Race 2 Win: Carolina Dodge Dealers 400

Nextel Cup Series

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Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 - Ryan Newman Notes

Notes:

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, will make his fifth start at Darlington Raceway this Sunday. His four previous appearances at the 1.366-mile oval have resulted in one pole and two top-five finishes. His average finish at Darlington is 11th, the best of all active drivers. Newman has led three times at Darlington Raceway for a total of 122 laps.

Newman won the pole position for last fall's event at Darlington, making it one of 12 tracks where he has won a pole. Newman has qualified in the top-three all but once when he started 12th in September 2002. His average start at Darlington is 4.50, the best of all active drivers.

In the 2003 spring event at Darlington, Newman continuously battled a tight-handling car to finish 14th. Last fall, he started on the pole and led 120 laps before accidentally hitting his car's kill switch on pit road. The mishap put the team 10 laps down before finishing 23rd.

No chassis in the No. 12 ALLTEL stable can earn a nickname without winning a race. Currently, the ALLTEL team has seven named chassis', with most being named after characters in the hit-cartoon "Popeye." When chassis No. 42 won last fall at Kansas Speedway, it was named "Poopdeck Pappy" after Popeye's 99-year-old father.

The No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge team will bring chassis No. 42 "Poopdeck Pappy" to Darlington this weekend. In addition to winning last year's event at Kansas Speedway, "Poopdeck Pappy" finished 11th in the 2003 Brickyard 400 and seventh in last fall's event at Bristol Motor Speedway. "Poopdeck Pappy" was also used at both Darlington events last season where it led a total of 121 laps before finishing 14th and 23rd.

Newman earned his second pole of the 2004 season last Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, becoming the second fastest driver in NASCAR history to earn 20 poles. After leading 48 laps Sunday, the No. 12 ALLTEL team finished fifth, to score its first top-five of the year. The finish moved Newman and the team to 11th in the series point standings, tying Jimmie Johnson for the biggest move of the week.

The Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 will air live Sunday on FOX, with pre-race beginning at 1:00 p.m., EST. MRN Radio will also cover the event beginning at 12:30 p.m., EST.

Quotes:

Newman on Darlington: "Darlington is my favorite race track. I say it all the time. Darlington is a "real racer's" track. It is so different from the new tracks that NASCAR has had us going to in the past few years. Darlington isn't a fuel-mileage track. It's not a pit strategy track. To win here takes hard work from the driver and the team. I guess that's why a win there would be so rewarding for all of us on the ALLTEL team."

Newman on his "engineering" team: "My degree helps me more with my communication skills. It's all about understanding the race car and being able to explain what's happening inside the car to the crew chief and the guys on the team. In turn, they understand that same language, whether it terminology or through hand maneuvers, for me to be able to tell them how the car feels. We have to then adapt my thought process to their thought process and in turn made the correct adjustments to the car to make it better. It's what everyone calls chemistry. It's just a matter of it being engineering and chemistry at the same time."

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