Race 2 Win: Pop Secret 500 - Ryan Newman Notes

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Pop Secret 500 - Ryan Newman Notes

Ryan Newman/California Advance

Notes:

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 ALLTEL/SONY Dodge, will make his fourth career start at California Speedway this Sunday. Newman has posted one pole and one top-10 finish at the speedway.

Newman's No. 12 Dodge will feature the SONY WEGA and Handycam paint scheme this weekend. Newman has made two previous starts in the No. 12 ALLTEL/SONY Dodge (Pocono in June 2002 and Dover in September 2003). His latest appearance in Sony colors, at Dover, led to the team's seventh victory of the 2003 season. In both of Sony's previous races with the No. 12 team, Newman has led a total of 125 laps.

Sunday's race at California Speedway offers Newman the opportunity to make it two consecutive victories for Sony.

Newman has earned the pole starting position at California Speedway in April, 2002. He set a track record with a lap of 187.432 mph, which is a time of 38.414 seconds.

Newman has posted three straight top-10 starts (1, 4 and 7), at California Speedway. He is one of ony three drivers to do so. He currently holds a 4.0 average start at the speedway.

In three previous starts at California Speedway, Newman posted one top-five finish in May of this year. The ALLTEL/Mobil 1 Dodge's fuel mileage outlasted the competition and gained three positions on the final lap to finish third.

Newman and the ALLTEL/SONY team tested Goodyear tires at Bristol Motor Speedway on Monday, Aug. 30th and Tuesday, Aug. 31st.

Crew chief Matt Borland and the ALLTEL/SONY team will take chassis PRS-79 to California this weekend. PRS-79 has never been raced or tested. The last time the ALLTEL team took a "new" chassis to a race, Newman posted his only win of the season at Michigan International Speedway in June.

Thus far in the 2004 season, Newman leads all drivers with an 8.5 average starting position. He is the only driver to post 16 top-10 starts this season. He is also one of only three drivers to have an average starting position of 10th or better.

The No. 12 ALLTEL/SONY Dodge team currently sits 10th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point standings, just five points out of eighth and 26 points ahead of 11th.

The Pop Secret 400 at California Speedway will air live on NBC at 7 p.m. EDT. MRN Radio also will cover the event, starting at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

Quotes:
Newman on California: "I'm really looking forward to going back to California. Every time we race there we seem to get better. The 2003 race was really disappointing for us. We had a strong car and never got to see what it was capable of. Our car for this weekend is kind of a mystery for us. We'll see how it is during practice on Friday I guess. We took a brand new car to Michigan earlier this year and that worked out pretty well for us. Hopefully the same will happen on Sunday.

"The points battle is really tight, but we, as a team, don't put any pressure on ourselves. We do all we can every weekend. That's all I can ask of these guys. If we put in a sincere effort, the points will work themselves out."

Stats:
California Speedway Starts: 3 Poles: 1 (April 2002)
Top-five finishes: 1 (May 2004) Races Led: 2 for a total of 5 laps

Appearances:

Autograph Session, SONY Tech Pit, California Speedway, Saturday, Sept. 4th at noon, PDT.

Autograph Session, ALLTEL/Team Caliber Souvenir Trailer, Saturday, Sept. 4th at 1:00 p.m., PDT.

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