Race 2 Win: Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods

Nextel Cup Series

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Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods - Ryan Newman Notes

Ryan Newman/Kansas Advance

Notes:

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, will make his fourth start at Kansas Speedway this Sunday in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. In his three previous starts, Newman has earned three top-two finishes, including a victory in 2003.

Newman holds a 1.67 average finish at Kansas Speedway, the best of all active drivers.

Newman finished second to Jeff Gordon in his first two Kansas Speedway starts. The third try was the charm, however, as Newman went on to win the Banquet 400, setting a race record at the track. The victory was the ALLTEL team's eighth of the 2003 season.

Newman led a Dodge charge last October at Kansas Speedway. Newman won with Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield rounding out the top-three.

Newman and the ALLTEL team have become qualifying aces, but they have yet to win a pole at Kansas Speedway. Newman possesses a career-high third-place start at the speedway, which he earned in 2002. He holds a starting average of 10.3 at the speedway.

Newman's first appearance at Kansas Speedway in 2001, was only his sixth NASCAR Cup start. Newman's second-place finish in the race was the second top-five finish of his young career.

Newman and Gordon are the only two drivers to post top-five finishes in all three Kansas races.

Newman has led two of three NASCAR Cup races at Kansas Speedway for a total of 109 laps.

Crew chief Matt Borland and the ALLTEL team will take chassis No. 61 to Kansas this weekend. PRS-61 finished fourth at New Hampshire International Speedway in 2003. The chassis was tested at both Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway this year.

Newman will hold an open Q&A session with the media at the tail of the ALLTEL transporter at 2:15 p.m. CDT on Friday, October 8.

Newman's average starting position this season of 8.62 leads all drivers.

Newman and Gordon lead all drivers with 19 top-10 starts this season.

In the final 10 races of the 2003 season, Newman scored eight top-10 finishes, including a victory at Kansas.

The No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge team climbed to seventh in the NNCS point standings following its 16th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Newman is currently 146 points behind the leader Kurt Busch and nine points behind fifth-place Matt Kenseth.

The Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway will air live on NBC at 1:30 p.m. EDT. MRN Radio will also cover the event, starting at 12:30 p.m. EDT.

Stats:
Kansas Speedway Starts: 3 Races Led: 2 for a total of 109 laps
Top-fives: 3 Top 10s: 3
Victories: 1 (2003) Best Start: 3 (2002)

Quotes:
Newman on Kansas: "How could I have anything but good things to say about Kansas. The ALLTEL team just naturally clicked with this race track. I've had a great race car every time we've raced at Kansas. I hope this weekend is the same way.

"We're still in the thick of things, points wise. The ALLTEL team has really clicked when it counted. We know that a couple more wins would catapult us to the top, so that's what we're hoping for right now. If we just keep concentrating on winning some of these last seven races, the points will take care of themselves."

Appearances:

Autograph Session, SONY Tech Pit, Kansas Speedway. Saturday, Oct. 9 at 1 pm, CDT.

Autograph Session, ALLTEL/Team Caliber Souvenir Trailer. Saturday, Oct. 9 at 2 pm, CDT.

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