Race 2 Win: Food City 500 - Ryan Newman Notes

Nextel Cup Series

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Food City 500 - Ryan Newman Notes

Notes:

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, will make his fifth start at Bristol Motor Speedway this Sunday. His four previous appearances at the 0.533-mile oval have resulted in one pole and one top-10 finish. Newman has led one race at BMS for a total of 30 laps.

Newman shattered the track record at BMS last March. His speed of 128.709 miles per hour, a time of 14.908 seconds, made him the first driver to break the 15-second mark at the .533- mile oval. Newman has qualified in the top-10 all but once when he started 14th in August of 2002.

In both of the 2003 events at BMS, Newman battled a loose-handling car. The March event saw him tangle, in typical Bristol fashion, with two other cars to put him four laps down to the leader. In the August event, the ALLTEL team continued to improve the handling of the car throughout the event, pushing Newman to his first top-10 finish at the bullring.

The No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge team will bring chassis No. 46 to BMS this weekend. While this car hasn't one a race and earned a nickname, the No. 12 team could call it its "Pole" car. Every time that car No. 46 has qualified, it's earned the pole position. This chassis broke the track record at BMS last spring, as well as claimed the pole position at both Rockingham and Atlanta earlier this year.

Thus far in the 2004 season, Newman leads all drivers with a 6.6 average starting position.

Newman started sixth and finished third at Darlington Raceway last Sunday. After leading 39 laps, Newman was penalized for hitting the outside commitment cone as he entered pit road. The team made its lap up and charged through the field to record its second consecutive top-five finish of the season. Newman and the ALLTEL team are now ninth in the series' point standings.

The Food City 500 will air live Sunday on FOX, with pre-race beginning at 1:00 p.m., EST. PRN Radio will also cover the event beginning at 12:15 p.m., EST.

Quotes:

Newman on Bristol: "Bristol can be such a wicked race track. You can have an awesome car and be working your way to the front, then-all of the sudden-the day takes a turn for the worse, and your stuck five laps down. Those are the longest race days. Survival is key at Bristol. You have to balance aggressiveness with patience and hope it all works out. If you keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble, you'll have a pretty good finish."

Newman on profanity: "This is a family sport and it always has been. We, as drivers, need to cater to people who are watching us on television as well as to those who are listening on the radio. It's important that we keep this sport clean. There's no need to use those words. Every once in awhile most of us do use them. I'm not going to say that I don't. It's all about controlling yourself and being constructive. Whatever penalty NASCAR makes, as long as it's uniform, is ok with me."

Stats:

Bristol Motor Speedway Starts: 4 Poles: 1 (March, 2003)
Races Led: 1 Laps Led: 30
Best Start: 1 (March, 2003) Best Finish: 6 (August, 2003)

Appearances:

ALLTEL Fan Bash, Outside Turn Two (North of Souvenir Trailers), Friday, March 26, approximately 5:30 p.m. EST.

Autograph Session at Souvenir Trailer, Outside Turns 1 and 2, Saturday, March 27, approximately 1:00 p.m. EST.

News and Results | Point Standings | 2004 Schedule | 2004 Teams | 2003 Schedule and Results