Race 2 Win: Coca-Cola 600 - Ryan Newman Notes

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Coca-Cola 600 - Ryan Newman Notes

Ryan Newman/Lowe's Motor Speedway Advance

Notes:

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, will make his ninth Lowe's Motor Speedway start and his 128th in the NASCAR Cup Series this Saturday night.

In his eight previous LMS starts, Newman has posted three top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish in October 2003.

Newman possesses an average LMS start of 2.25, the highest of all Cup drivers, active and inactive.

Newman has earned four pole starting positions at LMS. His first career pole occurred in his first career Cup start at the speedway in May 2001-eight months prior to his rookie season in the series.

Newman has never qualified outside the top-four at LMS. He has qualified on the front row in the past four LMS races, including three pole positions. He started second in this race one year ago.

Newman has led at least one lap in four of his eight LMS starts for a total of 137 laps.

Newman led 45 laps, including all of the 30-lap, second segment, in the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge last Saturday. Newman was running fifth in segment three when the Alltel Dodge got loose and made contact with the turn two wall, ending the team's strong bid for the victory.

Newman and the Alltel team earned their first pole position for the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge last Friday. The team completed three laps around the 1.5-mile track and a four-tire pit stop in 122.443 seconds, nearly one second faster than second-place starting Mark Martin.

Matt Borland, crew chief of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, is taking chassis PRS-46 to LMS this weekend. PRS-46 was named "Monster" after winning at Dover International Speedway last season. "Monster" earned five top-10 finishes in six starts last year.

Newman will compete in his first NASCAR Busch Series race in three years this Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. This is Newman's first NBS start at LMS.

Newman extended his streak of top-10 starts to 18 consecutive weeks two weeks ago with a second-place start at Richmond International Raceway. Newman is the only driver in the NNCS to qualify in the top 10 for all 11 races this season.

Newman and the Alltel team advanced three spots to seventh in the NNCS point standings following a third-place finish at Richmond International Raceway. The team trails point leader Jimmie Johnson by 192 points.

The Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway will air live on FOX at 5 p.m., EDT on Sunday, May 29 and also can be heard on PRN Radio.

Stats:
Lowe's Motor Speedway Starts: 8
Poles: 4
Best Start: 1
Best Finish: 2 (October 2003)

Quotes:
Newman on Lowe's Motor Speedway: "This is another one of those tracks that just seems to haunt the Alltel team. We qualify so well, but just can't seem to get the win. Winning our first pole there will be a moment we always remember. Finishing second there a couple of years ago was great, but painful of course too. We've been so close…we just need to seal the deal.

"We had a great car in the Challenge last weekend. That was the car we were going to bring with us again this weekend for the 600, but unfortunately the car suffered too much damage to bring back. The back-up car, 'Monster,' is great too. Our back-up did well for us at Richmond, we'll just have to see if we can get the same results in Charlotte this weekend."

Appearances:

Penske Racing South Fundraiser and Fan Fest, Penske Racing South, Mooresville. Friday, May 27, 2-3 p.m., EDT.

Alltel Fan Bash, Corner of Morehead and Hwy. 29 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Saturday, May 28, 2 p.m., EDT.

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