Ryan Newman Advance
Bristol Motor Speedway
NNCS Notes:
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel “Fastap” Dodge Charger, will make his 10th NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday and his 176th in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Only one of Newman’s nine starts has been from outside the top-10 – a 14th-place start in the August 2002 race. He has earned two poles at the 0.553-mile track; both coming during the spring race in 2003 and 2004. Out of his seven top-10 starts, four of them have been from the top five. Newman’s average start at the short track is 5.89.
Being that Bristol is a short track, finishing a race can be quite tricky at times. In nine races, Newman has four top-10 finishes, including a career-best second during the Sharpie 500 in August 2004. Four of his finishes, though, have been from the 30th position or worse. He has one finish in-between that occurred during March 2003 when he finished 22nd. The average finish for Newman at BMS is 21.
Newman has led two races at BMS for 55 laps. He has completed 4,120 laps of a possible 4,500, giving him a 91.5 percent finishing rate.
Matt Borland, crew chief of the No. 12 Alltel “Fastap” Dodge Charger, and the Alltel team will take chassis PRS-082 to this weekend’s Sharpie 500. This chassis was built in 2004 and was run twice during that season -- Atlanta in October 2004 where Newman finished 17th and at Homestead-Miami where Newman ended up 30th after losing a right-front tire and crashing. In March 2005, Newman drove this car at Atlanta and struggled all day but eventually finished 14th. Earlier this year, Newman drove this car at Bristol and was having a good run until he spun. However, Newman was still able to earn a top-10 finish when he came home ninth.
Newman on Bristol Motor Speedway:
“Bristol is one of those tracks where you can have a great car and just get caught up in someone else’s mess and ruin your whole day. Short tracks are fun to drive at because you never know what’s going to happen and I know the fans enjoy watching those races, but if you’re the team that has a bad day, then it’s not so fun anymore.”
“When you go to Bristol at this time of year, it’s always interesting to see what’s going to happen. Bristol can make or break a driver’s Chase hopes. We’ve had our share of problems at Bristol just like every other team, so there’s really no telling how your team is going to do there.”
Quick Stats:
Bristol Motor Speedway: 9
Races Led/Laps Led: 2/55
Best Starting Position: 1 (twice)
Best Finishing Position: 2 (August 2004)
August 2005 Start: 6
August 2005 Finish: 39
