Ryan Newman - 2007 Weekly Final Race Results - NASCAR Forum - NASCAR Space -Forums, Schedules, Race Results, News

mrsmopar12 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-10-2007, 03:07 AM

CALIFORNIA WEEKEND ENDS ON A HIGH NOTE FOR NEWMAN, NO. 12 TEAM
MON, 02/26/2007 - 10:44AM

The 12th-place finish in Sunday's Auto Club 500 wasn’t the one Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger team wanted, but it was better than they’ve seen in a long time at California Speedway.

The last time Newman and his team earned a top-15 finish at an intermediate track, such as the 2-mile California speedway, was last June at Michigan when Newman placed 15th. It was one of only two top-15 finishes for the No. 12 team at intermediate tracks in 2006. The other came at Darlington in May when Newman earned a sixth-place finish.

“I’m just happy to get the finish we did. It was a decent run for us. We had a good car for the majority of the race,” Newman told the media after driving the Mobil 1 car back to the garage. “We just didn’t have track position there at the end. I think we had a lot better race car than where we finished, but I’m happy to be on the lead lap. That’s a good start for the year.”

Both Penske Racing Cup teams worked hard during the off-season to improve their intermediate program after a dismal 2006 season. For Newman, that meant finishing 11 of 15 races at intermediate tracks outside the top 20.

“I think we’ve tested more during the past off-season than I have in the six years since joining Penske,” Newman said earlier in the week. “We’ve worked so hard and although we didn’t see the results we wanted during our test session in Las Vegas, I think we’ve come a long way and the race at California will prove just how much we’ve improved and how much more work we need to do.”

Improvements were noticeable early in Sunday's event when Newman picked up six spots in the first three laps. After starting 19th, Newman went four-wide at the start/finish line on lap one to earn the 11th spot. The second time across the line, Newman was three-wide, but had dropped to 13th.

The No. 12 team avoided serious problems during its first pit stop on lap 9 when a lug nut off the right-rear wheel came up and hit rear tire changer Joe Piette Jr. in his right eye, knocking out his contact and leaving him without the vision in that eye.

“I’m just glad Newman didn’t come over the radio after he left the pits to ask if all the lug nuts were tight. Maybe I’m better at changing tires when I’m blind,” Piette joked as he told the story to Penske teammates. “I have never had that happen to me. The lug nut didn’t cut my eye, but it knocked out the contact lens. It was weird.”

The NASCAR official standing in the pit stall located Piette’s contact and after washing it off, Piette was ready to get back to work.

“I literally got the lens washed off just before you came in for the second stop,” Piette told Newman.

Piette and his fellow Mobil 1 pit crew members certainly received a workout in the season's second race. After nine pit stops during the 250-lap race, Piette figured he and front tire changer Ben Brown had hit a total of180 lug nuts during the race. They changed 18 tires each with ten lugnuts on each wheel – five off and five on.

However, there were very little balance changes made to the car throughout the race. Other than an extended stop on lap 17 to fix a tear in the valance, Newman’s first adjustment came on lap 94 after he told crew chief Mike Nelson that the Mobil 1 Dodge Charger needed to be freer in the center and it needed more grip. Nelson called for one round up on the right-side track bar along with four tires and fuel. Unfortunately, the changes made Newman too loose.

The pit crew was able to help Newman gain track position throughout the race. Out of nine stops, only two of them took longer than 14 seconds and three of them were completed in less than 13 seconds. Newman never lost any spots on pit road; he either came out in the same position or gained a few positions once the field returned to green-flag conditions.

Newman’s main problem during the race came on restarts. The Mobil 1 Dodge would give up a few spots once the green flag was waved, but the car would come back to Newman after the first few laps and the balance would be exactly where Newman wanted it.

“We’re taking a little hit at the start of the runs,” Newman told his crew on lap 116, “but it gets better at the end. If you’ve got anything to give me some speed or grip, I’ll take it, but the balance is pretty good.”

Green-flag stops appeared to be starting early in the race, around lap 50, but what would’ve been bad luck for Newman and the 12 team in 2006, worked in the team’s favor on Sunday. On lap 54, just six laps before Newman was scheduled to make his first green-flag stop, the caution flag came out for a spin by Sterling Marlin's car in turn three, allowing Newman to make his third stop under the yellow and restart in the eighth position. Many of the lead-lap cars had already pitted under green and were left to restart the race at the tail end of the lead lap, just in front of the race leader.

Newman was preparing to make another green-flag stop when the yellow flag waved for the sixth time for debris on the backstretch. Newman finally made his first green-flag stop on lap 159, taking four tires and fuel. It was the first of two straight green-flag stops for Newman, both in the 13.6-second range.

The team made adjustments during the closing laps to tighten the car with the final stop coming on lap 245.

“We needed track position for the final few laps and we debated on whether to stay out on old tires or come in to get fresh rubber,” Nelson said. “We decided to come in for fresh tires hoping that we would be able to gain a few spots on the cars that had older tires, but it didn’t quite work out the way we had hoped.”

Newman's 12th-place finish in the Auto Club 500 moved Newman from 35th in the drivers’ standings to 22nd – 154 points behind leader Mark Martin.

Newman’s final remark to his team before shutting down the radios was, “Thanks for giving me a great car today guys!”

Next week, Newman and the No. 12 team take a break before making their way back to the West Coast for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and returning to the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger. Fox will again broadcast the race live, beginning at 4 p.m. EST, while PRN Radio will air its first of three consecutive races this season.

mrsmopar12 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 10:09 AM

Monday, March 12, 2007

Newman Rolls to Top-10 Finish at Las VegasMon, 03/12/2007 - 9:08amThe weekend didn’t start the way Ryan Newman or the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger team would have liked, but the ending was worth the wait.

After making a 30.131-second qualifying run on Friday afternoon – which gave him the 39th starting position – Newman started the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 from his lowest starting position since Michigan in July 2006. In that race, Newman started 42nd after spinning in turns three and four before completing his first lap. The last time Newman qualified that low was at Daytona in July 2002.

Seven of the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday’s race were in Dodge Chargers, including Penske teammate Kurt Busch who started the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger in 10th. Newman was the lowest-starting Dodge, but in the end, he was the highest-finishing Dodge Charger and the only one in the top 10.

“The guys worked on this car all weekend long,” Newman said after earning his first top-10 finish since August of last year when he placed eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Coming off the truck, this car was not very good and it definitely was not where we wanted it to be. This team worked their butts off and improved on the balance of this car each practice and it was a good car during the race.”

Except for a rub on the left-front tire for most of the race and a slight vibration that occurred later in the event, Newman mainly felt the car getting tight or loose during a run; but it never got bad enough that the Indiana native couldn’t handle the car.

“Turns three and four were my biggest problem areas throughout the day, but (crew chief) Mike Nelson made some great calls atop the pit box and had the crew make the right adjustments all day long,” praised Newman. “This team has worked together so well in these first three races and it is showing in our performances, especially at the intermediate tracks where we struggled so bad last year.”

The caution flag flew early and often in Sunday’s 400-mile race in Las Vegas with the first yellow coming on just the second lap when David Ragan spun his No. 6 car. Fuel was a key factor in pit strategy Sunday due to the 13-gallon fuel cell. Some of the teams – including the Alltel Dodge – came in multiple times for only fuel in an effort to get off sequence with the rest of the field and make it further at the end of the race.

Early in the event, Nelson’s pit strategy was to get gas as much as possible. In fact, the first two stops were for fuel only. Newman began fighting a tight condition in his car around lap 14, but he was more concerned with track position and the car was still controllable.

The Alltel Dodge hovered inside the top 15 for most of the race, beginning on lap 12. For the remaining 255 laps, Newman dropped out of the top 15 only during green-flag pit stops when the field was cycling through. Newman spent 52 laps in the top 10 and even led lap 81 for five bonus points.

Track bar adjustments helped Newman throughout the day and the Alltel pit crew made sure those adjustments were done quickly. Nine times Newman came down pit road during Sunday’s race; twice for fuel only, once for two tires and fuel and the remaining six were each for four tires, fuel and adjustments. At least three of those six four-tire stops were under 14 seconds, including a stop on lap 109 that saw the Alltel crew put four tires and fuel in the car and go two rounds down on the track bar in 13.16 seconds.

“I couldn’t have asked for better pit stops today,” Newman said. “The pit crew was on the top of their game today. I can’t compliment my team enough for the way they worked on this car. The road crew got the car dialed in enough so that we didn’t have to make major changes to the car during the race and the race day crew were so fast on each stop that it’s almost unthinkable that we picked up so many spots in the pits when we got four tires and other teams were taking two.”

Three of Newman’s nine stops came during green-flag runs. Out of the six caution stops, Newman maintained or picked up spots in the pits on all but one and even during that stop, he only lost one position because cars in front of him took two tires compared to his four.

Air pressure adjustments also helped the balance on Newman’s car. On five of the stops, Nelson called for pressure to be removed from the tires, which seemed to improve Newman’s handling of the car on each run. During the stop on lap 214, however, Newman received a set of tires that didn’t work well with his car’s balance and he felt a slight vibration in the car's right side until he was able to pit again for four fresh Goodyear tires. At that point, the car was still tight but the vibration was gone and the car was back to feeling good balance-wise.

Pit strategy came into play again during the race's closing laps after Kasey Kahne spun on lap 251 to bring out the ninth and final caution flag. Some teams elected to come down pit road to top off with fuel, but the Alltel Dodge was good to go to the checkered flag, so Newman remained on the track and picked up two positions immediately to land in the top 10. After Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. came down pit road before it was open, earning both a restart at the end of the longest line – a line that was more than 20 cars long – Newman picked up two more spots for the restart on lap 257.

When the green flag dropped for the last time, Newman restarted in sixth and although he wasn’t able to hold off two cars that were on fresher tires, Newman did manage to hang on to eighth place.

The finish gave Newman his fourth top 10 at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway and moved him from 22nd to 15th in the points; his highest position in the points since last year’s spring race in California. Newman is just seven points out of the 12th position – the new cutoff for the Chase – and 167 points out of first.

“You can already see the difference in this team at these intermediate tracks. Mike (Nelson) continues to make great calls during the race and the guys are getting the car where it needs to be for the end of the race,” Newman said in continuing his applause of the Alltel Dodge team. “Every race this year, this team has given me really good cars. In Daytona, we had a car capable of winning, but problems out of our control took us out of that race; it had nothing to do with the team or their work on the car. In California and this week, I have had two intermediate cars that were great to drive and we were able to stay out of trouble and get the finishes that this team deserves.

“I am so excited to go to Atlanta next week and see if we can improve even more on our intermediate program. We have shown so much progress and our disappointing 2006 season had a lot to do with the way we ran on these types of tracks, but we’ve really pulled it together and I think Atlanta should be a great race for this team. We’ll take the same car we drove here in Vegas and see if it can’t get us into victory lane.”

The Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is up next for Newman and the No. 12 Alltel Dodge team. Fox and PRN Radio will carry the race with live coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m., EDT.

moenemdown15 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 10:34 AM

Ryan had a great run at Las Vegas. Hopefully he can keep getting top-10s.

mrsmopar12 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-23-2007, 12:15 AM

FRI, 03/16/2007 - 10:50PM

For the 38th time in Ryan Newman’s NASCAR Cup Series career, he will be sitting on the Bud Pole for the start of Sunday’s race.

Newman, who was fifth fastest in Friday afternoon’s practice, put down a hot lap of 193.124 mph -- a time of 28.707 seconds.

“We had a great car out there tonight; the car was really fast and it felt really good during the run,” Newman said after climbing from his Alltel Dodge. “This crew has worked so hard on this car. The smile is back on my face.”

The smile was definitely back. Newman had one that went cheek-to-cheek as he talked with the media and posed for photographs.

“I’ll wait until the 48, 24 and 19 make their laps before I put my ducks in a row,” Newman said while watching the end of qualifying. “The 19 (Elliott Sadler) can definitely bust off a lap, so I’ll wait and see what happens.”

As the final cars made their two-lap qualifying runs, it was looking good for Newman.

“I was really fast in turns one and two, so I tried really hard in (turns) three and four on my second lap, but the car got too tight and caused the motor to miss a little,” Newman told reporters in the media center, “but those Penske-Jasper engines are so good, that even with it missing a little, I was still able to have that fast of a lap. It was awesome. I’m really excited about Sunday. These guys have done such a good job to take this car from a 39th-starting position to a pole-winning car. It’s amazing.”

This car is the same chassis Newman drove to an eighth-place finish last weekend at Las Vegas after starting 39th.

Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 will air live on Fox and PRN Radio beginning at 2 p.m., EDT.

Line-up for Kobalt Tools 500:

1. Ryan Newman, No. 12 Alltel Dodge
2. Elliott Sadler, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge
3. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet
4. Mark Martin, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet
5. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet
17. Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

mrsmopar12 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-23-2007, 12:15 AM

Sunday, March 18, 2007

The Kobalt Tools 500 weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway started on a very high note for Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, but by the time it ended, it had transformed into a downhill slide.

After running the fifth-fastest time in Friday afternoon’s practice, Newman knocked out a 193.124-mph lap -- 28.707 seconds -- to earn his seventh Bud Pole at the 1.54-mile speedway. The pole tied Newman with his mentor, Buddy Baker, for the most poles at the Georgia track. It was Newman’s first pole since July 2006.

However, problems began to appear during Newman’s second qualifying lap when his car's engine started missing going into turns three and four.

“The second lap was quicker coming out of (turns) one and two, but the tachometer was skipping around as I went into (turns) three and four,” Newman explained. “I decided not to push it when I was already on the pole. I wanted to make sure the guys had a chance to take a look at the motor and see what they could do to fix it.”

During Saturday morning’s practice, Newman got nine laps on the board before the engine blew, forcing the Alltel Dodge team to replace it. That sent Newman to the back of the field for the start of Sunday’s 500-mile race.

“We have a good car; it was good last week in Las Vegas and it’s been good during practice here at Atlanta,” Newman said. “We’ll just have to pass some cars to get back to the front.”

Unfortunately, the car's balance didn’t cooperate with Newman once the green flag waved. The car was feeling weird entering the corners and it was tight in the center of turns three and four. It was lap 114 before Newman cracked the top 25, as he was mired around 30th for most of the race's first half.

The car began getting tight, especially in turns three and four, and it was getting harder for Newman to handle. On lap 118, the balance problems caused Newman to lose a lap, as eventual race winner Jimmie Johnson passed the Alltel Dodge. Newman was unable to get in position to receive the Lucky Dog Award, and his car didn’t have the right balance to allow him to drive past the leaders on his own and regain his lap.

It wasn’t until lap 139 that Newman was again in the top 25; he then hovered around that position until the checkered flag fell.

The Alltel team's quick pit stops provided bright spots in Newman’s day. At least five of Newman’s nine stops were completed in less than 14 seconds, including two stops in less than 13 seconds. One was a 12.46-second stop for four tires, fuel, a half round of wedge in the left rear and one round of wedge in the right rear.

“I’m not sure what happened with our car between qualifying, practice and the race, but it just didn’t feel right the entire day,” Newman said following Sunday’s event. “We’ve had a little bit of a set back, but this team has been working really well together and we’ll head back to the shop and try to fix the problems before we go to (the next intermediate track) Texas.”

With the 23rd-place finish, Newman fell to 18th in the drivers’ standings – the same position in which he finished the 2006 season. Newman is just 35 points behind 12th-place J.J. Yeley and 202 points behind points’ leader Mark Martin; Martin is running a partial schedule and is not scheduled to drive in next week’s Food City 500 at Bristol, Tenn.

The Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway is next for Newman and the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger team. Fox and PRN Radio will carry the race with live coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m., EDT.

mrsmopar12 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-26-2007, 01:07 PM

Mon, 03/26/2007 - 8:27am

Ryan Newman was in the process of rebounding from a two-lap deficit in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway when his Alltel Dodge Avenger became involved in an accident that relegated him to a 39th-place finish.

"We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Newman said about the lap 310 accident that left his Alltel Dodge with a broken radiator.

After crew chief Mike Nelson ordered the car behind the wall for repairs, Newman scrambled from the car and briefly assisted the crew with its installation of a new radiator. The Alltel Dodge returned to the scheduled 500-lap race on lap 357, some 45 laps down to the leader.

At that point, Nelson noted the team's goal was to gain as many points as possible. However, the 39th-place finish still cost Newman five positions, dropping him to 23rd in the standings. He now trails 12th-place Tony Stewart by 107 points. Twelfth is the new cutoff position to make the title chase.

Newman is 29 points behind teammate Kurt Busch, who is 20th in the standings. Busch, a five-time Bristol winner and the race's defending champion, also experienced a disappointing day in the Car of Tomorrow's debut. He placed 29th, five laps down in the race that had a green-white-checker finish.

Prior to the accident, it appeared Newman, who started 22nd, would rebound from a two-lap deficit for a top-20 finish. Newman lost the two laps on lap 96 when a flat left-rear tire forced him to pit. That dropped Newman to 40th, but the Alltel team knew it was early.

Slowly, but methodically, Newman worked his way back up through the running order by staying on the lead-lap cars' pit strategy, electing to pit whenever then leader Stewart would stop for fuel and tires. Throughout the race's first half, the Dodge Avenger was a "tick" tight and each time Newman pitted his crew made adjustments to loosen it.

During the fourth of 15 caution flags, Newman asked his spotter to tell Stewart's spotter that he was two laps down and he wouldn't take any chances with him, but he planned to pass him in an effort to regain his lost lap.

When Newman lined up for the restart following the fifth caution period, he positioned himself on the inside of Stewart. One circuit after the lap 156 restart, Newman, who was 35th, passed Stewart to regain one of his two lost laps.

When the sixth yellow flag waved for David Ragan's spin on lap 182, the one lap Newman had regained was secured. He was 35th on the lap 188 restart, and by the 200-lap mark, he had advanced to 33rd.

At the race's midpoint, Newman had made it back to 24th, but he was still one lap down. By the time the eighth caution period ended on lap 291, Newman had once again cracked the top 20. By lap 309, he was 17th and one position away from being in the "Lucky Dog" slot for the next yellow flag. But it was then that misfortune struck the Alltel team.

When Martin Truex Jr.'s car smacked the second-turn wall on lap 310, Newman couldn't slow quickly enough and hit another car in the rear, damaging the Alltel Dodge's radiator.

"We were real happy with the way the car ran up to that point," Nelson said. "We were pretty good in practice, but we really didn’t know how the race would play out. We were a little bit too tight. We got the balance a little closer and the Avenger was running really well.

"We were a lot better today than we were when we tested [the COT at Bristol]. We worked really well with our teammates from the No. 2 team. We put our heads together and we came up with some things that we think made ourselves better from the test. That carried over into the race, so I feel real happy about the fact we were able to rebound.

"The Alltel Dodge was really good today. It just wasn't the finish we wanted."

Next week the series moves to Martinsville, Va., for the Goody's Cool Orange 500. The second of 16 races this year for the COT – Dodge Avenger – will be televised by Fox and broadcast by MRN Radio beginning at 1:30 p.m., EDT.

mrsmopar12 · #7 (**permalink**) 04-02-2007, 12:30 PM

Monday, April 2, 2007

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Avenger, probably would have preferred to stay out of the pits early in Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500, as his first two stops had problems that were out of Newman’s – and the Alltel team’s – control.

During Newman’s first stop on lap 41, front-tire carrier Scott Reineger was hit by Juan Pablo Montoya's Dodge Avenger as he was running around to the car's right side. Montoya barreled into Reineger’s leg, knocking him down, and sent the right-front tire rolling onto pit road. Reineger jumped up and ran after the tire, placing it on the car and completing the stop. Reineger escaped with a bruise on his leg and was able to perform his duties during the remainder of the race.

On his second stop, Newman had to back up at the completion of the stop so he wouldn’t hit one of Montoya’s crew members. The stop cost Newman seven spots when the field went back to green on lap 98. The remaining five pit stops were less eventful and most of them ended with Newman gaining spots on pit road.

Newman’s day started in the 24th position after a spin during Friday’s qualifying session. For the first 55 laps of the 500-lap race, Newman hovered inside the top 25 before breaking into the top 20 on lap 56. The main balance problem for Newman the entire day was tightness in the center and loose on exit. The problem started early, but it was never too extreme for Newman to control it. Crew chief Mike Nelson and the Alltel crew made changes throughout the day that helped the balance on Newman’s car.

The yellow flag flew 13 times during the short-track race -- with the first caution period beginning on lap 5 when Casey Mears' car spun in turn four – and that gave the Alltel crew the opportunity to make the necessary adjustments to the Alltel Avenger.

Bite was what Newman wanted the most in his car. Nelson experimented with air pressure adjustments as well as changes to the wedge and track bar during the race. When Newman first started complaining about the tightness, Nelson had two pounds of air removed from the right-rear tire for the first stop, which was a two-tire stop. On the next stop, Nelson called for one pound out of the left-rear tire.

The air pressure adjustments helped the tightness in the center of the corners, but eventually, Newman’s car began to get too loose on exit and he wanted the car a little tighter in general. Nelson decided it was time to make changes to the track bar.

Newman was happy with his car by lap 245 when Kasey Kahne's Dodge spun, bringing out the seventh caution flag.

“The car is the best we’ve been all day,” Newman told his crew. “We may want to go a half-round more into the left-rear, but the car is good.”

Just 25 laps later, the car was good enough to break into the top 10 – where Newman would spend a majority of the last half of the race. Newman got as high as eighth and the car seemed to be getting better as the race progressed.

The rain that had been predicted for the Martinsville area finally showed up late in the race and on lap 357, the red flag waved, halting the event. The rain didn’t stick around too long, though. After 31 minutes 40 seconds, NASCAR had the drivers back in their cars and running under the yellow flag.

Newman and Nelson had taken the time during the brief rain delay to discuss their strategy for the final 142 laps. They decided they only needed to make one more stop and could go the rest of the way on fuel. Newman came in for what he thought would be his final pit stop on lap 378 and took four tires and fuel; nine cars on the lead lap didn’t pit, which left Newman 15th when the green flag flew again. However, Newman came down pit road one more time on lap 430 for a track-bar adjustment, four tires and fuel. The team was hoping that fresh tires would help the car get back into the top 10 after many of the leaders decided to stay out on older tires.

The adjustments, though, brought back the tightness in the center that Newman had complained about earlier in the race and he spent the final laps racing teammate Kurt Busch and Montoya for a top-15 finish. When the checkered flag flew, Newman had fought his way to a 14th-place finish.

Newman moved up to a 19th-place tie with rookie David Ragan in the drivers’ standings; Newman is 61 points out of the 12th position and 377 points behind overall leader Jeff Gordon.

The Cup Series will take next weekend off for the Easter holiday before heading to Fort Worth, Texas, for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger will return to the track, giving the COT cars a weekend off. Fox and PRN Radio will carry the race with live coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

mrsmopar12 · #8 (**permalink**) 04-20-2007, 08:36 AM

Monday, April 16, 2007

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, experienced a long day filled with problems in Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Newman, who had an average finish of 27.85 entering the event on the 1.5-mile track, finished 32nd after a slew of problems during the 334-lap race.

The problems began immediately on lap 2 when a multi-car crash collected Newman, causing minor damage to the Alltel Dodge's nose. There was a hole just above the grill that crew chief Mike Nelson wanted to get covered quickly, so Newman came down pit road for repairs and ended up restarting in 40th.

Newman fought his way through traffic, though, and the car seemed pretty good. In only 16 laps, Newman gained 10 positions. By the time the second caution flag waved on lap 44, Newman was in 27th.

Things seemed to be OK for the Alltel team, even after an extended stay on pit road on lap 46 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment when a 14.11-second stop enabled Newman to still gain a spot when the field went green again on lap 51.

Although the car was loose entering the corners and tight in the center, Newman had cracked the top-20 by lap 97 and was looking very strong.

However, the problems then worsened and occurred quite frequently.

During Newman’s third stop of the day for four tires, fuel and a half-round of wedge in the left rear during a green-flag run, the jack broke. Jackman Britt Goodrich had propped up the car's right side when suddenly, the car fell and Goodrich was scrambling to grab a backup jack. By the time the crew completed the stop, two laps had been lost and there was right-side damage to the car, leaving Newman in the 34th position.

Less than 10 laps later, Newman radioed his crew that he was returning to pit road with a cut tire. At first, the crew thought Newman had run over a piece of debris, but when the car reached the pit stall, the damage from the jack incident had bent part of the sheet metal, which in turn cut the right-rear tire. The issue cost Newman one more lap, leaving him three laps down from the leader. To top it off, a tire had gotten away from the crew during the stop and Newman was penalized with a pass-through penalty. When the yellow came out on lap 116, Newman drove down pit road under the caution and kept from losing another lap.

Newman was left running his own race, as he was the only driver three laps down and had no one to race for position. From lap 119 until the checkered flag on lap 334, Newman gained only five positions as cars dropped out of the race, leaving him 32nd at the finish.

The worst part of the situation was having such a good car and not being able to fight for the win. After being passed by the leader to lose a fourth lap, Newman decided to drop to the back and see how his car worked in clean air.

Each time Newman did this, he would run the fourth fastest lap on the track, beaten by only the top-three cars.

To complete the bad luck Newman experienced at Texas, with just over 20 laps to go in the race, Newman reported he had a vibration in the car. Nelson asked if Newman wanted to come in, but Newman didn’t want to pit and lose more laps. The car lasted until the checkered flag waved, but Newman was four laps down to winner Jeff Burton.

Newman remained 20th in the drivers’ standings, 123 points out of 12th and 480 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Next week, the Cup Series returns to the COT cars at Phoenix International Raceway for the Subway Fresh Fit 500. The Saturday night race will be broadcast by Fox and MRN Radio beginning at 8 p.m. EDT. Newman will also run the No. 12 Kodak Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Busch Series on Friday night in the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200. ESPN and MRN Radio will broadcast the race at 9 p.m. EDT.

mrsmopar12 · #9 (**permalink**) 04-23-2007, 01:00 AM

Sunday, April 22, 2007

The Subway Fresh Fit 500 looked like it was going to be a great night for Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Avenger, and his team, but miscommunication on pit road severely altered the evening and relegated Newman to a 38th-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway.

After qualifying 19th for Saturday night’s race, Newman made it known that he had a good, fast car and he was headed to the front.

Even though Newman fought a tight condition in his Dodge Avenger for most of the race, the Indiana native was still able to maneuver the car through traffic and by lap 13 he had climbed into the top 15.

“I’m tight pretty much everywhere,” Newman told crew chief Mike Nelson. “I lost the front going into (turn) one, one time.”

Nelson and Newman discussed possible changes for their first pit stop and it wouldn’t be too long before they would get the chance to free up the car.

On the first stop at lap 39, Nelson called for four tires, fuel and one round of wedge in the right rear. The 13.93-second stop also allowed Newman to gain two positions when the green flag waved again on lap 42.

One lap later, the yellow came out again for a three-car accident and Newman made his way into the top 10 for the first time in the race.

Newman had trouble on restarts during the race's first half. As soon as the green flag would drop, Newman would fall back a couple of spots, but it didn’t take long for the Alltel Dodge to regain them.

“I’m still tight,” Newman told his crew. “About the same level of tightness as it was before.”

The tightness Newman fought in his car impeded his climb into the top 10.

“I’m too tight; I can’t get any closer (to Matt Kenseth),” Newman relayed. “It’s tight mostly in the center of (turns) one and two.”

Even though Newman constantly fought the car's tightness, he was still one of the fastest on the 1-mile track. On lap 92, Newman had the fastest time with a lap of 29.312 seconds. Then leader Denny Hamlin had the second fastest time. The very next lap, Newman broke into the top 10 and spent most of the remaining laps up front.

Pit road was definitely not a friendly place for Newman on Saturday night. Starting with his second stop, each time the Alltel Dodge came down pit road, the problems escalated.

As Newman left pit road after his second stop, a tire rolled onto pit road and Newman hit the tire. Luckily, there was no damage to the car. The next time Newman was on pit road, Dale Earnhardt Jr. came out of his pit stall and directly into the Alltel Dodge's left-rear quarter panel. Again, the car was OK as the sheet metal had been pushed up away from the tire. There wasn’t much concern about a tire rub or any other problems with the damage.

After the tire incident on pit road, Newman climbed back into the top 10 and was slowly gaining on the leader. When the contact with Earnhardt's car occurred during Newman’s fourth stop, Newman came in to the pits in fifth and left in seventh. However, it only took three laps after the restart for Newman to start regaining spots.

For 50 laps, Newman played catch-up to teammate Kurt Busch, who was in fifth, but Newman was hampered by a car that was loose exiting the corners.

“We went a bit too far on the balance,” Newman radioed in. “It’s just a little loose off; let’s get the track bar down next time.”

Once more, Newman was still one of the fastest cars on the track with the loose condition. Lap 256 saw Newman complete a lap in 29.20 seconds. Then leader Tony Stewart recorded a lap time of 29.36 seconds. It wouldn’t be until lap 273, though, that Newman would pass Busch and grab the fifth position.

Newman was gaining on Jimmie Johnson, who was fourth, when the only round of green-flag pit stops began late in the race. Newman came down pit road for what was supposed to be his last stop of the night on lap 284. As he pulled into his stall, the yellow flag waved for a three-car crash on the track. A miscommunication between the team caused problems that immediately took Newman out of contention for the win and left him 11 laps down when the checkered flag waved.

“It was just the wrong time to pit. We had about a three-lap window there. The bottom line was we came in and the yellow came out. Everything was worst case scenario,” Newman explained after he climbed from his car. “I was just getting ready to roll off after the pit stop and the guys had the jack on the right side. I thought we waved off the left-side tires and did right sides, and the jackman, I watched him stop like he got a signal from the crew guys that we were going to do two. I didn’t know the guys came over and took off the left-side tires. On top of that, it drug the sway bar arm off when I backed up and rolled over the tires. Unfortunate situation for about 6 seconds there, but it led us to be 11 laps down and we had a car that was easily capable of winning the race.

“We just never got good track position. We kept working our way up all day. We seem to be a little bit behind when it comes to fuel mileage this year. It’s hurt us. It’s hurt Kurt a couple of times now and it hurt us today for sure. It’s tough to have a situation like that and walk away with not very much other than a car we can take to Richmond. The Penske team is working well together. Obviously, it shows. The cars are very similar, the drivers are driving them hard and we’re working well together as teams. It’s just unfortunate when situations like that happen.”

Newman fell to 26th in the drivers’ standings, 194 points behind 12th-place Jamie McMurray and 621 points out of first.

Next weekend, Newman will pilot the No. 12 Kodak Dodge Charger for the first of three Cup races in 2007 at Talladega Superspeedway. The Aaron’s 499 will air live on Fox and MRN Radio beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

mrsmopar12 · #10 (**permalink**) 04-30-2007, 08:02 PM

Monday, April 30, 2007

Who says one needs a fender to bump draft? Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Kodak Dodge Charger, sure didn’t need one during Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Newman, who had a great car at the 2.66-mile track, appeared headed for his first top-five finish since June 2006 at Infineon Raceway, but once again, bad luck surfaced and seemed to have ruined the day.

In a strange set of events that began on lap 149, the entire field started running single file – a formation that's almost unheard of at restrictor-plate races – but the drivers seemed to be riding it out, waiting for someone to make a move and seeing how long they could go lined up bumper-to-bumper.

Newman was running 10th, just behind Juan Pablo Montoya. When the field first lined up, spotter Greg Newman relayed a message to his son from Kevin Harvick, who was then eighth, “Be patient with Montoya,” the elder Newman informed his driver, “Harvick will make a move.”

While Newman was waiting for Harvick, Montoya had a tire go down on his Dodge and when his car shot up the race track, he cut Newman’s right-front tire as well, leaving Newman with no right-front fender. Debris was spread over the track and Newman made his way to pit road just as NASCAR waved the fifth of eight caution flags.

The Kodak crew worked hard to keep Newman on the lead lap. They replaced the right-side tires and made two subsequent stops to repair the right-front fender. There was absolutely nothing left of the fender, but the team needed to make sure nothing would cut the tire.

Newman fell from 10th to 30th in one lap, but he was able to stay on the lead lap and was looking to make his way back to the front with a little help from some friends.

Bobby Labonte, who had received the Lucky Dog Award with the caution, restarted behind Newman. Newman asked his spotter to pass on the following message: “Tell the 43 to glue his car to my bumper and push hard!”

Labonte agreed and helped Newman move up to 28th when the caution flag came out again on lap 175 for a piece of debris that had flown off Newman’s Kodak Dodge.

On the next restart, it was Kenny Wallace who was behind Newman and this was the message to him, “Tell Wallace to push me like he pushed [Dale] Earnhardt [to victory in October 2000].”

Wallace agreed and within seven laps of the lap 179 restart, Newman had once again reached the top 10 when the caution came out once more on lap 185 for a blown engine in David Reutimann's car. Once more, Newman had a message for his spotter, “If you see any runs, let me know. This bumper will be blocking it all!”

No one got a chance to make any runs as the caution flag came out for an accident during the green-white-checker finish leaving Newman in ninth place. It is his second top-10 finish of the 2007 season. Newman had only three top-10 finishes last year.

Before the incident with Montoya, the race had been pretty uneventful for everyone. The first caution flag did not wave until lap 73 for debris. During the race's early stages, Newman’s main concern was his water temperature. Nearly the entire field was running side-by-side and three-wide and it was causing the cars in traffic to have high water temperatures. Crew chief Mike Nelson and engine tuner John Payne assured Newman they were not worried about the temperature and that they would remove tape from the grill to help Newman cool the water.

On the team's first pit stop on lap 45, the crew removed some tape from the grill during a two-tire stop, but it wasn’t enough. During the second stop on lap 75, the team took two more pieces of tape off the grill, along with putting on four fresh tires, giving Newman fuel and making a slight wedge adjustment to the left rear. Two pieces of tape was a little too much and on their third stop, the team replaced a piece.

Newman had made his way up to second until he got shuffled out of the lead group and into the 23rd spot, but it didn’t take more than five laps for Newman to return to the top 10 before the incident with Montoya.

With his ninth-place finish, Newman moved up two spots in the drivers’ standings and into the 24th position. He is 678 points behind the leader and 161 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards.

Next week, Newman returns to the Alltel Dodge for the “Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400” at Richmond International Raceway. The race will take place at 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday and will be broadcast live by Fox and MRN Radio.