps most demanding — event on the 36-race schedule. "While I'm not sitting here with a handheld calculator studying the points up and down, I am conscious that this is a huge race as we're nearing the halfway point before the Chase kicks in," said Busch, who is seventh in the standings with 1,325 points, trails sixth-place Tony Stewart by 50 points and enjoys a 162-point cushion on 13th-place Ryan Newman. "I'm smart enough to know that this weekend's Coke 600 is a major big-picture hurdle for us, but we're confident we'll be prepared as possible for the challenge we're facing there this weekend." ... Busch said of LMS, "It hasn't been one of our favorite tracks through the years. By that I certainly don't mean that I dislike the track. I love racing there, and it's like another home track for us. But the fact is that we've had an awful amount of tough luck there, with pieces breaking, crashes that weren't our fault and a lot of weird occurrences."

Last week: Busch finished 19th after he was involved in a crash with little brother Kyle, who finished 20th, in the All-Star race.

Etc.: Busch was already in the "big-picture" mode on Monday when he discussed Saturday night's incident with brother Kyle, which eliminated both drivers from the All-Star Challenge. "Whether we've talked about it or not, that's between Kyle and me," Kurt said. "Like I said on Saturday night after our race was through, it was inevitable that the Busch brothers would eventually get together in an incident like this. To tell you the truth, I did a lot of soul-searching yesterday during our first day off in so long. I came to the conclusion that if it had to happen, I'm glad we had that first big run-in there on Saturday night. It was a big race, but there were no points on the line. It wasn't like us getting together and knocking each other out of the 600. There's no long-term damage as far as the big scheme of things go. It's not anything that will have lasting impact when we get on down to 'Chase time' in September. So, if it was inevitable we'd have something like this happen, last Saturday night was the best time for it to come down." ... It looks as if the team's decision to use what crew chief Troy Raker referred to as an "expendable" Miller Lite Dodge Charger in the All-Star race was a great move, in light of what happened on Saturday night. "One of the best things we have going for us is the strategy we implemented several weeks back when we were planning for races during May and June," Kurt said. "I guess you could say that we definitely took a realistic approach to the races at Charlotte (LMS), and we think it'll pay off — at least we hope so. During the test we had there, our plan was to narrow it down to a situation of choosing one car for last Saturday night's All Star race and saving our best car for this weekend's 600, and that's exactly what we did. We ran the (PRS-0) 73 car last weekend, and we've saved our Texas car (PSC-078 chassis that Busch was so strong with at Texas Motor Speedway last month, finishing 11th) for the 600. It was definitely a smart move to save our strongest stuff for the big points-paying race there this weekend."

Kevin Harvick

No. 29 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: In 12 Cup races at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Harvick has earned one top-five and three top-10 finishes. He has a 17.5 starting average and 20.2 finishing average there. "The 600 is long, but it's really only 100 miles longer than we normally run," Harvick said. "I really don't think it is that big of a deal. However, it's our longest race of the season. Coming to Charlotte is always kind of special because you get to have all your guys at the shop who don't normally get to come to the race there and see all their hard work in action. You're programmed to go 500 miles. So that last 100 miles is always a little bit different than what we normally do. We will probably lose a little more water weight than normal. However, all in all, it's really not that big of a deal." ... Harvick will drive chassis No. 179 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Built new for the 2006 season, this is the same car Harvick drove to Victory Lane on Saturday night in the All-Star Challenge. Harvick drove it to a third-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway and to fifth place at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November.

Last week: The 11-time Cup Series winner won the All-Star race when he started the final 20-lap segment of the four-segment race in the second row, instantly moved to the lead and never gave it back. "Everybody is just extremely excited," Harvick said. "I am really proud of these guys on our team to bring back a different car than what we tested. We just didn't hit on a whole lot (during testing) since Todd (Berrier, crew chief) got sick and had to go home. Everything just worked really well tonight. We got around them on the outside, and once we got the track position, we were OK. The No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) ran us down. After about seven or eight laps, I just kind of changed what I was doing and tried to plant my car on the bottom and picked up speed."

Etc.: After showcasing the Pennzoil Platinum paint scheme last weekend during the All-Star Challenge, the No. 29 Chevy will return to its traditional bright yellow and red Shell-Pennzoil scheme this weekend.

Clint Bowyer

No. 07 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: In his only two Cup races at Lowe's, Bowyer finished 19th in the 600 last year and 23rd in the October 500-mile race. He will drive chassis No. 201, a brand-new car from RCR. "It's a very long race," Bowyer said. "It gets to be a little bit of a grind, but it's the same for everyone. I think what concerns me the most is a part failure or fatigue on the car. This is a points race, and you have to be there at the end to make it count. My plan at the beginning of the year was to top-10 'em to death, and we're getting close to that. We had a few weeks where we struggled but we're getting back to where we were earlier in the year, and based on how we ran last weekend in the Nextel Open I think we'll be in good shape." In the season's first 11 races, Bowyer has earned five top-10s and has finished outside the top 25 only twice. He holds a 15.2 starting average and a 16th-place finishing average. The 27-year-old driver has completed 3,578 of the 3,653 total laps run this season (97.95 percent) and is ninth in points after his second consecutive top-10 finish two weeks ago at Darlington. Over those same 11 races last season, Bowyer's average start was 21.2 and his average finish 19.1. He was 16th in points at this time last year.

Last week: Bowyer finished sixth in the Nextel Open, a race featuring the non-winners in the Cup series.

Etc.: Bowyer will race his Jack Daniel's-sponsored dirt late model on Friday night at the Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway as part of the Goodyear Fastrak Challenge. The winged World of Outlaws sprint cars headline the program with the Goodyear Fastrak Challenge late models serving as the support division. In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet, Bowyer returns to the seat of the No. 2 BB&T Chevy for this weekend's Busch Series event at LMS. Bowyer has won two of the last four Busch races.

Carl Edwards

No. 99 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing

This week: Edwards has two top-five and four top-10 finishes in four starts at Lowe's. He has completed 100% of the possible laps at LMS in each of his starts. He finished third in both of his first two Coca-Cola 600 starts. "I'm really looking forward to this weekend," Edwards said. "After the disappointment of last weekend, I am eager to get a good finish in the Office Depot Ford. We learned some things in the (Nextel) Open, and I think once we get the Office Depot Ford dialed in we'll be really good. Sunday night is a long race, and I think that will be good for me. I think as the night goes on people will get tired and make mistakes, and hopefully I'll be able to take advantage of that."

Last week: Edwards led 37 laps before finishing third in the 40-lap Nextel Open.

Etc.: Edwards will drive RK-272, the same car he used in the Nextel Open. It previously was raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this year. Edwards started that race 13th and finished sixth. Crew chief Bob Osborne said, "We had a great car last week but weren't able to get the setup just right for the 40-lap run. The Office Depot Ford just got too tight there at the end, and unfortunately it cost us the All-Star race. We've done some work on the car and made some significant adjustments, so I think we should be good to go for the 600. We used last week as a bit of a test session, and I think we learned a few things that will help make us better for this weekend. We're just looking for another solid run this weekend to maintain our top-10 point standing."

Kyle Busch

No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Busch has two wins in the Busch Series and two wins in the Craftsman Truck Series at LMS, but he is still looking for his first Cup win at the track. Busch finished sixth last fall for his first top-10 finish in his six Cup starts. He has led in three of the six events, but he also has three DNFs in those six races.

Last week: Busch won the second segment of the 80-lap Nextel All-Star Challenge. But his hopes of claiming the million dollars that went to the winner of the special event ended on lap 62 when he and brother Kurt got together while racing three wide (Jeff Burton was on the outside). The Busch brothers crashed, and Kyle ended up 20th.

Etc.: Busch wonders whether he is going through the infamous sophomore slump in his third season of Nextel Cup racing. "This year I feel more like it is probably my sophomore year, you know, having the bad luck that we have had," said Busch. "I am real down on myself just because it's not going the way I want it to be going and I'm trying to do everything right."

Jamie McMurray

No. 26 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: McMurray's lone win came at Lowe's on Oct. 13. 2002. In his eight other starts at the track, he has one top-five and four top-10 finishes, including an eighth in the 600 a year ago. The car McMurray will drive this weekend was last raced at Texas last month, when McMurray finished fifth.

Last week: After finishing 10th in the Nextel Open, McMurray was quick to point out, "We learned not to bring this car back (for the Coca-Cola 600). We tested this car and our 600 car, and our 600 car is quite a bit better. We went back and changed a lot of things on this car and did some aero and mechanical stuff, but we had the same problems we had at the test."

Etc.: Crew chief Larry Carter feels the team learned a lot in the Open. "After last weekend's race at Charlotte, I feel that we have a better handle on the car we are taking for the 600 this weekend," said Carter. "We still need to figure out how to free it up just a bit."

CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP CUTOFF

Ryan Newman

No. 12 Dodge, Penske Racing

This week: Newman will be going for his fourth straight top-10 finish this weekend. The last time he had four consecutive top-10s was in 2005. Newman, who has won five poles at LMS, has five top-10 finishes in 12 starts at the track. He will be racing the same car he ran in the All-Star event last weekend.

Last week: Newman ended up eighth in the All-Star Challenge. "We had a good car," said Newman. "We were too tight pretty much the whole race, but even being too tight I thought we were pretty competitive. I thought it was a huge improvement over last year, and it was a good run for us. We passed quite a few cars."

Etc.: Newman believes his first win of 2007 is "just a matter of time. We've been running really well the last few weeks, and it's showed at the end of the race. We're bringing a good car with us to Charlotte this weekend. We've improved our finishes each of the last three weeks, and it's just a matter of time before we get this Alltel Dodge into Victory Lane."