Sat, 03 May 2008

Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Penske Racing Alltel Dodge were hampered by handling issues for much of the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night, but determination and a key pit call near the end of the race led to a hard-earned sixth place finish.

"That's the perfect example of never giving up," Newman said after the race. "Each week in our team meeting, we talk about the big picture and not giving up. We struggled with the handling on the Alltel Dodge today, but we stuck with it. At the end Roy (McCauley - crew chief) made a good call to take two tires with just ten laps to go. We were able to pick up some valuable spots in the pits and then on the track.

"It didn't look like it was going to be a good night for the Alltel Dodge team, but we are happy with our finish."

With ten races completed in the NASCAR Cup Series, the Daytona 500 champion is 11th in the 2008 NASCAR Cup driver point standings, 283 points behind leader Kyle Busch. Newman has five top-ten finishes this season.

Newman started tenth on Saturday night at the .75-mile short track. By lap 10, Newman had radioed his crew that the Alltel Dodge was experiencing handling issues - the race car was tight in center and loose coming off the corners.

When the first caution of the day waved at lap 65, Newman had fallen to 12th place. The team pitted for four tires and fuel. They also made a track bar adjustment to help Newman in the center of the turn and a wedge adjustment to help him get off the corners better. Newman returned to the track in 11th place.

It only took a handful of laps before Newman told McCauley that the car was still tight in the center and loose getting off the corners. Although the car was handling better than in the first run, the team prepared to make more changes to help Newman's issues. Newman was able to stay in the top ten, but he was not happy with the car's handling.

Under the caution at lap 128, Newman came in for four tires, fuel, track bar and air pressure adjustments. He returned to the track in ninth place.

However, the changes the team made to the car didn’t help Newman's problem. As the green flag run progressed, Newman told his team that the car was the tightest it had been all night and he continued to be loose going into and coming off of the corners.

Newman dropped to 13th before the caution flag waved at lap 201. McCauley brought Newman down pit road to reverse the previous changes in hopes of helping the handling problems.

The Alltel Dodge's handling problems persisted throughout the race, but Newman battled to stay near the front. McCauley and the pit crew tried a variety of adjustments on a series of pit stops, but Newman continued to struggle with the car's drivability. Despite never falling out of the top 15, the car wasn't to Newman's liking.

A caution with just ten laps remaining in the race set up Newman's fifth top-10 of the season. McCauley brought Newman, who was running in the 14th place, down pit road under the caution flag for fresh right side tires. The quick pit stop sent Newman back on track in ninth place.

By lap 398, Newman had picked up three spots and was seventh on the track when the caution flag waved - setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

Newman was able to pick up one more spot over the final two laps, finishing in sixth place.

"That's the way to get something out of it," McCauley told Newman after the checkered flag waved.

"The Alltel Dodge wasn't what we expected to be," said Newman. "We were in the right place at the right time and capitalized late in the race. The guys never gave up."

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Saturday night at the Darlington Raceway. The race can be seen live on the FOX television network at 7 p.m. EDT and heard on the MRN radio network at 7:20 p.m. EDT

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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May 11, 2008

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 9, 2008) - Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Penske Racing Alltel Dodge team endured a frustrating night at the 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway on Saturday, finishing the Dodge Challenger 500 in 37th place.

A broken rear end at lap 238 caused Newman to spin under the caution and hit the wall. Newman drove his Alltel Dodge to the infield garage area for significant repairs and was able to return to the race track and finish the race 73 laps down.

"It was just a disappointing night for the Alltel Dodge," Newman said. "We had problems throughout the race, and it ended up costing us in the points. We're going to have to work harder and hopefully rebound at Charlotte."

Newman is currently 13th in the NASCAR Cup points standings, just two points shy of 12th-place cut-off for the NASCAR Chase.

After qualifying 32nd for the Dodge Challenger 500 on Friday, Newman knew his team would have its work cut out for them. At the drop of the green flag, Newman took off and was able to power by several cars in front of him.

When the caution flag waved at lap 11, Newman had already moved up to 25th place, but his problems began then. Newman had to come down pit road for damage to his left front splitter. The team quickly repaired and fueled the No. 12 Dodge, returning to the track in 40th place.

Back on track, Newman reported that the No. 12 Alltel Dodge was tight, especially in turns three and four. Despite the ill-handling condition, he was making up ground. When green flag pit stops began at lap 55, Newman was in 29th place.

Newman came down pit road under the green flag for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment to help his tight-handling condition. He returned to the track in 19th place, but was forced to give up the spot and come back down pit road for a pass-through penalty due to a tire violation on the pit stop. Newman returned to the track in 40th place, two laps down to the leading cars.

Despite having the ability to catch the leaders and getting one of his lost laps back, Newman continued battling an ill-handling race car. The Alltel team made several adjustments on a series of pit stops to help the No. 12's handling problems. The stops helped as Newman moved up as high as 25th, one lap down to the leader, before problems struck once more.

Following a pit stop under the yellow flag at lap 238, Newman began to pull off pit road when he reported that it felt like something was broken in the rear of the car. Once on the track, the problem caused Newman to spin, damaging the right side and the front of the car.

Newman pulled into the garage, and the team diagnosed the problem as a broken rear end. After the extensive repairs and body work, Newman was able to return to the track at lap 306 and finish the race in 37th place.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Saturday night for the NASCAR All-Star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. The non-points race can be seen live on SPEED at 7:30 p.m. EDT and heard on the PRN radio network.

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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May 26, 2008

CONCORD, N.C. (May 25, 2008) - Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Penske Racing Alltel Dodge team endured a night of ups and downs in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday night. After running as high as ninth during the 400-lap race, Newman was hit with a pit road speeding penalty and was later caught up in an accident which caused substantial damage to the car. Newman finished in 21st place.

Newman is currently 14th in the NASCAR Cup point standings, 85 points shy of the 12th-place cutoff for the NASCAR Chase for the Cup.

"It was not the night we had hoped for with our Alltel Dodge," Newman said after the race. "I felt like we had a good car tonight as long as we could keep up with the changing track conditions and stay out of trouble.

"Unfortunately, we got a penalty for speeding on pit road after we had gotten into the top 10, which put us back in the pack. Then we got caught up in a crash on a restart with 100 laps to go when we were trying to work our way back up front. The damage was too much for our car to be competitive, so that pretty much ended our night. We're disappointed, but we are going to one of my favorite tracks next weekend (Dover International Speedway), and we're looking forward to making up lost ground there."

Despite qualifying 38th for the Coca-Cola 600, Newman was confident that the team had a top-10 car for the longest race of the year. The key, Newman said before the race, would be to stay out of trouble.

Early in the race, Newman's Alltel Dodge looked strong. Within 30 laps of the green flag, Newman had climbed 12 spots to 26th place. At lap 30, Newman told crew chief Roy McCauley that the car was too tight in the center of the turns and that it needed to be freed up to help him gain more positions on the track.

When green flag pit stops began on lap 46, Newman was in 24th place. The team pitted at lap 51 for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Newman returned to the track in 24th place.

After just a handful of laps following the stop, Newman reported that the car was still too tight. A caution on lap 61 gave the team the opportunity to make a wedge adjustment to help free the car up. Newman returned to the track in 20th place.

The adjustments seemed to work as Newman began to gain spots on the track. By lap 100, he had moved into the top 15. After another green flag pit stop for four tires and fuel, Newman was sitting just outside of the top 10 in 11th place.

When the caution flag waved again on lap 161, Newman told his crew that the car was still too tight getting into the center of the turns and was snapping loose coming out of the corners. Newman pitted for four tires, fuel and wedge and track bar adjustments. He restarted the race in ninth place.

Just 20 laps later, Newman told his crew that the adjustments had not helped the handling of the car and that it was still too tight. A caution on lap 185 gave the team another chance to improve the car's handling. Newman pitted for fuel and a track bar adjustment.

It was a quick stop, but NASCAR officials penalized Newman for being too fast exiting pit road. Newman was sent to the tail end of the longest line and forced to restart the race in 17th place.

"I didn't think that I was too fast exiting the pits," Newman said later. "I was right on my pit road speed, but that's not my call."

At the halfway point of the race at lap 200, Newman was battling to make up lost ground following the penalty. He was also fighting the track's changing conditions as the sun set and the temperatures began to drop. By lap 250, Newman told his crew that the Alltel Dodge was the loosest it had been all night.

The loose-handling condition was preventing Newman from making up any ground on the leaders, and he had dropped to 19th when the caution flag waved at lap 296. He pitted for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to help tighten up the car. Newman returned to the track in 18th place.

That's when trouble struck. As the green flag dropped for the double-file restart on lap 305, a car in the lead pack mistimed the start. As several cars in front of Newman began to make contact and check up to avoid wrecking, the rest of the field became congested. With nowhere to go, Newman ran into the back of the car in front of him causing damage to the hood, the left front nose and left front fender of the Alltel Dodge.

The No. 12 team made a series of pit stops in order to change tires, pull back dented sheet metal from the tire and push down the hood and splitter. However, the damage was significant enough to affect the car's aerodynamic performance for the remainder of the race. Newman finished the night in 21st place as Penske Racing teammates Sam Hornish Jr. and Kurt Busch finished 13th and 16th, respectively.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday, June 1 for the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del. The race can be seen live on FOX at 1:30 p.m. EDT and coverage on MRN Radio begins at 1:15 p.m. EDT.



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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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Sun, 01 Jun 2008

Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Penske Racing Alltel Dodge team ran solidly in the top 10 for most of the day on Sunday in the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway, including taking the race lead for six laps. However, late in the race a problem with a fuel system bracket, which made it difficult to fuel the car on a green flag pit stop, dropped Newman to a 14th-place finish.

Newman is currently 14th in the NASCAR Cup point standings, 29 points shy of the 12th-place cutoff for the NASCAR Chase for the Cup.

"The Alltel Dodge was ok today,” said Newman. “We got in the top 10 and we were able to stay there for most of the day - we even led a few laps. But we had a problem with a fuel system bracket. We ended up having to pit under green to fix it since there weren't any cautions, and that cost us our top 10 finish."

Newman qualified 11th for the Best Buy 400 and wasted no time moving into the top 10 once the green flag dropped. When the caution flag waved for a 10-car wreck on lap 16, Newman reported to crew chief Roy McCauley that his Alltel Dodge had no grip. Newman also said the car was tight in the center and exit of the turns.

The incident led to a 15-minute red flag period, stopping the race but not allowing crews to work on their cars until the race resumed under yellow. When the race went back under caution, Newman came down pit road for right side tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He returned to the track and restarted in fourth place.

Just a handful of laps later, Newman fell back to fifth. He told his crew that the car was still tight in the center of the corners. A second caution at lap 66 gave Newman’s crew the opportunity to work on his handling problems. Newman came down pit road for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. Newman returned to the track in sixth place.

Back on track, Newman continued to battle with his car’s handling. However, after the last round of adjustments, Newman said that his car was now too loose in the center and exit of the turns. By lap 140, when green flag pit stops began, Newman had fallen back to 10th place.

Newman pitted again under green for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. He returned to the track in 10th place. Despite the adjustments, Newman was still battling with the handling of his car, complaining of a lack of grip.

The crew made a series of pit stops and adjustments to help solve Newman’s handling issues. With just 100 laps remaining in the race, Newman was still in 10th place. The car was tight, but McCauley told Newman that there was another problem, with a fuel system bracket, which would make it difficult to fuel the car on the final pit stop.

“We’re going to try to stretch it as long as we can, and hope for a caution,” McCauley told Newman. “We’ve got a plan – we just have to hope for a caution.”

Green flag pit stops began at lap 317 and Newman remained on track in hopes of getting a caution for his planned extended pit stop. Newman took over the race lead at lap 321 and led for six laps before he had to come down pit road under the green flag.

The Alltel pit crew devised a plan to fuel the No. 12 machine, but the additional time that was needed during the pit stop cost Newman two laps to the leader. He returned to the track in 14th place, which he where he finished.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday, June 8 for the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway in Pocono, Pa. The race can be seen live on TNT at 12:30 p.m. EDT and coverage on MRN Radio begins at 1:15 p.m. EDT

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:48:00

Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Penske Racing Kodak Dodge team endured a variety of highs and lows in the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon. Newman ran as high as seventh on several occasions, but as various pit strategies played out at the end of the race, Newman was relegated to an 18th-place finish.

Newman is currently 14th in the NASCAR Cup point standings, 10 points shy of the 12th-place cutoff for the NASCAR Chase for the Cup.

"We struggled with the Kodak Dodge all weekend at Pocono," Newman said. “We were able to get the balance right during the race on a couple of different runs, but I had my hands full most of the day. The car would go from being tight to being wicked loose, and there were so many cars around me that I really couldn’t go anywhere.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us so that we can come back to Pocono in a few weeks and be a contender.”

Newman started in 27th place at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, one of the most unique tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit with three very different corners. Soon after the drop of the green flag, Newman radioed that the car’s handling was “wicked loose” all the way through turn one and loose in turn three, but that turn two at the triangle-shaped race track was his strength.

A caution at lap 27 gave the Kodak crew their first opportunity to work on the car. The team pitted for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Newman returned to the track in 24th place for the restart on lap 31.

The No. 12 was able to move up to 21st before the caution flag waved for a second time at lap 40. Newman reported to crew chief Roy McCauley that the car’s balance was improved since the previous stop - he was able to pass other cars and pull away from them in the corners, but he’d lose the ground that he gained on the Long Pond straightaways.

The team pitted under the caution for right side tires and fuel and Newman returned to the track in 14th place. Back on track with two fresh tires, the Kodak Dodge began to experience a tight handling condition in turns one and two.

The team elected to pit for fresh left side tires under the caution period at lap 56 and returned Newman to the race track in seventh place. Just a handful of laps into the run, Newman said the car was now handling a tick free getting into turn three.

Rain at lap 71 put the race under a red flag condition for about 10 minutes. When the race restarted, Newman was in 11th place. Newman complained that the Kodak Dodge was tight in all three corners.

Under the next caution period at lap 80, the team again elected to pit for right side tires and fuel and make a track bar adjustment to aid Newman’s handling problems. Because several cars elected not to pit under the caution, Newman restarted the race in 17th place.

Newman continued to struggle with the handling of the Kodak Dodge throughout the course of the 200-lap, 500-mile race. During the course of the run, the car would rotate between loose and tight handling conditions.

While Newman was fighting with the handling of his Kodak Dodge, a variety of pit strategies were playing out in the race. The team pitted on numerous occasions to make adjustments to address Newman’s handling problems.

Newman’s final pit stop came at lap 177 when the last caution flag of the day waved due to a one-car spin. The Kodak Dodge came down pit road in seventh place, but exited the pits in 21st because multiple cars behind Newman had pitted under green prior to the caution and were within their fuel race for the final run of the day.

The Kodak team kept fighting, however, and Newman was able to move up three spots in the closing laps to finish the race in 18th place.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday, June 15 for the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich. The race can be seen live on TNT at 12:30 p.m. EDT, with coverage on MRN Radio beginning at 1:15 p.m. EDT.

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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