Ryan Newman/Pocono Advance
Notes:
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel/Mobil 1 Dodge, will make his eighth Pocono Raceway start and his 136th in the NASCAR Cup Series this Sunday.
In Newman's seven previous Pocono starts, he has posted one pole, one victory and three top-five finishes.
Newman earned the pole position for the July 2003 Pocono event. Newman led 88 laps during the race before the Alltel/Mobil 1 team gambled on fuel to earn its fourth victory of the season.
Newman has earned three top-10 starts at Pocono Raceway. Newman scored his three top-five finishes in the same races where he started in the top 10.
Newman has led at least one lap in four of his six Pocono starts for a total of 126 laps.
Matt Borland, crew chief of the No. 12 Alltel/Mobil 1 Dodge, is taking chassis PRS-46 "Monster" to Pocono Raceway this weekend. "Monster" earned its name after winning at Dover International Speedway last September. "Monster" was most recently raced at Lowe's Motor Speedway where it set a track qualifying record and went on to finish fifth in the race. . "Monster" also earned five top-10 finishes in six starts last year.
Newman's first stock car victory came at Pocono Raceway in an ARCA event in 2000. It was only his second career stock car start.
Sunday's race at Pocono will be the third time this season the No. 12 Dodge will have Mobil 1 as its primary sponsor. Mobil 1 was the primary at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where Newman earned his first pole of the season. Mobil 1 also sponsored the No. 12 NNCS team and the No. 39 NASCAR Busch Series team at Chicagoland Speedway earlier this month.
Newman and the Alltel team moved to sixth in the NNCS point standings, tied with fifth-place Kurt Busch, following a seventh-place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway last weekend. The team was eighth in the standings at this point in the 2004 season.
The Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway will air live on TNT at 1 p.m., EDT on Sunday, July 24 and also can be heard on MRN Radio.
Stats:
Pocono Raceway Starts: 7
Races/Laps Led: 4/126
Poles: 1 (July 2003)
Victories: 1 (July 2003)
June 2005 Start: 17
June 2005 Finish: 34
Aug. 2004 Start: 30
Aug. 2004 Finish: 13
Quotes:
Newman on Pocono: "We hit a hot streak at Pocono a few years ago. Here lately though, we've really struggled. Qualifying is very important to us, and we haven't qualified in the top-10 at Pocono in the last three races. Our history at the track proves that when we qualify well, we race well and we get that important top-five finish. So, that's our goal again this weekend. Qualify well on Saturday. Get the team's confidence up and finish well on Sunday.
Newman on Mobil 1: "Mobil 1 has been a great sponsor to Penske Racing South and the Alltel team since I started racing with them. We got our first Cup win with Mobil 1 on the hood in 2002. We also hit victory lane at Pocono in 2003 with Mobil 1 on the hood. It's kind of like a lucky charm to us, so we'll see if we can't get Mobil back in victory lane again on Sunday."
