Ryan Newman/Talladega Advance
Notes:
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, will make his seventh Talladega Superspeedway start and his 125th in the NASCAR Cup Series this Sunday.
In his six previous Talladega starts, Newman has posted two top-10 finishes, with his career-best, fourth, occurring in September 2003.
Newman has yet to earn a pole position at Talladega Superspeedway, but he has posted three top-10 starts at the restrictor-plate track.
Newman has led four of his six Talladega races for a total of eight laps.
Although Newman has historically struggled at restrictor-plate tracks, he had his career best Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway earlier this season. Newman finished second in the Budweiser Shootout and followed it with a fourth-place finish in the Gatorade Duel, posting a career-high ninth starting position in the Daytona 500.
Matt Borland, crew chief of the No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, is taking chassis PRS-56 to Talladega this weekend. PRS-56 finished 12th in the 2004 Aaron's 499 and 11 th in the 2004 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
The No. 12 ALLTEL pit crew earned its second Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge Award at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend. The ALLTEL team is now tied with its teammates, the NO. 2 Miller Lite team as well as the No. 38 team for the Checkers/Rally's Challenge lead.
Newman extended his streak of top-10 starts to 15 consecutive weeks last Saturday with a seventh-place start at Phoenix International Raceway. Newman is the only driver in the NNCS to qualify in the top 10 for all eight races this season.
Newman and the ALLTEL team climbed to seventh in the NNCS point standings. The team was 11th in points after eight races in the 2004 season.
The Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway will air live on FOX at 12:30 p.m., EDT on Sunday, May 1 and also can be heard on MRN Radio.
Quotes:
Newman on Talladega: "I remember, not so long ago, when I dreaded going to restrictor plate tracks. The races are complete crapshoots. You really just don't know what can happen, so in a way I still do dread them. But, with our performance at Daytona this year, I'm actually looking forward to Talladega.
"Penske Racing South has been working hard to overcome our restrictor plate struggles and I think Daytona really showed that we've definitely progressed in that department. We're going to keep working at it and working at it. Hopefully the ALLTEL team will have its first restrictor plate victory soon."
Stats:
Talladega Superspeedway Starts: 6
Laps Led: 8
Best Start: 7 (October 2002)
Best Finish: 4 (September 2003)
Restrictor Plate Starts: 13
Top-10 Finishes: 3
